The members of Rude Mechanicals don't mind walking around Anderson Hall in baggy tunics and brightly colored tights. Their swords might make it difficult to sit down while they're doing their homework, though.
Rude Mechanicals, American University's student-run Shakespeare theater group, is made up of students who really enjoy Shakespeare and theater but are not necessarily serious actors.
"I think that Rude Mechanicals has a very distinct character," said Kate Molski, the group's secretary and a senior in the School of International Service.
Molski said the Department of Performing Arts and the AU Players focus on more technical acting and aim to work as professionals, but Rude Mechanicals is all about enjoying Shakespeare's works.
Joanna Holmes, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences and a new member of Mechanicals this year, said she thinks it's great that students who don't do a lot of theater work outside of the Mechanicals get involved in the troupe.
"It's really accessible to everyone," Holmes said.
Rude Mechanicals also likes to focus on its members. All of the members can propose their own ideas for shows, and the best "visions" for a play are chosen to be performed the next year. With a good idea and hard work, any Mechanicals member can direct or produce a full-length Shakespeare play. President Lauren Barredo, a senior in CAS, said about 20 of their 30 to 40 on-paper members continue to come back and perform regularly.
Just because it's a student-run troupe doesn't mean Rude Mechanicals goofs around. The group worked together on the recent "The Merchant of Venice" for more than six weeks, and director Sunny Petzinger, a junior in SIS, doesn't allow the performers to play around during dress rehearsal when they should be paying attention. Molksi said that for big shows, such as last years' "The Tempest," there were three-hour rehearsals five nights a week.
"It's a pretty big time commitment," she said. "But it shows."
"Merchant of Venice" is the troupe's first full-costume show, and Molski said seamstress and stage manager Anna Gering, a senior in SIS, has been working overtime. During rehearsals she hurriedly punched the material out of the lacing holes in bodices and put the finishing touches on costumes while other students did their homework.
With Mechanicals, the actors are able to do traditional plays; however, Molski said Shakespeare gives the group a lot of opportunities to be creative.
"The things that Shakespeare says are universal," Molski said.
This means that they don't necessarily follow Shakespeare's heavy scripts line-by-line. Petzinger cut nearly one-third of the five acts in "The Merchant of Venice" and added an entire scene.
Rude Mechanicals has grown substantially since it first started. Three years ago they performed only one variety show a year. This year they are performing three full-length Shakespeare plays as well as the variety show.
The group also has big plans for the rest of this year. They will be performing "The Eight Reindeer Monologues" later this December. In the spring they will perform a roaring '20s version of "Twelfth Night" and a more contemporary piece, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead."
Both Molski and Barredo say they are excited for the future of Mechanicals and plan to come back after graduation to see the shows.
Holmes said she hopes in the future the troupe will be able to perform in more professional venues than the Tavern and do more of Shakespeare's comedies.
"We've got enough people that really love Shakespeare that we could do anything," she said.
Holmes said she likes the people she's met through Mechanicals, people she might never have met or been close to otherwise.
"At first you think that you'll have nothing in common but your crazy, insane, nobody-understands-you love of Shakespeare," she said.
"But then it turns out you do"
