Jesca Prudencio
Associate Professor
PSFA Diversity Council
School of Theatre, Television, and Film
College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts
SDSU
Bio
Jesca Prudencio is a theater and film director dedicated to developing new theatrical works that humanize issues and explore the tension between cultures. She focuses on new plays, documentary theater, and dance theater works in regionally, and internationally. Favorite credits include The Great Leap at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Vietgone and Actually at San Diego Repertory Theatre for which she was nominated for Outstanding Director by San Diego Critics Circle, How To Use A Knife at Mixed Blood, and Calling: a dance with faith at Tony Award winning theater La MaMa ETC. Jesca as developed new work at The Kennedy Center, East West Players, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Space on Ryder Farm, La MaMa, The Public Theatre, National Alliance of Musical Theatre, and La Jolla Playhouse. She is the recipient of the TS Eliot US/UK Exchange at the Old Vic, The Drama League Fall Fellowship, the inaugural Julie Taymor World Theater Fellowship, and an Artist-In-Resident at the Performance Project at University Settlement in Manhattan.
She founded her company People Of Interest in 2014 to focus on new theatrical events that address community specific issues. Their production of Campo Maldito was a NYTimes Fringe Festival Pick in NYC and nominated for Best Guest production by Theatre Bay Area Awards in San Francisco. FAN: stories from the brothels of Bangkok focused on humanizing people working in Thailand’s infamous sex industry, A&Q: a documentary theater piece on the big issue shed light on people who are directly affected by the war on drugs in the Philippines performed in Pineapple Lab in Manila, and NOHING, a documentary dance theater piece focused on sexual assault in public spaces.
The Julie Taymor World Theater Fellowship supported a year long excursion through Thailand, Japan, and The Philippines as she researched and trained in traditional and contemporary forms of theater in each country. She holds a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and an MFA in Directing from UC San Diego.