Rude Mechs News

Extended Play has reported on how a group of students at Wesleyan University overcame the challenges brought on by the health crisis, to successfully bring theater to Zoom.

Rude Mechs is thrilled to deliver our newest new work, High Crimes.

Chance Theater, Anaheim's official resident theater company, presents a staged reading of our 2018 Resident Playwright Joanna Garner's new musical, 100 HEARTBREAKS. 

The Method Gun, created by Rude Mechs, returns to the Texas Theatre and Dance stage October 4-5, 2019 at the B. Iden Payne Theatre. The piece explores the life and techniques of Stella Burden, actor-training guru of the 1960s and 70s, whose sudden emigration to South America still haunts her most fervent followers. Burden's training technique, The Approach (often referred to as 'the most dangerous acting technique in the world'), fused Western acting methods with risk-based rituals in order to infuse even the smallest role with sex, death and violence.

Texas Theatre and Dance presents the 2019/2020 Subscription Series, featuring a reimagining of Shakespeare's Ophelia, a punk rock musical for a new generation, Jane Austen's classic tale of good sense and emotional sensibility, captivating new choreography and the stunning conclusion of Tarell Alvin McCraney's award-winning trilogy. 

Corkscrew Theater Festival, which runs July 10-August 3, inaugurates its Corkscrew Downstairs series of workshop productions this summer in the lower level theater at the Paradise Factory (64 East 4th Street, Manhattan). The four projects all take classic texts as a starting point, including A Doll's House, Twelfth Night, the poetry of Walt Whitman, and Leslie Feinberg's 1993 novel Stone Butch Blues. The Downstairs series shares one team of designers -Dan Daly (sets), Christina Tang (lights), and Cinthia Chen (props)-and one flexible repertory set, deepening the festival's focus on exploring collaboration in different forms.

The world's tallest and hairiest drag queen and her band, the Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret, make their Wilma Theater mainstage debut with their trademark masterful musical stylings and uproarious comedy. Played by Pig Iron Theatre Company co-founder Dito van Reigersberg, Martha Graham Cracker has been hailed as the 'drag queen king of Philadelphia' by The Philadelphia Inquirer and received Philadelphia Magazine's Best of Philly award for her one-of-a-kind unscripted show. This June, she will grace the stage of the Wilma for two groundbreaking performances, including a Martha Graham Cracker show like never before: a matinee performance for children and the young at heart. Tickets are on sale for this limited engagement event, running from June 28-June 29.

Corkscrew Theater Festival is pleased to announce the mainstage casts for its third annual festival, which runs July 10-August 3 at the Paradise Factory (64 East 4th Street, Manhattan). The festival features four world premieres, four workshop productions, and four readings performed in repertory over four weeks, with 80 performances in all. As in past years, special attention has been given to theater makers who are developing work through tight-knit collaborations. Tickets are now on sale.

Kicking off the 2019 summer season, City Theatre Austin will present Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney's hilarious and insightful cult comedy Parallel Lives. Two women, twenty-five characters, and an evening of laughter that you will never forget. It's a must see!

Rude Mechanicals Co-Artistic Producers Thomas Graves and Kirk Lynn created NOT EVERY MOUNTAIN as a part of a project the theatre company is working on called Perverse Results (a name derived from a corollary of Murphy's Law.) Through the unique, collaborative method the Rudes use to create a project, Graves brought the idea to Lynn in a desire to portray appreciation for the natural world in a dance piece that involved geometric shapes. Lynn had been working on a writing prompt every morning over the years that began with, 'Not Every Mountain...'. The result was first performed here in Austin, and the Rudes were given a residency for the piece at The Guthrie Theatre, and again at Theatre Nanterre-Amandiers and Pivot Arts Festival Incubator Arts Program.

Veteran Bay Area performing arts leader Rob Bailis has been appointed Artistic and Executive Director of the Eli & Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College (SMC) Performing Arts Center effective June 1, 2019. Bailis most recently held posts of Interim Artistic Director and Associate Director of Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley, one of North America's largest and most prestigious performing arts presenters. The Broad Stage, located in the heart of Santa Monica, is one of the Los Angeles region's leading performing arts presenters, now in its eleventh season.

The Orchard Project is proud to announce a preview of the chefs, performers and presenters for its 2019 Gala, A TASTE OF SOMETHING NEW, occurring Monday, April 15, 2019 at the Prince George Ballroom and honoring the work of Avram Freedberg and Eva Price (Co-Founders, Maximum Entertainment, Producers of Oklahoma! and Jagged Little Pill) and writers Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden (Veep, Divorce, and the musicals Female Troubles and Hollywood Romance).

The Play Company (PlayCo; Founding Producer Kate Loewald, Managing Director Robert G. Bradshaw) announces the chefs and artists scheduled for their 2019 gala, Cabaret Gourmet

YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA (James Bundy, Dean; Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean) has announced the inaugural Yale Design Showcase, May 13-15 at 149 York Street, New Haven, Connecticut: an opportunity for theater professionals to visit the campus and meet the 2019 Class of scenic, costume, lighting, sound, and projection designers, and to see their work up close.

This Friday, March 15, OntheBoards.tv—the first online pay-per-view film series dedicated to bringing provocative performance art, dance, theater, and music to audiences around the world—is launching a 24-hour PBS-style telethon. I thought the telethon would be a great opportunity to shed light on this progressive platform and new model for audience engagement, and make your readers aware of this unique resource for anyone who's interested in the performing arts.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, will present the 2019 Theatre Women Awards at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012) on Monday, March 25 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm). For more information on the 2019 TheatreWomen Awards, and to purchase tickets, please visit www.theatrewomen.org.

The University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance at Austin presents UTNT (UT New Theatre), March 12-31, 2019 in multiple locations throughout the F. Loren Winship Drama Building. Established in 2007 by nationally renowned playwright Steven Dietz, UTNT (UT New Theatre) is an annual showcase of newly developed works for the American stage from playwrights of the Department of Theatre and Dance's master of fine arts program and Michener Center for Writers. Now in its twelfth year, UTNT brings to the stage compelling works by I-Chia Chiu, Hannah Kenah, Daria Miyeko Marinelli and Thom May.

Ground Floor Theatre is proud to announce the world premiere of black do crack running February 14 - March 2, 2019. Directed by Matrex Kilgore and written and performed by Florinda Bryant, black do crack is an exploration of the mythology of the strong black woman. The mother who is not allowed to crack but is dying under the pressure of that fiction. Drugs and food. Escaping. Stuck. Moving slow. Moving too fast. We wail. In secret. Hiding our discomposure. Black bends and do crack.

Ground Floor Theatre is proud to announce the world premiere of black do crack running February 14 - March 2, 2019. Directed by Matrex Kilgore and written and performed by Florinda Bryant, black do crack is an exploration of the mythology of the strong black woman. The mother who is not allowed to crack but is dying under the pressure of that fiction. Drugs and food. Escaping. Stuck. Moving slow. Moving too fast. We wail. In secret. Hiding our discomposure. Black bends and do crack.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, will present the 2019 Theatre Women Awards at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012) on Monday, March 25 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm). For more information on the 2019 Theatre Women Awards, and to purchase tickets, please visit www.theatrewomen.org.