“Let’s Do The Time Warp Again”

By Kim Wunner, May 27, 2026

Josh Rivera ’18 Broadway debuts as Rocky in the Rocky Horror Show.

Josh Rivera '18 (Rocky) with Luke Evans (Dr. Frank-N-Furter) in the Rocky Horror Show at Studio 54 on Broadway. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus.

When Josh Rivera ’18 joins me on the Zoom call, he is in the middle of moving to a new apartment. This is Rivera’s one day off, so he needs to take care of business. Why is he so busy? He’s on Broadway, baby.

This IC alumnus is playing the “perfect physical specimen” of Rocky in The Rocky Horror Show at the legendary Studio 54. It’s his Broadway debut. With eight shows per week plus a rigorous press schedule, he is in high demand.

Rivera is no stranger to the spotlight. He starred as Chino in Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of West Side Story , as Sejanus Plinth in 2023’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes , and as Aaron Hernandez in the FX American sports drama anthology series American Sports Story in 2024.

When he left IC, Rivera anticipated the kind of theatre career many musical theatre grads do — a starving artist life in New York City that would lead to Broadway if he was lucky. “I had assumed I would probably get to the city, just struggle for a little while, and then I would start to get this show and that show and slowly get to know more and more people and work my way up.”

Life had faster plans for Rivera. Only eight years after graduating with a musical theatre degree, he has appeared in two Hollywood feature films, starred in a hit FX series, and is now on Broadway.

“It felt like it came before I was ready for it, which might have been kind of nice for my own personal growth, because then I just had to be ready.”

Ready, Set, Go

Josh Rivera's professional headshot. Rivera left IC with eyes on Broadway. He did not know it would happen so fast. Photo Credit: Ben Cope.

Rivera started his career as planned — his first role post-graduation was in a regional production of In the Heights at the Hangar Theatre here in Ithaca. He then earned his first a spot on a national tour of Hamilton . That visibility landed him the role of Chino in West Side Story , his first Hollywood film — just one year after leaving South Hill. However, while he was cast in 2019, the film was not released until 2021 due to COVID.

With his first film role being such a hit, he expected the next role to come right afterward. But life, again, stepped in with other plans.

“I got West Side Story , and I was like, ‘Oh, I made it, I'm Hollywood, I did it, it's smooth sailing from here on out.’ And then COVID happened.”

Rivera found himself halted right when he was getting started. Rivera returned to barbacking — something he had always done on the side for extra cash — to get through it.

This version of the “starving artist” looked a little different than he imagined. He was earning notoriety on a national scale.

He recounts, “The movie had premiered while I was working at this bar, and then people were recognizing me from the movie while I was, like, you know, doing refills for them.”

Then, he was tapped to play Aaron Hernandez in American Sports Story , a 10-episode series tracking the complex and tragic rise and fall of an NFL star. This was Rivera’s first starring role and first time portraying a non-fiction character. Again, something new and unexpected for Rivera.

When the series was planned to go into production and launch, the Writers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Hollywood strikes happened. The filming and release of American Sports Story went on pause. However, Lionsgate—the studio that owns the Hunger Games franchise— secured an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA before the movie's theatrical release so they were able to promote movie. While in Hunger Games promotion, the strikes ended and American Sports Story could pick up its schedule.

Rivera’s journey came with twists and turns, and he discovered, “Momentum can be really all over the place.”

“Come Up to the Lab”

Rivera brings Rocky to life. Photo Credit: Justin J Wee.

This brings us to Rivera being in an all-star, eclectic, and electric cast in The Rocky Horror Show . Rivera’s introduction to the cast was on location for a Vogue magazine promotional photo shoot. He was wearing a singlet made by Versace, half-naked, meeting the rest of the cast—Luke Evans, Harvey Guillén, Rachel Dratch, Stephanie Hsu, Andrew Durand, and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez—for the first time.

“They’re each, in their own right, on top of their game, absolutely unbelievable performers. It’s really, really cool. It’s hard to… it’s hard to overstate how lucky I feel to be a part of it. It is just genuinely so good.”

Rivera has been performing to rave reviews, and he is loving every minute of it. “When Luke comes on stage to sing ‘Don’t Dream It, Be It,’ I have to stop myself… I’m not supposed to smile, I’m supposed to be really somber, but I’m just such a big fan of everybody.”

Just Be Ready

When asked his advice for students, Rivera says: “Do it all. Start writing. Start learning how cameras work. Learn lighting. Experiment. Make little movies with your friends, learn how to do stuff. These are the kinds of things that you do for fun that eventually you realize you are pretty good at, and you really like it.”

He uses his own career as an example. Rivera did not see film or television for himself, but he has discovered he loves it.

As someone who did a lot of theatre at IC and saw his future as a beeline for Broadway, how did he make those leaps? It was something he learned here in Dillingham, where he spent years training — acting out scenes, doing monologues, performing on different stages, trying new material, and being asked to stretch beyond his comfort zone.

He elaborates, “What I found out is, there's really not a lot of situations that can make me uncomfortable, and there's really nobody that I've met that I can't work with or meet halfway in some degree. It really gave me the tools to be collaborative with just about everybody to get scene work, and beats, and all of it.”

According to this star, the key is to be comfortable being uncomfortable and then explore. He says, “It might mean nothing, and might end up meaning everything. College is time to start doing stuff like that, and really branching out, and figuring out what you're capable of, and what you actually like.”

Figure Out What You Are Capable Of

The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance offers majors that will stretch you to new heights. And Ithaca College offers over 70 majors and 70 minors along with micro-credentials to explore and see what it is you actually like.