Quintero, José E.

Jose Quintero, was born October 15, 1924 in Panama City, Panama, as one of four children to Carlos Rivera and Consuelo Palmerola. He graduated from LaSalle Catholic High School in 1943, and was known for his ability to decorate altars and fervent moviegoing. Quintero briefly enrolled at the Los Angeles City College with the intention of a career in medicine, but soon thereafter returned to Panama City, where he worked as a ticket attendant for Panamanian Airways, an English Teacher at the Jesuit School and a salesman for the Chesterfield Cigarette Company. He returned to the United States to enroll at the University of California, where he graduated with in 1948. He then enrolled in the Goodman Theater Dramatic School in Chicago, moving Manhattan a year later.

With Ted Mann, he founded the Loft Players in Woodstock, N.Y in 1950. In 1951, they began the Circle in the Square Theater at 5 Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village 'The Circle' became a revival showcase for works by Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill, directed by Quintero. Williams' "Summer and Smoke" was the Circle's first off-Broadway smash in 1952. Along with launching the careers of Quintero and the production's star, Geraldine Page, it signaled the emergence of the Off-Broadway movement. ''Quintero's success ignited footlights all over the Village, '' The New York Times reported. ''The American theater expanded some 40 blocks."

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