HERO’s goal is to create programming that has a lasting impact on audiences and helps shape a better society. We produce elaborately staged readings, full productions of plays, and special events like FESTIVAL IRENE: a 2-week festival honoring the life and legacy of Cuban playwright Maria Irene Fornés.

We commission bold, innovative new work. In 2019, HERO launched OUR AMERICA new play commissioning series, in which BIPOC playwrights explore real stories of cities in America undergoing vast socio-economic change. Under this, HERO produced Amina Henry’s TROY, inspired by THE TROJAN WOMEN and based on true stories of unhoused women in L.A. HERO partnered with local shelters to invite more than 300 unhoused women to attend and provided free tickets, round-trip transportation, concessions, and a post-show talkback with artists. HERO’s 2023 production of Henry’s NOTHING, NOTHING continues these partnerships and responds to audience desire to celebrate Black women and joy.

In 2021, HERO launched NUESTRO PLANETA (NP), a multimedia new works initiative rooted in research around ecological concerns in Latine countries and the U.S. and how Latine American families are directly affected.

In September 2021, HERO presented an elaborately staged reading of FLEX by Candrice Jones about a Black high school girls’ basketball team that explores such themes as teen pregnancy and abortion.

In 2022, we produced Velina Hasu Houston’s TEA and also RISE: An Immersive Exploration of Gun Violence in Schools which received critical acclaim.

HERO’s education programming serves elementary through high school students in the L.A. school district, specifically through Inner-City Arts and solo writing and performance classes at Homeboy Industries for formerly incarcerated youth. HERO’s Dukakis Mentorship Program, provides early career artists and administrators one-on-one mentorship; 50+ artists served.

HERO frequently invites communities represented in the work on our stages to attend our programming for no cost.