The Play:
Cherrywood was written as a simple list of lines, a play without characters, allowing the actors to assemble their roles from the lines they chose to speak. The result is a play so wild it's feral. Beginning as a simple housewarming, the play quickly careens into a recruitment party where werewolves cut frustrated partygoers from the herd, one-by-one, offering personal transformation in the form of a glass of milk. But not everyone is so tolerant of the Trojan-lactose; someone brought a gun to the party and hiding it will only randomize the victim. But before the gunshot there's jello shots, karaoke, and mandatory dancing. The audience is asked their weirdest experience at a party and a trip to the bathroom brings a cascade of intimate information. The gun, of course, goes off, and in the Rude's typical frenetic style the play shifts gears, becoming a whodunit on speed that pits an armed victim against a houseful of suspects. Welcome to the neighborhood. Now, the solution to the mystery is not who is responsible for the trauma, but what trauma we each would inflict if we were responsible for making the world in the image of our desires.

The Company:
Rude Mechanicals (a.k.a. Rude Mechs) is an ensemble-based theatre company located in Austin, Texas committed to the collaborative creation of brave new works for the stage with an aesthetic that is intellectually and politically nervy, physically adventurous and visually striking. Rude Mechanicals are devoted to both re-imagining great works of the classical repertory and exploring the best of contemporary theater. Of special interest are works that seek to illuminate the human condition, employing a heightened sense of reality, muscular/poetic language, and which lend themselves to ensemble performance.

The Reviews:
"Like the best of the Rude Mechs' shows, Cherrywood is a nonstop and impressive cacophony of visual and aural effects. A 75-minute clever rocket ride. Between the deftly shaded ensemble acting and the essential humanity and humor of Lynn's script, Cherrywood is wonderfully warm and odd."
The Austin American Statesman

"Smart, spirited moments that pulse with verve and ingenuity."
The New York Times

Website: www.rudemechs.com