The Nevada Conservatory Theatre presents Giants Have Us in Their Books: Six Children's Plays for Adults - a collection of six short plays that transform that childhood wonder into something profound, strange, and deeply human - May 1-10 in the Judy Bayley Theatre. Tickets are available here.
When master storyteller José Rivera's young daughter asked him a simple but haunting question - if we have giants in our fairy tales, do giants have people in theirs? — it ignited the imagination behind one of his most beloved and inventive works. Metaphorical and poetic, these fairy tales for grown-ups brim with magical realism, overflow with imagination, and radiate with contemporary relevance, making for a soulful and transporting evening of theatre.
Through Rivera's signature blend of the lyrical and the visceral, the plays explore timeless themes - fear, longing, power, love, and the stories we tell to make sense of a world that dwarfs us. Each play is its own world, its own dream, and together they form a kaleidoscopic meditation on what it means to be small in the face of forces far larger than ourselves. Funny, tender, and quietly devastating by turns, Giants reminds us that the best children's stories were never really just for children.
Directed by guest artist Jacole Kitchen, this production marks a vibrant close to Nevada Conservatory Theatre's 25th anniversary season.
“It is striking to me how relevant the subject matter of a play written over two decades ago still is today, “ says director Jacole Kitchen Some of it is painfully relevant. In six parts, Jose Rivera masterfully constructed a mirror for us to see the natural, harrowing, beautiful, cyclical order of our existence.”
Content Advisory: adult themes, adult language, ableism, hate speech, violence, sexual assault, anti-Semitism, death.
About the Shows
José Rivera
José Rivera is one of the most celebrated Latino playwrights in American theatre. His plays include Marisol, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Sad, Cloud Tectonics, Sueno, and Boleros for the Disenchanted, which have been produced at major theatres across the United States and internationally. Rivera received an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Playwriting and is the first Latino playwright to be nominated for an Academy Award, earning that nomination for his screenplay adaptation of The Motorcycle Diaries (dir. Walter Salles, 2004). His work is distinguished by its fearless embrace of magical realism, its poetic language, and its compassionate inquiry into what binds and separates human beings. Rivera has taught at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has been a fellow at the Sundance Institute, among many other honors and residencies.
Jacole Kitchen, Director
Jacole Kitchen is a San Diego based director and the recipient of the Directing Fellowship at La Jolla Playhouse. Directing credits include, Suburban Black Girl (Outside In Theatre), The Hula-Hoopin Queen (Seattle Children’s Theatre), Pick Me Last and Light Years Away (LJP POP Tour), Iron (Roustabouts Theatre Company), Cardboard Piano (Diversionary Theatre), An Iliad (New Village Arts), and more. Recent associate director credits The Heart (music by Ian and Anne Eisendrath, book by Kait Kerrigan) and Working Girl (music by Cyndi Lauper, book by Theresa Rebeck), both directed by Christopher Ashley at La Jolla Playhouse in 2025. www.jacolekitchen.com
Kirsten Brandt, Executive Director of NCT.
Prior to joining UNLV, Kirsten Brandt was associate chair and artistic director of the department of film and theatre at San Jose State University. Brandt is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose practice embraces inquiries into gender, technology, and politics. An award-winning theatrical director, playwright, and producer with over 20 years of experience, her passion lies in igniting the imagination of audiences through visceral storytelling and visual poetry to encourage dialogue and ethical engagement.
For seven years, she served as Executive Artistic Director of the Sledgehammer Theatre (San Diego’s leading alternative theater) where she produced 25 productions including 11 World Premieres such as Kirsten Nash’s musical Alice in Modernland and Kelly Stuart’s Furious Blood, five West Coast premieres. and directed 15 productions. Her avant-garde, gritty take on Sweet Charity earned her a coveted Backstage West award for her direction. Brandt served as associate artistic director of San Jose Repertory Theatre where she directed Rabbit Hole, Groundswell, The Big Meal, Legacy of Light, Splitting Infinity, Doctor Faustus, and Next Fall among others. Additionally, she was the casting director, literary manager, and mentor for the Emerging Artists Lab.
She has directed for The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Arizona Theatre Company, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theatre Company, San Diego Repertory, City Lights Theatre, African-American Shakespeare Company, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, The Jewel Theater, North Coast Repertory, Diversionary Theatre, Show & Tale Productions (Canada), Playwrights Project, and Sierra Rep. She has directed readings and workshops for NYU (Strasberg Studio), New Dramatists, San Francisco Playhouse, New Fortune Theater, Mo’olelo Theatre, and ASK Theatre Projects.
Creative Team
- Jacole Kitchen — Director
- Daniel Ly — Scenic/Projection Designer
- Andrew Taylor — Charge Scenic Artist
- Momo Sugwara — Props Artisan
- Savie Moore — Costume Designer
- Hayden Malis — Assistant Costume Designer
- Hannah Prochaska — Wardrobe Trainer
- Jonathan Nickens — Lighting Designer
- J Alcain — Assistant Lighting Designer
- Andee Roby — Lighting Programmer
- Lee Geiger — Production Electrician
- Mary Alice Dirienzo — Sound Designer
- Erasmo Salinas — Technical Director
- Alison Begin — Assistant Technical Director
- Stefano Bosseli — Dramaturg
- Sean Boyd — Intimacy Coordinator
- Cameron Cox — Production Stage Manager
- Christian Marquez — Assistant Stage Manager / Prop Coordinator
- Moira Kowalski — Stage Manager
Cast
- Austin Parrales — Beto, Cheo
- Amethyst Garcia — Lulu, Allysha
- Dylan Omori McCombs — Visitor, Dan
- Andrew Mikhael Caleb Treviño — No Name, Winged Man
- Nick Case — Oswald, Blue Eyes
- Sadie Dayley — Chloe / Jennifer Leigh
- Cynthia Nesbit — Yvette, Daysi
- Drew Callahan — Tiger, Foogman
- Ryan Zecchino — Kathy / US: Daysi
- Giana LaPolla — Miriam / Wanda
- Rydia Freeman — Actor / US: Oswald, Blue Eyes
- Rai Hunter — US: Beto
- Angelyn Campagne — US: Lulu, Allysha
- Nikayla Nash — US: Yvette
- Laura Nieland — US: Chloe / Jennifer Leigh
