Pesha Rudnick is the founding artistic director of Local Theater Company, a non-profit organization that discovers, develops and produces new American plays and exceptional arts education. Pesha is also freelance director, a producer, an educator and an arts advocate. She serves on the board of directors at Second Stage in NYC and is a Continuing Lecturer in the Department of Theater & Dance at UCSB.
Pesha has directed hundreds of 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. She has also worked at the La Jolla Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Creede Repertory Theatre, Curious Theatre Company, Denver Center, Florida Stage and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
For Local Theater Company, Pesha directed eighteen world premiere productions for which she received 20 Colorado Theater Guild nominations. In 2022, Pesha announced a shared artistic leadership model for Local Theater 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 Westward Magazine’s “100 Colorado Creatives.”
Pesha is the former associate artistic director of Theater Master's 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. She is currently a Lecturer at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Pesha is Drama League Directing Fellow and a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).