Pesha Rudnick is a theater director and producer whose work spans national, university, and new-play development stages across the country. She is the founding artistic director of Local Theater Company in Boulder, Colorado, where she led the company's mission to discover, develop, and produce bold new American plays from 2011 to 2023, directing more than 75 new works over that span and earning recognition as "Best Theater in Denver” from 5280 Magazine. Her work spans world premieres at the American Repertory Theatre, Aurora Fox Arts Center, Ensemble Theater Company, Curious Theatre, Creede Repertory Theater, Kennedy Center for the Arts, Laguna Playhouse and she has shepherded new plays through staged workshops at venues including La Jolla Playhouse, Palm Beach DramaWorks, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Rattlestick Playwrights, Signature Theater, and Roundabout Theater in NYC.
A dedicated educator and mentor to the next generation of theater artists, Rudnick lectures on directing, new play development, and artistic leadership at the University of California, Santa Barbara (since 2021) and previously lectured at the University of Colorado at Boulder (2011-2019) and Naropa University. Her commitment to theater education runs deep: she spent six years as Associate Director of Education at Cornerstone Theater Company. She shared her perspective on the medium in a 2018 TEDx Boulder talk, "The Danger of Live Theater," and has presented at the International Drama/Theatre Education Association in Hong Kong.
Beyond the rehearsal room, Rudnick is a committed arts leader and institutional builder. She serves on the board of Second Stage Theater in New York, chairing its HR Committee, as well as on the boards of Local Theater Company in Boulder, Colorado and LightsUp! Theater Company in Santa Barbara. Earlier in her career, she served as Artistic Director of the National MFA Playwright's Festival for Theater Masters. A graduate of UC Berkeley (B.A., Political Science) and NYU (M.A., Educational Theater), she has been recognized with fellowships from the Drama League, Lincoln Center Director's Lab, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's FAIR Directors program — a foundation that continues to inform her genre-spanning work as a freelance director and theater producer across the country.
Pesha lives in Santa Barbara, CA with her husband and two children.