Thomas Graves Joins Rude Mechs

I think this might turn into an actual blog, in addition to an archive for RudeNews. We can’t send RudeNews out as often as we want to because people unsubscribe like mad, but we have a lot to say. So, what else.

We’re scrambling like mad to get The Evil Eye Ball (8/23/08) going. It’s kicking off our 13th year, so we’re embracing the number 13 while doing everything we can to ward off bad luck. We’re looking for really fantastic things to auction off, so if you have anything you’d like to donate that you think people will pay good money for, let us know. So far we do have an amazing trip to Brazil. That will be in the live auction. Also – if you want to volunteer for the event, send an email to volunteer@rudemechs.com.

Grrl Action is about to start. Carrie and Sarah have recruited 18 or 19 girls – our largest class yet! Performances are in July. Check the website for info (www.grrlaction.org). Performances will be at The Off Center.

We are trying to sort out our upcoming season. Since we’ve been touring, we’ve had very little control over when we can actually stop and create new work and even less control over when we can produce. As soon as we make a plan something exciting comes up and forces us to rethink the calendar. Right now we are working on a new piece by Kirk Lynn and Peter Stopschinksi. The working title is The Leash but we’re in the middle of retitling. L.W. Vinculum is the current front runner. If we can raise enough $$$ for it (see Evil Eye Ball) we’ll present a work-in-progress viewing in December, another one next April and then the premiere in September ’09. The concept is exciting – we’re looking to really allow all of the explorations by the company to come to fruition and to present everything – film, dance, video, musical, the works (see $$$ and Evil Eye Ball).

In the meantime, we’re thinking about doing a haunted house – an idea we’ve been tossing around for years. And we’ll be bringing back The Method Gun in January/February. We’re hoping that will go on tour in Fall ’09 and we need to rework it to make it fit in your average venue. The Rollins was amazing to put a play into, but it’s almost twice as tall and twice as wide as your average space. So we’ve got to get creative. We’re also excited to dig into the piece a bit more – it’s not done. There’s work to be done around the final exercise and how it relates to the rest of Burden’s process, at the very least.