Hello Friends,
Wow. What a year.
No, really. It’s been something for The Rude Mechanicals, as I am sure it’s been for you. As the year comes to an end and we reflect on the changes we’ve seen, I feel grateful that not all of them have been hardships. Some of them have been opportunities. When we were no longer able to gather in groups and produce live (in person) theatre, we had to pivot and find new ways to connect with our audiences and so our shows went online! This gave us an unexpected opportunity to work with actors all over the country. We’ve been so lucky to work with incredible artists from right here in our back yard to the big apple! We also had the opportunity to produce many new works including a series of plays that directly address social justice written by a Black playwright, Idris Goodwin. Shakespeare’s work reflected the social climate at the time that he was writing and I feel grateful for opportunities to use our skills, time, and energy to follow in those footsteps as much as possible.
Just recently I had the wonderful chance to direct our yearly tradition of a reading of A Christmas Carol and we were able to keep our promise of a LIVE reading (it was just over Zoom). This year’s version was William Shakespeare’s Christmas Carol by Portland playwright, Ian Doescher. I was pleasantly surprised at how nervous I felt before we “went live” with our online show. It wasn’t much different than other opening nights, except that I was wearing slippers and sitting in my dining room. If you were able to join us for that production I hope you enjoyed it in your slippers, cozy at home too. Over the course of this year many of you have donated or joined our Patreon, and I am infinitely grateful for your generosity. It has helped us a great deal during this time when theatres across the globe are struggling.
R: Puck (The Ghost of Christmas Past), Scrooge, Mercutio, Benvolio, Romeo as Young Scrooge
We can’t wait to be able to share that opening night excitement with you in person, in the meantime our Youtube channel has many of our shows to watch from this season, and I hope you take advantage if you haven’t been able to see them yet. On behalf of the board and company, I want to wish you a very happy and healthy holiday season. Huzzah!
Emily Richman, Board President
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