Adrian Alea is a Queer Cuban-American creative producer and director raising the social consciousness of humanity through storytelling and community building in nonprofit, commercial, and trans-media enterprises.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in Southwest Florida, Adrian attended Columbia University, where he majored in Theatre & Dramatic Arts. After honing his community engagement skills by assistant and associate directing with The Public Theater’s Public Works program, he found himself exploring the commercial entertainment industry as a Management Associate for Benny Medina and Jennifer Lopez. His main projects included Lopez’s Las Vegas Residency All I Have at Planet Hollywood and the “Ain’t Your Mama” music video.
He then pursued his Master in Communications at Northwestern University in Leadership for Creative Enterprises, where he passionately vowed to develop and produce works across all forms of media that prioritize a social mission and mass accessibility.
In addition to storytelling in theatre as the Creative Associate for New York City Center’s ENCORES!, the associate director for Hercules (world premiere in association with Disney Theatricals and The Public Theater), and as a director and teaching artist to undergraduate students at Yale University and Fordham University, Adrian has transitioned on producing films that elevate underrepresented voices and evoke a sense of healing and catharsis, such as Ash Land, presented on Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s O! digital platform. He is currently producing and directing a stage adaptation of Cristina Garcia's critically acclaimed and award-winning novel Dreaming in Cuban and a TV series based on Cristina’s novel Monkey Hunting currently titled Los Chen alongside Christina Quitana (CQ).
Recent directing credits: Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, adapted by Caridad Svich (Play On Festival); The Palacios Sisters by Cristina Garcia (Brava Theater Center); STAND by Caridad Svich (New Dramatists reading featuring Daphne Rubin-Vega and Grace McLean); Fucking A by Suzan-Lori Parks (Yale University); The Spanking Machine by Marga Gomez (Syracuse Stage, Solo Artist Residency); Autopsia A Un Copo De Nieve by Luis Santillan (The Lark) .
Past assistant directing credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park); Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theater); Venus (by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks at the Signature Theatre); Alice By Heart (musical workshop at MCC); The Odyssey (Public Works); and The Columbia University Song Book (54 Below).