Ilesa Duncan is thrilled to join the Black Arts & Culture Alliance (BACA) staff as the Development Associate. An arts administrator, producer, director, writer, and educator, ILesa is also the Executive and Producing Director at Pegasus Theatre Chicago. As a director and writer, her credits include Native Son, From The Mississippi Delta, Middle Passage and, Neverwhere (Lifeline Theatre), Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea, Eclipsed, The Green Book, Shakin’ The Mess Outta Misery, Blacula: Young, Black and Undead, Breath, Boom, and In The Continuum, and the annual Young Playwrights Festival productions (Pegasus). Duncan has worked with The Goodman, Writers Theatre, Victory Gardens, Rivendell, Congo Square, Black Ensemble, and Chicago Dramatists. Regional: The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Arena Stage (DC), Lincoln Center Theater (New York), and Contemporary American Theatre Company (Ohio).

 

Ilesa co-adapted Middle Passage from the National Book Award-winning novel by MacArthur Fellow Charles Johnson and has written short stories, poems, and other works. As an educator, ILesa has led youth development and arts education programs in Chicago for over sixteen years. She is a past awardee of an NEA/TCG Directing Fellowship and a 3 Arts Ragdale’s Fellowship. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Theatre Director’s Lab and the Chicago Director’s Lab.