Hero Theatre Reveals 2023/24 Season Featuring Two World Premieres and New Play Commissions

Hero Theatre announces its upcoming season, which includes two world premieres and two new play commissions. Hero Theatre delves into environmental justice with two world premieres, Nuestro Planeta: COLOMBIA, Luzmi written by Diana Burbano, and Nuestro Planeta: MÉXICO, Bahía Kino a co-production with Prescott College's Kino Bay Center, directed by Elisa Bocanegra who will devise the new work alongside local Kino Bay community members.

Nuestro Planeta is a multimedia initiative that presents a series of films and plays that center on the relationship between Latiné communities and how they are affected by the environment, focusing on various countries of Latin America. Nuestro Planeta: MÉXICO, Bahía Kino will be presented this October in Bahía Kino, which is part of the Hermosillo Municipality in Sonora, Mexico and performed by local community members. It will be presented again in early 2024 in Los Angeles at The Rosenthal Theater, performed by acting company members of Hero Theatre, in a co-production with Inner-City Arts as part of their free, family programming.

In the Fall of 2024, Hero will present the premiere of Diana Burbano's Nuestro Planeta: COLOMBIA, Luzmi. After its successful staged reading at New York Stage and Film last summer, Nuestro Planeta: COLOMBIA, Luzmi will conclude Hero Theatre's 2023-2024 season by bringing the wonder of Colombia and the Amazon to life through a fully staged production.

"Colombia is the second most biodiverse country on the planet, yet we don't see many positive Colombian stories onstage and in film. We commissioned a project written by Colombian writer Diana Burbano based on two research trips we did throughout mainland Colombia and the Colombian region of the Amazon. We plan to present it in the U.S. and Colombia in hopes of making audiences aware of the country's incredible biodiversity and create more awareness of the climate crisis and how it affects Latiné communities. I'm especially grateful to the Fulbright Commission and Instituto Humboldt for the opportunities to visit Colombia and work towards connecting the world of science and the arts, " stated Elisa Bocanegra.

Hero Theatre will continue its mission of investing in and supporting the next generation of audiences and theatremakers with a new play commission from Nubia Monks through Hero Ignite. Hero Ignite, a new division at HERO Theatre, is an incubator for new works inspired by the stories of young people in America today. Past Hero Ignite productions include Rise: An Immersive Exploration of Gun Violence in Schools, directed by Jack McCarthy.

Nubia Monks' written works include Hands of Color (Synchronicity Theatre, 2019), The War Unseen (Montana Repertory Theatre, 2020), and The Lost Women, which has been developed and workshopped at the Playwrights' Center ('21-'22 Jerome Fellowship) and The Playwright's Realm ('21-'22 Scratchpad Series). She is currently a member of the Realm's Writer's Group at The Playwright's Realm and is returning as a Jerome Fellow for a second time.

Hero Theatre also announces a new commission written by Velina Hasu Houston, the writer behind Hero's critically acclaimed production of Tea, who will bring her latest play following a double romance set in the Holiday Bowl bowling alley in the heart of the Crenshaw district. Significant for its historical and cultural associations with the Japanese-American and African-American communities of Los Angeles, the Holiday Bowl is a landmark for its development and rebuilding of the Japanese community and Crenshaw's social life during the post-World War II internment period.

The commission is part of Hero Theatre's ongoing partnership with local domestic violence and transitional shelters for women. Hero Theatre is committed to creating stories that speak to the experiences of women living in the shelters and provides shelter residents free tickets, theater educational opportunities, and private transportation to and from the show. Hero Theatre recently closed the world premiere of Amina Henry's Nothing, Nothing as part of this partnership. It was performed at the historic Friendship Baptist Church in Pasadena. Other productions include Henry's Troy (2019).

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