 Building on his experience in Cuba, Zaldívar decided to focus his full-time efforts on theater, initially working with mainstream groups like the Greenwich Mews Theater, led by producer Stella Holt, which sought to include works from minority playwrights.He decided to go off on his own and created Repertorio Español in 1968 together with René Buch, a Cuban emigre who was an art critic who had attended Yale Drama School.With the rise of the Hispanic population in New York City, Zaldívar recognized an opportunity to involve the "hundreds of Spanish actors in New York working in restaurants and offices who are highly desirous of working again in the theater" with the hope of providing acting positions for the many "Spanish, Cuban and Puerto Rican actors who come here to find opportunities to perform".