Pesha Rudnick joined the directing faculty in the Department of Theatre & Dance in 2021. She is founding artistic director of Local Theater Company (LTC) dedicated to the development of new American plays, world-premiere productions, and high quality arts education. For LTC, Pesha curated the Local Lab new play festival for 10 seasons and directed over twenty world premieres. She has worked with dozens of playwrights including Beth Henley, V (formerly Eve Ensler), Quiara Alegria Hudes, Jiehea Park, Rehana Lew Mirza, Lauren Gunderson, Michael Mitnick, Lia Romeo, David Yee, Debra Zoe Laufer, David Myers, Andrew Rosendorf, Meridith Friedman, Kate Tarker, Lila Rose Kaplan, Charlie Thurston, and others. LTC has won 38 Colorado Theater Guild awards and in 2019 the editors of 5280 Magazine named Local Theater Company “Best Theater Company in Denver”. In 2022, Pesha moved LTC to a shared artistic leadership model with Betty Hart and Nick Chase. Currently, Pesha serves as a board member at Local Theater Company, Lights Up! Theatre in Santa Barbara, and 2nd Stage, a nonprofit and Broadway theater in NYC.

 

Nationally, Pesha has directed many new works including the world-premiere of O.P.C. at ART at Harvard University and 26 Miles for Curious Theater Company/National New Play Network. She has also worked at La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Signature Theatre Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Cornerstone Theater Company, Creede Repertory Theater, Florida Stage, and Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

 

Pesha holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree from New York University. Pesha is Drama League Directing Fellow and a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Pesha was featured in Westward Magazine’s “100 Colorado Creatives.” Want to know more about Pesha’s passion for live theater in under 9 minutes?  Visit her website pesharudnick.com or watch her TEDx talk on "The Danger of Live Theater.”