Pesha Rudnick is a freelance stage director, producer, educator and arts advocate. She is Founding Artistic Director Emerita of Local Theater Company, a non-profit organization that discovers, develops and produces new American plays and exceptional arts education, where she continues to serve on the board of directors. She also serves on the board of directors at Second Stage in New York City, where she chairs the HR committee, as well as on the board of LightsUp! Teen Theatre Company in Santa Barbara. She is a Lecturer in the Department of Theater & Dance at UCSB, where she has been on faculty since relocating to Santa Barbara in 2021.
Pesha has directed over a hundred new and classical plays nationwide, including the NNPN rolling world premiere of 26 Miles and O.P.C. by V (formerly Eve) Ensler at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University. She previously collaborated with Ms. Ensler as associate director of the world premiere of Emotional Creature at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Signature Theatre Center. Most recently, she directed The Shark Is Broken by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon for Ensemble Theatre Company and the Laguna Playhouse, a production Fanboy Nation said Pesha, “Guides the production flawlessly, allowing the humor and tension of the script to unfold naturally”. She has also worked at La Jolla Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Creede Repertory Theatre, Curious Theatre Company, Denver Center, Florida Stage and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and many others.
As founding artistic director of Local Theater Company, Pesha produced, developed and directed over forty new works, for which she received 43 Colorado Theatre Guild nominations and awards. In 2022, she announced a shared artistic leadership model for the company in partnership with Nick Chase and Betty Hart. In 2019, Local Theater Company was named "Best Theater in Denver" by the editors of 5280 Magazine and received recognition from Denver Post, Westword Magazine and Culture West Awards. Pesha is featured in Westword Magazine's "100 Colorado Creatives."
Pesha is the former associate artistic director of Theater Masters' National MFA Playwright's Festival (59E59, Atlantic Stage 2, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Wild Project, Theatre Row, and the Aspen Institute). For six years, she served as the associate director of education at Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles.
Pesha holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree from New York University. In 2008, Pesha was invited to present her thesis, "Using Theater in the Classroom to Promote Literacy" at the IDEAS Conference in Hong Kong.
Pesha is a Drama League Directing Fellow and a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).