Daniel Rodriguez Hijo » Ohio Artist Registry

Daniel Rodriguez Hijo is an Ohio-based director, playwright, producer and theatre educator.

Influenced by his own upbringing in a small, rural arts program, Danny has inspired both artist and audience alike across communities for 12 years. Earlier this year, he was the Acting Coach for the 2025 CAPA Marquee Award-winning production of Hadestown: Teen Edition at Jonathan Alder High School which received the award for “Outstanding Ensemble” and “Best Direction.”

As a director, Danny directs a wide-range of productions every year. Mainly, he directs a number of the professional productions at the award-winning Abbey Theater of Dublin where he serves as the Theater Specialist/Associate Producer. Most recently, he directed “You’re My Boy” by former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Herb Brown.

As a playwright, Danny has been writing original plays and musicals for eight years. His pet-project has been to create a heritage piece for the Central Ohio area — a play to serve as an annual reflection on local history. His work over this time has culminated into the creation of four separate plays, the latest of which is “Path of the Pioneer,” a one-man show about the man, Jonathan Alder, who was raised in a Mingo tribe and grew up across community lines during the most integral years of Ohio and United States history. The world premiere of “Path of the Pioneer” is slated for September, 2026 as part of the America 250 Celebration.

As a producer, Danny is an integral part of the Abbey Theater of Dublin’s year-long season. He schedules, programs, directs, teaches, collaborates, designs, and/or markets for every production and program. He leads the theater’s marketing and social media efforts, designing the artwork for most of the productions as needed. He also adapts and directs the “classic play” production for Dublin Coffman High School’s drama club season as part of the Abbey’s community outreach initiatives. He is also founding member of the Plain City Music, Arts, & Theatre Society (PCMATS) which develops arts programs across disciplines for the Plain City community. As the Vice-President of Theatre for PCMATS, Danny has produced and directed several shows for the community, by the community.

As a theatre educator, Danny has directed 16 school shows between grades 7 and 12. Over the course of ten years, he grew the drama club at Jonathan Alder Junior High School into a program that inspires 40+ students a year between crew/designers and actors. At Jonathan Alder High School, he has steadily grown the Fall Play program which, having increased attendance, regularly makes 300% of yearly expenditures while remaining accessible to all students and audiences. He has also been an integral member of the directing team for their Spring Musical program which most recently received several CAPA Marquee Awards for their 2025 production of Hadestown: Teen Edition.