RUDE MECHANICALS-A THEATRE COLLECTIVE
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : i**o@r*******s.c*m
Mission Statement
Rude Mechs is an ensemble-based theatre collective from Austin, TX, committed to: Creating original, live performance for the new canon; Serving as cultural ambassadors for our home city and state as we tour nationally and internationally; Mentoring emerging theatre artists; Articulating the practice of collaborative creation and advocating for devised work in the field; Sharing material resources with the community; Providing free or low-cost work space for artists of all disciplines; Keeping our productions and programs affordable; Engaging the audience as collaborators in our art-making process; and Fostering confidence and creativity in young people through the power of performance.
About This Cause
Since 1995, Rude Mechs has created a genre-averse slate of original theatrical productions peppered with big ideas, cheap laughs, and dizzying spectacle. What these works hold in common are the use of play to make performance, the use of theaters as meeting places for audiences and artists, and the use of humor as a tool for intellectual investigation. We tour these performances nationally and abroad; maintain Rude Studios, a suite of rooms that are home to artists of every discipline; house a scenic lending library; and run Off Center Teens, a year-round theatre camp for teens. The quality and innovation of the company’s theatrical productions have firmly established Rude Mechs as one of Austin’s most highly valued cultural assets As we create new works for adventurous theatre-goers, we seek to demystify the art-making process, and we work hard to foster real communication with and responsiveness to our patrons by holding workshops, talkbacks, and open rehearsals along the way. We remain adamant that we will not make work we ourselves could not afford to go see and continue to offer sliding scale and pay-what-you–can nights to keep our work accessible to all, regardless of economic status. . In 1999, Rude Mechs assumed the management of The Off Center, a performance warehouse in East Austin. The Off Center housed a flexible 100-seat theatre, the administrative offices of Rude Mechs, studios for visual artists, a rehearsal room, Austin Scenic Coop, and a scene shop, and The Off Shoot, a classroom dedicated to the work of Off Center Teens. In 2012, The University of Texas at Austin increased Rude Mechs’ rent by over 300%, and the company was forced to leave The Off Center at the end of that term, in May 2017. In June 2017, Rude Mechs acquired an 18-month lease on 5K sf of space and created Rude Studios: rehearsal rooms, crafting space, classroom, meeting, dance, admin and storage space for Austin artists. Rude Mechs is an ensemble-based theatre company that operates with a full company of 33 members. We create original plays that we produce in Austin, TX. We have received over 180 local and national awards and nominations for our work. We’ve enjoyed four Off-Broadway premieres and toured to top national venues such as The Walker Arts Center (Minneapolis, MN), The Wexner Center (Columbus, OH), and Woolly Mammoth (Washington D.C.). We seek to participate in the international community of artists by contributing to festivals such Austria’s SommerSzene, the Galway Arts Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (winner Total Theatre Award for Best New Play by an Ensemble), the Kiasma Festival, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, and the Under the Radar Festival in NYC. Our touring productions include “Field Guide”, “Not Every Mountain”, “The Cold Record”, “Replacement Tapes”, “Stop Hitting Yourself”, “Now Now Oh Now”, “The Method Gun”, “Get Your War On”, “How Late It Was, How Late”, “Cherrywood”, and “Lipstick Traces.” Our Off-Broadway productions include “Stop Hitting Yourself”, “The Method Gun”, “Get Your War On” and “Lipstick Traces.” Our production “The Method Gun” was selected for the 34th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. Our emergence into this community was marked by a feature in The New York Times that identified Rude Mechs as one of three companies in the country “making theatre that matters.” We are deeply proud to represent Texas as a home for cutting-edge theatrical practice.