The Girl in the Park

Jesca Prudencio navigates easily through the multi-ethnic culture of the United States. Coming from a medical family, her ambitions drew her into a different direction: visual arts. She’s a Philippine American. Her father is a well regarded urologist,and her mother, an equally respected pediatrician in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Her paternal grandfather was a general practice physician, who owned a small hospital in Binalongan, Philippines. Her grandmother is a phramacist. All her uncles and aunts are doctors. Her sisters are nurses. After graduating in Fine Arts from New York University, she was immediately hired as a production associate for Ping Chong and Company, where she would assist her boss in several theatrical projects, notably, Throne of Blood and The Devil You know. Ping Chong is a nonprofit company that encourages fresh talent and produces Off-Broadway plays. Jesca directed two plays produced by The International Filipino Association, Balik Puso, (Returning Heart) and Flipside, both well-recieved by New York audiences.

Her latest directorial effort was The Girl in the Park, which played this summer to packed audiences at the 50 seat Dalliance Theater on the lower east of Manhattan, New York City. The play was about a streetwalker, who forces the people she touches to re-examine their drab lives. With salty language, she exposed the pretentions and hypocrisy of modern society. She extracted believable performances from her cast, which made the presentation as good as any offered on Saturday Night Live. Their excellent portrayal of the characters distracted the audience from the make-shift sets, which were replaced with precision during brief intermissions. Despite her relative youth, in her mid 20’s, it was apparent the cast not only respected her, but liked her as well, an asset for any theatrical director and drama coach. Self-assured and inventive, Jesca Prudencio should go far. Jesca’s proudest accomplishment was directing A Play for an All White Stage at London’s Old Vic Theater as a receiptient of The T S Elliot US/UK Talent Exchange Program.

(Main picture above: L to R, Burt Grinstead, Christy McIntosh, Tom Patrick Stephens, and Ana Nogeira. Miss Nogeira has a slight resemblance to Tina Fey of The NBC series 30 Rock.)