Composer Brian Quijada Is Newest Commission For NUESTRO PLANETA

Hero Theatre announces Emmy award-nominated composer Brian Quijada as the newest commission for Nuestro Planeta, a ten-year multimedia new works initiative that focuses on educating Latiné film and theater audiences about environmental justice within the Americas. Quijada will create an original piece with music about the effects of the climate crisis, specifically in Central America.

The series is the first collaboration between 10-year-old Hero Theatre and its offshoot, Hero Multimedia, newly formed to create and produce scripted film and television narratives around environmental and social justice issues.

Hero founding artistic director Elisa Bocanegra met Quijada at New York Stage and Film, where he was workshopping his next musical, Mexodus.

"I love that Brian creates out of a passion for social justice," she says. "I want Nuestro Planeta to address how the climate crisis affects Central American communities. Brian, being Salvadorean-American, feels a deep personal connection to the project. We're both very excited for this."

Previous Nuestro Planeta commissions include writers Diana Burbano, who will pen the Colombia installment, and Paloma Sierra, whose project will center on Puerto Rico.

Quijada is an actor, playwright and composer whose original work has been developed and produced all across the country. His hip-hop solo show Where Did We Sit on the Bus? has been produced at Victory Gardens, Geva Theatre (Emmy nomination for digital stream), Teatro Vista (Jeff Award), Ensemble Studio Theatre (Drama Desk nomination), Boise Contemporary, 1st Stage, City Theatre Pittsburgh, and a digital production at Actors Theatre of Louisville (Drama League nomination). His play Kid Prince and Pablo premiered at the Kennedy Center in 2019. His plays have been developed at The Kennedy Center, Pittsburgh CLO's Spark Festival, Victory Gardens' Ignition Festival, New Stage and Film's Powerhouse Festival, and The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Musical Theatre Conference. Commissioning institutions include A.R.T., 1st Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Wooly Mammoth and The Kennedy Center. He is a proud member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre. Brian's song "The Always Song" was the 2021's Hispanic Heritage Month Song for Nickelodeon. Select acting credits include Bobbie Clearly at Roundabout, Oedipus El Rey at The Public Theater, My Mañana Comes at Playwrights Realm, How We Got On and Airness at Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival. TV: Blue Bloods, Manhattan Love Story. Brian is a proud ensemble member of Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York.

For more information about Nuestro Planeta, click here.

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