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Jesca Prudencio is a director, choreographer, and educator. She is dedicated to developing new theatrical happenings that explore the tension and bridges between cultures. She focuses on new plays, musicals, film, and dance theater nationally and internationally with her signature blend of playful physicality, bold visuals, and heartfelt emotion. Jesca has developed original works at La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Playwrights Realm, East West Players, NAMT, La MaMa ETC, The Public, and The Movement Theatre Company, Virgin Voyages cruise lines, and more.

Her passion for experimentation in form has led her to generate work in immersive theatre, documentary theatre, and entertainment. Her 2019 production A&Q: a documentary theater performance shed light on people who are directly affected by the war on drugs in the Philippines, and her 2018 piece Nohing used dozens of stories and portraits of women and femme-identifying individuals around sexual assault in public spaces.  She has been the creative director and choreographer for several projects at La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival, including PDA, which explored the relationships of three real couples and how they love out loud, and Can We Now?, which took a playful approach to how we touch each other post-pandemic. Jesca most recently created an original immersive party experience for Virgin Voyages Cruise lines called We Fancy, which celebrates audience members for being exactly who they are using royal dances and global beats from all over the world.

Jesca is the recipient of several fellowships including being the inaugural recipient of The Julie Taymor World Theater Fellowship which supported her travels through Thailand, Japan, and The Philippines throughout 2017 as she researched and trained in traditional and contemporary forms of theater in each country. She was named a 2021 Woman To Watch on Broadway by the Broadway Women's Fund. 

As an educator, she teaches workshops and courses on her area of expertise of directing, physical theatre, immersive theatre, documentary theatre, and world dance at numerous universities and institutions across the U.S. and Asia. Jesca was the former Education Director at Ping Chong + Company, where she worked as a writer, director, and associate on a dozen interdisciplinary and documentary theater projects across the U.S., including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, BAM, and The Smithsonian. Jesca is currently on faculty as Head of Directing at San Diego State University.  She holds a BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch, and an MFA in Directing from UC San Diego.  

When she's not making theater, she's probably dancing bachata  or cooking up a big Filipino meal. 
ALL RECENT WORK AT A GLANCE . . .'
  • CLUB CALIENTE (creator, director, choreographer) - Virgin Voyages
  • EXOTIC DEADLY: OR THE MSG PLAY by Keiko Green - San Francisco Playhouse
  • KAIROS by Lisa Sanaye Dring - East West Players, NNPN Rolling World Premiere
  • CHAPTERS OF A FLOATING LIFE by Clarence Coo - South Coast Rep Pacific Playwrights Festival
  • EXOTIC DEADLY: OR THE MSG PLAY by Keiko Green - The Old Globe
  • KING LIZ by Fernanda Coppel - Geffen Playhouse
  • INTERSTATE by Kit Yan and Melissa Li - East West Players
  • EXOTIC DEADLY by Keiko Green (reading) - Powers New Voices Festival at The Old Globe
  • CREATRILOGY: The Musical by Keelay Gipson and Sam Salmond, based on the books by Peter H. Reynolds (reading) - TheatreWorksUSA
  • EXPORT QUALITY by Carolyn Antonio, Erica Miguel, and Dorotea Mendoza (workshop) - The Brick in association with Loose Change Productions
  • INTERSTATE by Kit Yan and Melissa Li (workshop) - MCC Theater SongLab
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