Biography

Change cannot happen on its own, but it is the work that we do and make together that can forge paths towards equity and justice.

Words from Dr. Patricia Herrera

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Since 2011 Dr. Herrera has engaged with the greater Richmond community on a public humanities project entitled Civil Rights and Education in Richmond, Virginia: A Documentary Theater Project, which has led to the creation of a digital archive The Fight for Knowledge, as well as three community exhibitions at The Valentine Museum: Made in Church Hill (2015), Nuestras Historias: Latinos in Richmond (2017) and Voices from Richmond’s Hidden Epidemic (2019–2020) and a series of seven docudramas about gentrification, educational disparities, HIV/AIDS, segregation and Latinos in Richmond. 

As an artist and educator using theater to promote social justice, she co-founded and co-directed the Rubí Theater Company in 2000, an intergenerational ensemble that produced original plays and conducted performance workshops in New York City. She has appeared with the group as a lyricist and rapper on Dan Zanes’s Nueva York (2008), Catch That Train (2006 Grammy Award Winning CD for Best Children’s Musical Album), House Party (2003), and Night Time (2002). Her plays A Woman Who Outshone the Sun (2003), and Embrace Me With Your Shawl (1997), and the musical Remnants (2014) co-written with José Joaquín Garcia, deal with growing up in New York City, environmental justice, and urban youth experiences. They have appeared at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange, International Fringe Festival, Rubicon Theatre Company, University of Richmond and Culver Center of the Arts.