Founder Elisa Bocanegra in rehearsal for a community play in Bahía de Kino, Mexico.
Meet OUR FOUNDER
Elisa Bocanegra, PhD, is a global theatre director and producer, as well as a seasoned actor and dedicated teaching artist. She is the founder of HERO Theatre in Los Angeles, a company rooted in community-centered storytelling, and Teatro Héroe in Bogotá, Colombia, an organization that uses theatre as a tool for education across Latin America. Her work spans urban and rural communities, including projects in the Amazon Rainforest, and explores the economic, cultural, and socio-environmental forces that shape people’s lives.
The Los Angeles Times named Elisa one of Hollywood’s Latino Power Players. A Fulbright Scholar, she spent one year in residence at the Instituto Humboldt, South America’s leading biodiversity research center.
HERO Theatre was founded with the support of Elisa’s mentor, the late Academy Award–winning actress Olympia Dukakis. The company is widely respected in the American theatre community and has received support from prominent artists, including Annette Bening, Justina Machado, William H. Macy, and others.
Elisa is the creator of Nuestro Planeta, a multidisciplinary screen and stage initiative that uses theatre and film to bring sustainability education to underserved communities. Her article When Worlds Fall Apart, There’s Nuestro Planeta, published in American Theatre Magazine, chronicles the project’s origins and was widely shared, leading to research and development support from Fulbright Colombia, the MAP Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the California Arts Council.
She was selected for the prestigious NEXUS Cohort at New York Stage and Film, received the Pfaelzer Award, and was awarded Theatre Communications Group’s Leadership U Grant, the largest grant of its kind in the U.S., which supported her participation on the leadership team at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for two seasons.
Elisa’s directing credits include the critically acclaimed LUZMI, Amina Henry's NOTHING, NOTHING, and TROY, a modern adaptation of The Trojan Women exploring women and houselessness in Los Angeles. She also wrote and directed The Young Dolphins, Parts One and Two, which she co-produced with Inner-City Arts, where she served for many years as a teaching artist.
As an actor, her debut film Girlfight won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. She most recently recurred on Season 2 of Peacock’s Based on a True Story and appears in Netflix’s Christmas With You, which reached number one worldwide. Her performance career includes work at major theatres across the United States, including the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York.
The Los Angeles Times named Elisa one of Hollywood’s Latino Power Players. A Fulbright Scholar, she spent one year in residence at the Instituto Humboldt, South America’s leading biodiversity research center.
HERO Theatre was founded with the support of Elisa’s mentor, the late Academy Award–winning actress Olympia Dukakis. The company is widely respected in the American theatre community and has received support from prominent artists, including Annette Bening, Justina Machado, William H. Macy, and others.
Elisa is the creator of Nuestro Planeta, a multidisciplinary screen and stage initiative that uses theatre and film to bring sustainability education to underserved communities. Her article When Worlds Fall Apart, There’s Nuestro Planeta, published in American Theatre Magazine, chronicles the project’s origins and was widely shared, leading to research and development support from Fulbright Colombia, the MAP Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the California Arts Council.
She was selected for the prestigious NEXUS Cohort at New York Stage and Film, received the Pfaelzer Award, and was awarded Theatre Communications Group’s Leadership U Grant, the largest grant of its kind in the U.S., which supported her participation on the leadership team at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for two seasons.
Elisa’s directing credits include the critically acclaimed LUZMI, Amina Henry's NOTHING, NOTHING, and TROY, a modern adaptation of The Trojan Women exploring women and houselessness in Los Angeles. She also wrote and directed The Young Dolphins, Parts One and Two, which she co-produced with Inner-City Arts, where she served for many years as a teaching artist.
As an actor, her debut film Girlfight won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. She most recently recurred on Season 2 of Peacock’s Based on a True Story and appears in Netflix’s Christmas With You, which reached number one worldwide. Her performance career includes work at major theatres across the United States, including the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York.
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
Emanuel Loarca, Associate Director of Latine Programming Initiatives
Joseph Henderson, Associate Artistic Director
Peren Yesilyurt, Artistic Producer
Ashley Busenlener, Director of Communications & Associate Producer
Emanuel Loarca, Associate Director of Latine Programming Initiatives