STOP HITTING YOURSELF, Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, April 4 - 21, 2013

Rude Mechs will present the first work-in-progress showing of

 



Stop Hitting Yourself
The show runs April 4 - April 21, 2013, Thursday - Sunday at 8:00 pm., at The Off Center, 2211 A Hidalgo, Austin, TX. 

Tickets: Thursday and Sunday - Pay What You Can; Friday and Saturday - $12 - 25 Sliding Scale. 

Tickets go on sale March 4th at www.rudemechs.com. 

The final weekend tickets will also be available through Fusebox Festival. 

Purchase with credit card in advance. Cash only at the door.


"At tonight's party you were observed and those observations are currently being compiled into a list of the things you need to be taught. We have one month to perfect you. In one month, we're going to have another party. The difference is at this next party, the Queen will be in attendance. Improvement. Succor. Fate. Queso. Wardrobe. Charity. Belief."

Once a year at the Charity Ball a single worthy cause is selected to benefit from the Queen's annual good deed. Families of note compete to find the citizens most in need and deserving of assistance. This year, a socialite has discovered a wildman in the forest and brings him home to improve him. The wildman's desire to save the natural world and to bring about an era of love and harmony is a sure-winner. Now she must teach him how to eat and dance, how to bow and flatter, how to behave in society so that his cause can be victorious.

Rude Mechs is currently embracing the fundamental beliefs underlying late-stage capitalism and indulging in some 1930's Hollywood glamour. Part Pygmalion, Busby Berkley, part self-help lexicon -- all while tap-dancing around a queso fountain. STOP HITTING YOURSELF borrows from the plots of 1930's musicals to dig into the contemporary conservative dilemma: how to honor the steely individualism of Ayn Rand without disavowing the ministry of Jesus Christ. Tap dancing, fine dining, and the missionary position will all be employed in order to help all Americans stop hitting yourself.

Some of the Many People Involved: Hope Bennett, Thomas Graves, Heather Hanna, Matt Hislope, Hannah Kenah, Lisa Laratta, Lana Lesley, Jason Liebrecht, Kirk Lynn, Graham Reynolds, Brian Scott, Shawn Sides, Paul Soileau, Dallas Tate, plus awesome technicians, crew, and Rude Mechs company members keeping it awesome.


STOP HITTING YOURSELF is a commission of LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater. LCT3 produces shows by new playwrights, directors and designers - new ideas in a new space. Additional creation support comes from National Endowment for the Arts and MAP Fund. Rude Mechs is supported by the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division.

Rude Mechs is an ensemble-based theatre company that has created a genre-defying cocktail of over 25 original plays that we produce in Austin, TX, and tour nationally and internationally. Our most recent productions include "The Method Gun", "Get Your War On" and "I've Never Been So Happy" which have all toured to such far-flung destinations as New York City, Los Angeles, New Haven, Columbus, Boston, Portland, Philadelphia, Helsinki (Finland), Edinburgh (Scotland), and Brisbane (Australia). Since our inception in 1995, we've received over 180 awards and nominations for artistic excellence and, most recently, the company's production "The Method Gun" was recognized by both Time Out New York and New York Magazine as one of the Top 10 theatrical events of 2011.

For more information about this production and all things rude, visit www.rudemechs.com.


Read more about Rude Mechs to Present Work-in-Progress Showing of STOP HITTING YOURSELF, 4/4-21 by austin.broadwayworld.com
Rude Mechs will present the first work-in-progress showing of "STOP HITTING YOURSELF."
"At tonight's party you were observed and those observations are currently being compiled into a list of the things you need to be taught. We have one month to perfect you. In one month, we're going to have another party. The difference is at this next party, the Queen will be in attendance. Improvement. Succor. Fate. Queso. Wardrobe. Charity. Belief."
Once a year at the Charity Ball a single worthy cause is selected to benefit from the Queen's annual good deed. Families of note compete to find the citizens most in need and deserving of assistance. This year, a socialite has discovered a wildman in the forest and brings him home to improve him. The wildman's desire to save the natural world and to bring about an era of love and harmony is a sure-winner. Now she must teach him how to eat and dance, how to bow and flatter, how to behave in society so that his cause can be victorious.
Rude Mechs is currently embracing the fundamental beliefs underlying late-stage capitalism and indulging in some 1930's Hollywood glamour. Part Pygmalion, Busby Berkley, part self-help lexicon -- all while tap-dancing around a queso fountain. STOP HITTING YOURSELF borrows from the plots of 1930's musicals to dig into the contemporary conservative dilemma: how to honor the steely individualism of Ayn Rand without disavowing the ministry of Jesus Christ. Tap dancing, fine dining, and the missionary position will all be employed in order to help all Americans stop hitting yourself.
Some of the Many People Involved: Hope Bennett, Thomas Graves, Heather Hanna, Matt Hislope, Hannah Kenah, Lisa Laratta, Lana Lesley, Jason Liebrecht, Kirk Lynn, Graham Reynolds, Brian Scott, Shawn Sides, Paul Soileau, Dallas Tate, plus awesome technicians, crew, and Rude Mechs company members keeping it awesome.
The show runs April 4 - April 21, 2013, Thursday - Sunday at 8:00 pm., at The Off Center, 2211 A Hidalgo, Austin, TX. Tickets: Thursday and Sunday - Pay What You Can; Friday and Saturday - $12 - 25 Sliding Scale. Tickets go on sale March 4th at www.rudemechs.com. The final weekend tickets will also be available through Fusebox Festival. Purchase with credit card in advance. Cash only at the door.
STOP HITTING YOURSELF is a commission of LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater. LCT3 produces shows by new playwrights, directors and designers - new ideas in a new space. Additional creation support comes from National Endowment for the Arts and MAP Fund. Rude Mechs is supported by the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division.
Rude Mechs is an ensemble-based theatre company that has created a genre-defying cocktail of over 25 original plays that we produce in Austin, TX, and tour nationally and internationally. Our most recent productions include "The Method Gun", "Get Your War On" and "I've Never Been So Happy" which have all toured to such far-flung destinations as New York City, Los Angeles, New Haven, Columbus, Boston, Portland, Philadelphia, Helsinki (Finland), Edinburgh (Scotland), and Brisbane (Australia). Since our inception in 1995, we've received over 180 awards and nominations for artistic excellence and, most recently, the company's production "The Method Gun" was recognized by both Time Out New York and New York Magazine as one of the Top 10 theatrical events of 2011.
For more information about this production and all things rude, visit www.rudemechs.com.

Read more about Rude Mechs to Present Work-in-Progress Showing of STOP HITTING YOURSELF, 4/4-21 by austin.broadwayworld.com

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Arts Reporting: Eric Dyer's Recollection/Interview of the Rude Mechs and Their Reconstruction of Dionysus in '69, Bombsite.com, November 7

Dyer's lengthy article with photos, via a link published by the Rude Mechanicals, Austin, TX:








THEATER
Bombsite.com, Issue 122 

Preview: Rude Mechanicals


by Eric Dyer Nov 07, 2012

An exclusive preview: Theater group Rude Mechanicals show Dionysus in 69 is at New York Live Arts through November 10.

Hannah Kenah, Jude Hickey, Katie van Winkle and others (photo: Bret Brookshire)

The first meeting between the Austin-based company Rude Mechanicals and NYC’s Radiohole was at the Orchard Project in Hunter, New York, in the summer of 2007. Both companies were in residency, developing new projects—the Rude Mechs (their common moniker) were beginning The Method Gun, which went on to premiere at Humana Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2010, and Radiohole were beginning ANGER/NATION, which opened at The Kitchen in 2008. It was a beautiful summer romance.

That summer at Orchard Project was the first and, to date, only collaboration between Radiohole and Rude Mechs. It was a spontaneous single-evening performance witnessed by few, if any, outside the two companies, and it will never happen again. Thomas Graves, Kirk Lynn, and I performed naked Tai Chi in the dark of night on the rocks in the middle of the Schoharie Creek, illuminated by Scott Halvorsen Gillette standing in the river with an old fluorescent work light and occasional flashes of lightning. With Lana Lesley, Shawn Sides, Madge Darlington, and the other Rudes on the riverbank chanting, Kirk, Thomas, and I swayed gently back and forth until Radiohole’s Maggie Hoffman appeared on the rocks out of the darkness in her long black Carrie A. Nation dress. We hoisted Maggie over our heads and slowly carried her over the rocks. We reached the edge of a large, deep pool and, with a collective exhaling, dropped her into it—we had made our sacrifice. There was a splash and Maggie drifted downriver into the darkness while Kirk, Thomas, and I resumed our swaying.

I relate this story because I cherish the memory—this was a performance in itself, and the vast majority of our work as theater/performance artists takes place in this way, hidden from view, outside the social-aesthetic frame of our regularly scheduled performances. Both the Rude Mechs and Radiohole explore the idea of theater as ritual, as a form of communal religious experience, though in distinct ways. This is manifest in the Rude Mechs’ work on the Performance Group’s 1968 production of Dionysus in 69, directed by Richard Schechner—the first in a series of reenactments of significant experimental performances from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s.

Our companies share a creative ethos that is reflected in some basic structural similarities. Each is collectively run: the Rude Mechanicals by six artistic directors (five of whom founded the company in 1995) and Radiohole by its four founding members. Each creates original works from scratch, and each founded and runs its own venue. Radiohole’s venue is Collapsable Hole in Brooklyn; the Rude Mechs’ performance warehouse, the Off Center, has become home to many of Austin’s visual, film, theater, and music artists.

The following conversation happened on the eve of the Rude Mechs’ New York tour. It is pieced together from many fragments: emails, poorly recorded phone calls, and letters exchanged through the mail (remember that?). The conversation is not linear and reflects the compositional process more or less characteristic of Radiohole and the Rude Mechanicals. By the time you read this, the Rude Mechs will have brought their re-construction of the Performance Group’s Dionysus in 69 to New York Live Arts. We hope you will have experienced it and that this conversation might retrospectively bring new insight into that experience.

Read more at Bombsite.com . . . .

Reviews from Elsewhere: NYT Feature on Rude Mechs' Method Gun, February 27

Found on-line:

Many Methods to Collaborative Madness

By JOAN ANDERMAN, New York Times, February 27, 2011

IT began, as actors’ stories often do, with a guru. Her name was Stella Burden, a k a “the other Stella.” Ms. Burden created a risky suite of training exercises called the Approach, attracted a fervent band of followers and abandoned them nine years into rehearsals for a high-concept production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” to be performed without Stanley, Blanche, Stella or Mitch.

What in the name of madcap Method acting is a company member to do?

That’s the absurdly literal and keenly figurative question at the heart of “The Method Gun,” a play about the creative process by the Austin, Tex., ensemble Rude Mechs, which since it was founded in 1995 has become one of the nation’s leading proponents of devised theater: works developed collaboratively by a company rather than an individual playwright.

“The Method Gun,” which comes to Dance Theater Workshop from March 2 to 11, is the most autobiographical of the company’s pieces. It’s satirical and celebratory in roughly equal parts, exploring ideas of togetherness and loss, the dynamics of being part of a tight-knit group and what it means to take care of one another.

While the show’s premise nods to celebrated acting teachers like Stella Adler and to extreme, emotion-based techniques like the Method, specifics are left aside in favor of merciless riffs on codified approaches to art. But the Rude Mechs’ wicked sense of humor tempers a sincere streak that the company wears like a badge of honor.

Read more at the New York Times on-line . . . .

Upcoming: I've Never Been So Happy (full version), Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, April 21 - May 7

Found on-line at AustinOnStage.com:

The Rude Mechanicals

present

I've Never Been So Happy (full version)

April 21 - May 7, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Matinee performance on Sunday, May 1

at the Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street (click for map)

Tickets are $15 to $25, and the Saturday, May 7th, special closing night performance will feature a post-show concert by entertainment group CHABLIS - voted "Best Local Show 2010" in the Austin Chronicle Critics Poll.

For tickets and more information, visit www.RudeMechs.com.

After two workshop productions at The Off Center in 2008 and 2009 - plus residencies with The Orchard Project and The Musical Theatre Initiative at The University of Texas - The Rude Mechanicals will stage the world premiere of their fulllength western operetta I've Never Been So Happy April 21st through May 7th at The Off Center.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Dionysus in 69, re-enacted by the Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, December 3 - 20

The Rude Mechanicals' Dionysus in 69 is a charming exercise in theatre archeology, one that captivates us by illustrating how sincere, how naive and how lucky we were to be living back in the dark, dark days of 1968.

Back in 1968, the Performance Group's interpretation of Euripides' The Bacchae resounded with the times. Their canny staging of the ancient classic about violence, ritual, unknowing and ecstasy scandalized conventional citizens and captured the imagination of the young -- that earnest generation of forty years ago who were about the age of the Austin's Rude Mechanicals today.

The nudity sold the show then, and the Rudes' press photos suggest that they understand well that aspect of the marketing. And these young folk are without exception all very handsome in their skins, displayed confidently and unselfconsciously in key group rituals portraying of birth, death, and murder.

The Rudes' re-enactment is based on films of the original and it benefits from workshops and discussions with Richard Schechner, director of that path-breaking production. Schechner is now an eminence grise, a venerable elder and NYU professor. He was invited to Austin by UT's Humanities Institute and was scheduled for a discussion and talk-back for the second performance on Friday, December 4.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Dionysus in 69, Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, December 3 -

UPDATE: Click for ALT review, December 5

UPDATE: Dan Solomon interviews director Shawn Sides for austinist.com, December 4

UPDATE: Extensive backgrounder by Robert Faires, published in the Austin Chronicle, November 26

Found on-line:

Rudes rebirth

Dionysus in 69

December 3 -20, Thursdays - Sundays at 8 p.m.
at The Off Center
Tickets on sale now at Brown Paper Tickets

[Photos by Bret Brookshire]

Rude Mechs is proud to produce the first-ever revival of The Performance Group’s Dionysus in 69, a groundbreaking interpretation of Euripides’s The Bacchae. Offering Austin theatre-goers an extraordinary opportunity to relive history, the Rudes are painstakingly recreating the original production, using Brian de Palma’s filmed version of the play and the 1970 book, Dionysus in 69 as source materials, as well as inviting the original production's director, Richard Schechner, to guide several rehearsals.

Rude Mechs celebrates 40 years of experimental theatre by experiencing and learning about Dionysus in 69 in the deepest way - through its performance.

Ensemble: Heather Barfield, Elizabeth Doss, Thomas Graves, Jude Hickey, Matt Hislope, Jodi Jinks, Hannah Kenah, Josh Meyer, Aron Taylor, Katie Van Winkle
Co-Directed by: Madge Darlington and Shawn Sides

NOTE: In addition to Richard Schechner leading several rehearsals in advance of the production he will return to Austin for opening night December 4, when he'll briefly introduce the piece immediately before the show and will attend the opening night party following.

WARNING: NUDITY AND ADULT THEMES.
NO ONE UNDER 18 WILL BE ADMITTED WITHOUT PARENT OR GUARDIAN.

Read more and view images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

I've Never Been So Happy, Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, September 10 - 20

It's clever. It's mythic. It's melodic. It's multimedia.

It's the Rude Mechanicals still-in-workshop production of I've Never Been So Happy with book and lyrics by Kirk Lynn and music by Peter Stopchinsky, who also sings the part of the mountain lion.

But it's short and it's incomplete. By design, it will leave you wanting more.

The Rude Mechanicals have made for themselves an enviable place in the bubbling world of Austin's young non-Equity original-works theatres.

The Rudes are highly creative. They've done 22 original productions since inventing themselves in 1995, building a reputation, a following and support. They are not a high-volume theatre company, despite their six co-producing artistic directors, 28 company members, 88 business partners and an impressive array of individual supporters.

They've survived and triumphed by learning networking and grantsmanship. The Rudes succeeded in getting grant funding for this Western operetta fable from the National Endowment for the Arts, both directly and as part of the subsequent anti-recession stimulus package. The show is part of the NEA's new play development project, coordinated by the Arena Stage in Washington DC. Last December they did a workshop production in Austin of the early scenes of the play. They've worked parts of it further at the Orchard Project in the Catskills and last June with the UT Department of Theatre and Dance.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: I've Never Been So Happy, Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, September 10 - 20

Update: Click for ALT review, September 16

UPDATE: Pre-opening piece by Javier Sanchez at the Daily Texan, September 10

Found on-line:

I've Never Been So Happy

a work in progress production
by the Rude Mechanicals
book and lyrics by Kirk Lynn
music and lyrics by Peter Stopschinski
curated and directed by Thomas Graves and Lana Lesley
September 10 - 20, at the Off Center

Tickets on sale now!

Rude Mechs is proud to present this work-in-progress presentation of our new western operetta performance experiment. We're making musical theatre for a new breed of Texan, and offering up a western adventure that will ply you with soothing adult elixirs, teach you how to use a lasso to capture your love, and then join you on their authentic Texas dance floor as you boot scoot to the greatest music in the West.

I've Never Been So Happy, with music and lyrics by Austin Experimental Punk Grand Wizard Peter Stopschinski (Brown Whornet, Golden Hornet Project), and book and lyrics by Austin Experimental Theatre Mascot Kirk Lynn, fluctuates freely between high art and Hee-Haw, treating both with respect.

The music pits a Grand Ole Opry style West against an El Topo style West. The writing butts lyric poetry up against bar jokes with finesse. The evening challenges what it means to "go to the theater" in 2009.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Method Gun and Tenebrism, Rude Mechanicals, April 9 - May 2

UPDATE, April 19: CLICK for ALT review of The Method Gun

UPDATE, April 1: Click image for Rude Mechs' dumb "Tiger" promo video (1:30 -- one of five versions posted on YouTube)

UPDATE, April 14: Jeanne Claire van Ryzin's pre-opening piece in the Statesman's Austin360 "Seeing Things" blog



From the Rude Mecs, March 4:

THE METHOD GUN
a project of Creative Capital
at The Off Center
April 9 - May 2, 2009 (Thurs - Sun @ 8 pm) No performance Sunday, April 12th

MAKE YOUR RESERVATION NOW!

written by Kirk Lynn
directed by Shawn Sides
featuring: Thomas Graves, Heather Hanna, Jude Hickey, Hannah Kenah and Lana Lesley

”Nothing short of the best work this theater collective has done in its 13 years as it has carved out its well-respected reputation on the international indie theater scene...This is the Rude Mechanicals doing what they do best: crafting a rich series of stunning and surprising visual moments, lacing those moments with kinetic physical movement and wrapping it all together with a script both lyrical and cheeky.” — Austin American-Statesman

“The ‘final performance’ of Burden’s Streetcar features a characteristically Rude-ish blend of physicality and audaciousness... so precisely timed, so crisply executed... almost hypnotic.” — Austin Chronicle "Top 10 Theatrical Treasures and Pleasures of 2008" — Austin Chronicle

"In the arts, the Eight from '08" — Austin American-Statesman

In preparation for our Spring 2010 national tour, Rude Mechs is proud to present a revisited, reworked and recast encore performance of our original play, this time on our home turf, The Off Center.

The Method Gun explores the life, ethos, and techniques of actor-training guru, Stella Burden, as recounted through the eyes of her students. Ms. Burden’s training technique, The Approach, fused Western acting techniques and more dangerous METHODS in an effort to infuse even the smallest of roles with SEX, DEATH and VIOLENCE.

We promise: guns, pendulums, “Streetcar,” and physical danger. We make no claims on behalf of narrative, common sense, or safety.

Using found text from the journals and performance reports of Stella Burden’s company, “The Method Gun” re-enacts the final months of her company’s rehearsals for their nine-years-in-the-making production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Stella left the company under mysterious circumstances in 1972. Diaries and letters from actors in the company express a sense of desperation, inadequacy, and frustration inherent to the process of creating meaningful work for the stage and in everyday life.

Set amid swinging pendulums and talking tigers, “The Method Gun” bounces between interior monologues, rehearsal sequences of “Streetcar,” and group interactions - all gleaned from historical documents - to express a longing for the return of inspiration and a more believable presentation of self in everyday life. Click here for a production history, reviews of the April 2008 production, photos, video clips and more.

ATTENTION FUSEBOX PASSHOLDERS!!!
The Method Gun will also be featured in The Fusebox Festival (April 23 - May 2) alongside new works from Rotozaza, Forced Entertainment and tEETH, as well as works from Nature Theater of Oklahoma, local heroes Rubber Repertory and showings from LeeSaar the Company. We will accept a limited number of Fusebox Passes each night of the festival. To make your reservation, secure the passholder password from Fusebox and make your reservation using the Brown Paper Tickets link above. Select "Fusebox Pass" as your ticket type. You must arrive at the box office no later than 7:45 pm with your pass and valid ID in hand. Unclaimed passholder reservations will be released at 7:45 pm each night.

The Method Gun has received support from Creative Capital Foundation, Rockefeller MAP Fund, The Orchard Project, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Humanities Institute and The Harry Ransom Center. Rude Mechs is supported by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division.

TENEBRISM
featuring Jeremey Catterton and Jayne Deis

THREE NIGHTS ONLY!!!
April 16 - 18, 2009 (Thurs - Sat @ 10:30 pm) each night after The Method Gun at The Off Center

CLICK HERE FOR TICKET INFORMATION

"Fans of more traditionally-structured theater may not be thrilled by the informality and edginess of this dark farce, but I really enjoyed it." – David De Young, www.HowWasTheShow.com

Rude Mechs is crazy proud to host the work of Minneapolis-based theatre company Lamb Lays with Lion with their original performance, Tenebrism.

Tenebrism is the first experiment in the Theatre of Disruption. Performed in an intentionally fragile atmosphere, Lamb Lays with Lion blurs the line of performance and reality by sharing its failure with the audience.

Tenebrism is inspired by the religious imagery of Renaissance painter Caravaggio, Martin Scorsese’s "The Last Temptation of Christ," and legendary rock star Ian Curtis and his iconic post-punk band, Joy Division. The host, Jeremey, promises the audience a show about Jesus, Joy Division, and Caravaggio. However, as Tenebrism unfolds, it becomes clear that the real performance is in witnessing just how hard it is for Jeremey and his assistant, Jayne, to get the show to “go on” at all.

Tenebrism is the result of Lamb Lays with Lion’s “Theatre of Disruption” approach to creating ensemble performance.

Tenebrism is performed by Lamb Lays with Lion founding-members, Jeremey Catterton and Jayne Deis.

Tenebrism promises to be an unforgettable evening of entertainment.

ABOUT LAMB LAYS WITH LION Lamb Lays with Lion is an original and experimental theater company. We dedicate ourselves to the maintained integrity of performance, the exploration of unique and radical new forms, the discovery of virtual and spectral expressions, and most importantly, we strive toward being a leading force behind the thrust into a new age of art. For more information about this production or the company, please visit http://lamblayswithlion.org/. Lamb Lays with Lion company includes: Cameron Brainard, Jeremey Catterton, Jayne Deis, Julia Mae Fairbanks, Jake Lindgren, Katie Rose McLaughlin, Melissa Ann Murphy, Jacob Mullis, Dan O’Neil, Ashley Smith and Carl Atiya Swanson.