Hero Theatre to Close 2016-17 Season with THE CONDUCT OF LIFE

Hero Theatre announced today that the company will end its 2016-2017 season with a full production of The Conduct of Life by famed Cuban American playwright, Maria Irene Fornés. The production will star Nick Tarabay (Castle, Spartacus and Syfy's The Expanse), and will be directed by the Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Theatre Center, Jose Luis Valenzuela.

This April, Hero Theatre presented Festival Irene: Celebrating Master Playwright Maria Irene Fornés. The festival included staged readings of plays by Fornés and her celebrated students including Pulitzer-winning Nilo Cruz and Lisa Loomer.

As part of the festival, Passholders were able to vote on which Fornés play they wanted to see a full production of. The Conduct of Life was chosen.

Hero Theatre has also announced its new initiative, Lo Nuestro: Our Stories Through The Classics. This ongoing commissioning program will select a writer to adapt a classic play set in a city in America currently undergoing socio-economic change.

The first writer selected is award-winning playwright Cándido Tirado (Goodman Theatre's Fish Men). Tirado will adapt Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Set in Newark, New Jersey, the adaptation is inspired by the election, rise and political life of former Newark Mayor and current U.S. Senator, Cory Booker.

"I was born in Newark and wanted the first of our adaptations to be set there," stated Hero Theatre Producing Artistic Director Elisa Bocanegra. "Senator Booker is someone I admire a great deal and I know Cándido Tirado will write an incredible adaptation."

For more information about Hero Theatre, visit herotheatre.org.