The King of the Desert

Past Production

Cast and Crew

Performed by: Rene Rivera

Directed by: Valentino Ferriera

Written by: Stacey Martino

Produced by: Stacey Martino and Tracy Lane

Set Design by: Daunta Tomzynski

Set Built by: Michael Brainard

Lighting Design by: Tony Sanders

Production Stage Manager: Gil Tordjman

Stage Manager: Suzanne Wood

Master Electrician: Toree Elston-Moore

Graphic Design by: Erik J. Goodrich

Production Photography by: Ed Krieger

Press Representative: Steve Moyer Public Relations

Rene Rivera appears through the curtesy of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

René Rivera (Performer), a lifetime member of the Actors Studio, has performed extensively as an actor on both the East and West Coasts. He has appeared on Broadway at the Circle in the Square in "Salome" starring and directed by Al Pacino.

Rivera's Off-Broadway credits include: "Richard II" directed by Stephen Berkoff at the Public Theater; "In the Jungle of Cities" directed by Anne Bogart at The Public Theater; "Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2" directed by JoAnne Akalaitas at The Public Theater; "Hamlet" directed by Kevin Kline at The Public Theater in New York, Huntington Theatre in Boston and on PBS; "The Way of the World" directed by David Greenspan at The Public Theater; "Romeo and Juliet", "MacBeth" and "As You Like It. " all directed by Estelle Parsons at the Belasco Theatre.

Regional theater credits include appearing in productions of the "Boleros for the Disenchanted" at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago; "The House of Blue Leaves" at the Coconut Grove Theater; Don Juan at the Baltimore's Center Stage directed by Irene Lewis; "Hamlet" at the Boston's Huntington Theatre; "Salome" at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles; "True West" at Portland's Center Stage; "Twelfth Night" in San Antonio's Sunken Gardens Theater; "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" At Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles directed by Rick Sparks, and "The Merchant of Venice" in Chicago, London, Hamburg, and Paris, under the direction of Peter Sellars.

Rivera's film credits include: "Disturbia," "Before Night Falls," "Border Town, "Oranges," "Break a Leg," "Lords of Dogtown," "The Salton Sea," "Me and Him," "Light Sleeper," "Carlito's Way," and "It Could Happen To You," among others. He recently completed production on his latest film, "Wild Salome," starring, directed and written by Al Pacino.

Valentino Ferreira (Director, Premiere Run) is a MFA graduate student in Acting and Playwrighting of The Actors Studio program at The New School for Social Research in New York, where he studied Writing under Jack Gelber and Laura Marie Censabella and Acting under Ed Setrakian and Sam Schact, among others. He has worked in theatre for 20 years as an actor, playwright and director. His directing credits include Sartre's "No Exit" at SUNY Purchase NY where he received his B.A. degree in Acting and Sophoclies' "Antigone" and Kirk Wood Bromeley's, "Icarus and Aria" both as Professor of Theatre and African American Theatre History at Los Angeles City College.

This is his third collaboration with actress and playwright Stacey Martino. Previously he directed her one-woman show, "A Slow Crawl Home" produced to critical acclaim at The Laurelgrove Theatre, and then later presented in another production at The Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles by Barbara Bain, Mark Rydell and Martin Landau through The Actors Studio. Ferreira also directed Stacey Martino's play, "The Gift of Peace," which toured across the United States in cities affected by violence, including New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C. He was accepted into The Actors Studio in New York on his first audition and had his play, "Lay Down and Die," premiere at The Circle In The Square in New York directed by Joe D'Aquino.

El Centro Theatre (Premiere Venue) The Premiere of "The King of the Desert" was May 5th, 2010. The El Centro Theatre complex was first opened in 1946 and has been producing some of the best theatre in Los Angeles. The El Centro has two stages, The Circle (99 seats) and The Chaplin (45 seats).

The El Centro Theatre is located at:
804 N. El Centro Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90038

In 1946, students from UCLA, including WIlliam Schallert, Jerry Epstein, Kathleen Freeman along with Sid Rushakoff and Sydney Chaplin moved from their first location (a nice lady's large living room) after the successful production of Elmer's Rices's "The Adding Machine". The Circle was created in their new space, a converted corner grocery store at Waring and El Centro Ave. The first play to be done in the new space was "Ethan Frome". Having to clean the rubbish and convert the building into a theatre was a daunting task. Bob Burns, their lighting genius, coordinated the conversion. Jack Kelly came by to help out with the work. Charlie Chaplin allowed access to his vast amount of props for the productions.

The next play to grace The Circle's stage was, "The Time of Your Life" by William Saroyan. Sydney was in the show and at that time dating Marilyn Monroe, bringing her to watch rehearsals. This was the first production that Charlie Chaplin came to.

The New Theatre (now the Chaplin Stage) was once one of the first silent picture movie theaters in Hollywood. It was converted into a small "experimental" theater. In subsequent years the theatre was run by numerous owners mostly under the title of The Cast Theatre and hundreds of plays were performed there including Charlie Chaplin directing "Rain" in October of 1948.

Feb. 1949: “The Doctor In Spite of Himself". Audience members include Charlie Chaplin, Gene Tierney, Katherine De Mille, Roddy McDowall, and Elizabeth Taylor.