Founder Elisa Bocanegra in rehearsal for a community play in Bahía de Kino, Mexico.
Meet OUR FOUNDER
Elisa Bocanegra is a U.S.-born, Puerto Rican actress, director, producer, and activist. She is the founder of HERO Theatre in Los Angeles, a social and environmental justice theatre company in Los Angeles whose work is rooted in community work.
The Los Angeles Times named Elisa one of the Latino power players in Hollywood. She is a 2022-2023 Fulbright Award recipient and spent two years in residence at Instituto Humboldt as a Fulbright researcher and invited scholar.
HERO Theatre was founded with the support of Bocanegra's mentor, the late Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis. Hero Theatre is highly respected in the American theater world and has received support from celebrated Hollywood actors, including Annette Bening, Justina Machado, William H. Macy, and more.
Elisa launched a new screen and stage project called Nuestro Planeta, which focuses on educating Latino audiences about environmental justice within the Americas. A third article on Nuestro Planeta is being published in American Theatre Magazine. Her first article for American Theatre Magazine, When World's Fall Apart, There's Nuestro Planeta, narrates the project's beginning, which Elisa created as her brother was dying due to COVID-19. It was widely shared and resulted in Elisa receiving research and development funding from Fulbright Colombia, the MAP Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the California Arts Council.
Elisa was part of the prestigious NEXUS Cohort at New York Stage and Film and later received The Pfaelzer Award. Elisa also won the Theatre Communications Group Leadership U Grant, the U.S.'s largest grant of its kind, for her work with HERO Theatre. The grant provided her the opportunity to be part of the Leadership Team at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for two seasons.
Her stage directing credits include the critically acclaimed NOTHING, NOTHING, and TROY, a modern retelling of THE TROJAN WOMEN about women and houselessness in Los Angeles. She directed both plays and worked alongside Kilroy List playwright Amina Henry in the development.
As an actor, her first film, GIRLFIGHT, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film at The Sundance Film Festival. Currently, she recurs on Season 2 of Peacock TV's Based On A True Story when she is not traveling through Colombia bringing theatre to vulnerable communities. Elisa adds Netflix's Christmas With You, which reached number one worldwide, to her numerous film credits. She has extensive experience performing at major theaters around the U.S., in addition to The Roundabout Theatre Company in New York.
Elisa is mentored by Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter. She graduated with an MFA from Cullors' Social & Environmental Arts Program for activists at Prescott College, where she is currently pursuing a PhD in Sustainability Education.
She divides her time between Hollywood and Bogota, Colombia where she has started Teatro Héroe. Teatro Héroe is a non-profit social and environmental justice theatre company. It is dedicated to using theater as a tool to educate children, youth, and adults in all communities in Colombia about the economic, political, cultural, social, and socio-environmental issues that affect them. They present plays and also environmental education workshops focused on theatre training as an artistic expression that represents a cultural heritage for Colombia and the world. They travel all over Colombia presenting their work.
The Los Angeles Times named Elisa one of the Latino power players in Hollywood. She is a 2022-2023 Fulbright Award recipient and spent two years in residence at Instituto Humboldt as a Fulbright researcher and invited scholar.
HERO Theatre was founded with the support of Bocanegra's mentor, the late Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis. Hero Theatre is highly respected in the American theater world and has received support from celebrated Hollywood actors, including Annette Bening, Justina Machado, William H. Macy, and more.
Elisa launched a new screen and stage project called Nuestro Planeta, which focuses on educating Latino audiences about environmental justice within the Americas. A third article on Nuestro Planeta is being published in American Theatre Magazine. Her first article for American Theatre Magazine, When World's Fall Apart, There's Nuestro Planeta, narrates the project's beginning, which Elisa created as her brother was dying due to COVID-19. It was widely shared and resulted in Elisa receiving research and development funding from Fulbright Colombia, the MAP Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the California Arts Council.
Elisa was part of the prestigious NEXUS Cohort at New York Stage and Film and later received The Pfaelzer Award. Elisa also won the Theatre Communications Group Leadership U Grant, the U.S.'s largest grant of its kind, for her work with HERO Theatre. The grant provided her the opportunity to be part of the Leadership Team at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for two seasons.
Her stage directing credits include the critically acclaimed NOTHING, NOTHING, and TROY, a modern retelling of THE TROJAN WOMEN about women and houselessness in Los Angeles. She directed both plays and worked alongside Kilroy List playwright Amina Henry in the development.
As an actor, her first film, GIRLFIGHT, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film at The Sundance Film Festival. Currently, she recurs on Season 2 of Peacock TV's Based On A True Story when she is not traveling through Colombia bringing theatre to vulnerable communities. Elisa adds Netflix's Christmas With You, which reached number one worldwide, to her numerous film credits. She has extensive experience performing at major theaters around the U.S., in addition to The Roundabout Theatre Company in New York.
Elisa is mentored by Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter. She graduated with an MFA from Cullors' Social & Environmental Arts Program for activists at Prescott College, where she is currently pursuing a PhD in Sustainability Education.
She divides her time between Hollywood and Bogota, Colombia where she has started Teatro Héroe. Teatro Héroe is a non-profit social and environmental justice theatre company. It is dedicated to using theater as a tool to educate children, youth, and adults in all communities in Colombia about the economic, political, cultural, social, and socio-environmental issues that affect them. They present plays and also environmental education workshops focused on theatre training as an artistic expression that represents a cultural heritage for Colombia and the world. They travel all over Colombia presenting their work.
We are grateful to our company of actors, directors, designers and administrators
that help make HERO happen!
The producing and design team of our production of TEA.
OUR TEAM
Elisa Bocanegra, Producing Artistic Director
Joseph Henderson, Associate Artistic Director
Peren Yesilyurt, Artistic Producer
Ashley Busenlener, Director of Communications & Associate Producer
Ashley Weaver, Production Manager & Resident Stage Manager
Emanuel Loarca, Associate Director of Special Latine Programs
Amanda Denbeck, Creative Content Consultant
2024 Mentees
Osiris Galvez-Paredes, Dukakis Mentee
Maya Gonzalez, Marketing and Community Outreach Intern
Alyssa Sandoval, Artistic Producing Intern
Anne Taguba, Dukakis Mentee
Adrian Quiñonez, Dukakis Mentee
Joseph Henderson, Associate Artistic Director
Peren Yesilyurt, Artistic Producer
Ashley Busenlener, Director of Communications & Associate Producer
Ashley Weaver, Production Manager & Resident Stage Manager
Emanuel Loarca, Associate Director of Special Latine Programs
Amanda Denbeck, Creative Content Consultant
2024 Mentees
Osiris Galvez-Paredes, Dukakis Mentee
Maya Gonzalez, Marketing and Community Outreach Intern
Alyssa Sandoval, Artistic Producing Intern
Anne Taguba, Dukakis Mentee
Adrian Quiñonez, Dukakis Mentee