This is one of Rude Mechs’ most beguiling performance ideas in a long time. After a stint in Chicago as part of Pivot Arts Festival and a development residency in Minneapolis at the Guthrie Theatre, Not Every Mountain returns for its Austin premiere a little the same and a little different.

We don’t wanna give away all the new fun stuff but we can tell you that Peter Stopschinski joins us playing live and this revised version features a contraption called an octahedral scissor lift.

Not Every Mountain is a mellow meditation on change, permanence and our place in the natural world. It is a presentation of the life cycle of mountains and the processes by which they are born and eventually laid to rest, an invocation of tectonic force and geologic time.

Using string, cardboard and magnets, Not Every Mountain invites us to watch the collective effort of making and unmaking a series of interlocking mountain ranges. We watch minutes, or perhaps centuries, unfold, as mountains rise and fall, clouds dance, birds alight and depart, and a moon delicately hangs overhead. Not Every Mountain is a joyous and poignant meditation on the fleetingness of time and the many lives of minerals, underscored by a poetic recitation–or perhaps a spiritual incantation.

Arts Writing

How Rude Mechs Built a Mountain to Scale, Russell Dembin, American Theatre Magazine, June 2017 

Not Every Mountain by Rude Mechs, Cason Murphy, Theatre Journal, Volume 71 #2, June 2019

Reviews & Citations

“Barbara Purcell’s Top 10 Only-in-Austin Arts Highlights of 2019” Barbara Purcell, Austin Chronicle, December 2019

“Robert Faires’ Top 10 Theatre Treasures of 2019” Robert Faires, Austin Chronicle, December 2019

“Both everything and nothing. Or not.” I.B. Hopkins, Sightlines Magazine, April 2019

“Rude Mechanicals’ Not Every Mountain” Trey Gutierrez, Austin Chronicle, April 2019

“Wolves, Mountains and Big Brother” Tarra Gaines and Nancy Wozny, Arts and Culture Texas, June 2019

The April 2017 workshop production was not reviewed.

Video from the 2017 production of Not Every Mountain will be available upon request.

Not Every Mountain creation support comes in part from The National Endowment for the Arts, because a great nation deserves great art. Rude Mechs thanks the Guthrie Theater for hosting the ensemble in residence during the summer of 2018 in support of the development of this piece. The residency was made possible through a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Rude Mechs is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department, and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Rude Mechs creates new works collaboratively, and we believe it is important to acknowledge the work that is done prior to getting the show ready for production. This work begins often with the Co-Producing Artistic Directors finding consensus around a project’s concept. That done, a collaborative team refines the concept, develops content, structure and style, and gets the piece on its feet. This collaborative team eventually expands to envelop to the entire production team as the work is created.

NOT EVERY MOUNTAIN
April 17 – 28, 2019
Motion Media Arts Center, Austin, TX

created by Rude Mechs
Writing: Kirk Lynn
Original Music and Sound Design: Peter Stopschinski
Direction: Thomas Graves & Shawn Sides
Costume Design: Aaron Flynn
Lighting Design: Brian H Scott
Scenic Design: Thomas Graves
Technical Direction: Pete Dahlberg
Stage Manager: Jasmine Kurys
Crew: Tyler Kosmak, Vincent Tomasino

Performers: Mari Akita • Eva Claycomb • Crystal Bird Caviel • Thomas Graves • Kevin Jacaman • Kesley Oliver • Alexandra Bassiakou Shaw • Peter Stopschinski

Additional Collaborators: Panda Landa, Derek Kolluri, Kelsey Vidic, Olivia Plath, Kari Olmon, Sheena Jason, Josef Kristofoletti, Jennifer Kidwell

With gratitude to Carra Martinez, Austin School of Film / Motion Media Arts Center, Doug Dempster, Brant Pope and The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance

Episode 1: Not Every Mountain
March 30 – April 9, 2017
1st draft workshop showing

created by Rude Mechs
text by Kirk Lynn
set design by Thomas Graves
sound design and original music composed by Peter Stopschinski
costume design by Aaron Flynn
lighting design by Brian H Scott
set design by Thomas Graves
design and technical direction by Pete Dahlberg
props by Derek Kolluri
production stage manager Jasmine Kurys
crew Alex Suha and Tyler Kosmak
master electrician David Higgins
carpenters Zach Miranda, Matt Zapata

featuring Eva Claycomb, Pete Dahlberg, Thomas Graves, Kevin Jacaman, Alexandra Bassiakou Shaw, Jennifer Kidwell, Derek Kolluri, Kirk Lynn, Kelsey Oliver, and Panda Landa