Rude Mechs Begins University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance Residency

Rude Mechs will begin a three-year residency at The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance as their Resident Theatre Company. Through this innovative partnership of a renowned Tier I research university and an award-winning, nationally-respected new works ensemble, a generation of new undergraduate and graduate students will gain a unique perspective on collectively devising new plays and managing a mid-size theatre.

Says Kirk Lynn, Co-Producing Artistic Director for Rude Mechs and Playwriting/Directing Area Head, "Our mutual interest in this partnership is that it will enhance educational resources for Theatre and Dance students by providing opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students to interact with a professional theatre company and receive training in the areas of creation, production, and administration with a focus on devised ensemble creation."

Rude Mechs has a long and strong history of engaging with students throughout the City of Austin, and are eager to further strengthen our ties with the university and its talented student body.

Residency activities:

Students may apply to undertake internships in the areas of development, marketing/promotion, arts education, venue management, production, and creation.

The Company will serve as a Guest Responder on Department of Theatre and Dance productions, which entails attending rehearsal, performance, and a post-performance meeting with the project’s key artists.

The Company will hold office hours at our offices in The Off Center to answer any questions students may have, and to share the real-world working conditions of the company.

ABOUT RUDE MECHS

Since 1995, Rude Mechs has created a mercurial slate of original theatrical productions that represents a genre-defying cocktail of big ideas, cheap laughs, and dizzying spectacle. What these works hold in common is the use of play to make performance, the use of theaters as meeting places for audiences and artists, and the use of humor as tool for intellectual investigation. We tour these performances nationally and abroad; maintain The Off Center, a performance venue in Austin for arts groups of every discipline; present nationally recognized artists; and run Grrl Action, a year-round arts mentoring program for teenage girls.

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 houses a flexible 100-seat theatre, the administrative offices of Rude Mechs, and studios for visual artists. In 2010, we renovated and opened The Off Shoot, a classroom dedicated to the work of Grrl Action, our year-round arts mentoring program for teenaged girls. 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.

Rude Mechs is an ensemble-based theatre company that operates with a full company of 28 members. We create original plays that we produce in Austin, TX, and tour nationally and internationally. Our touring and off-Broadway productions include "The Method Gun", "I've Never Been So Happy", "Get Your War On", "How Late it Was, How Late", "Cherrywood", and "Lipstick Traces." Our production "The Method Gun" was selected for the 34th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Rude Mechs has received over 180 local and national awards and nominations for our work. We’ve enjoyed two 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 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.

For more information on all things Rude, please visit our website at http://rudemechs.com.

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