Rude Mechanicals is a student-run theatre group fostering community and inciting creativity by providing students across the University the opportunity to work on all aspects of a full-scale production.  From costumes, to actors, to set design, directors, stage managers and producers, all aspects of a Rude Mechanicals production are run by students. 

​

Michael Newberry and Christopher Nitchie founded Rude Mechanicals in the Fall of 1996. The two Sophomore Engineering students had a mutual love of theatre, particularly Shakespeare. They noticed there were few opportunities for non-theater students to work on theater at a University level, so they decided to make their own theatre organization on campus.  At the time, the University Activities Center had a committee called SophShow. Mike and Chris transformed this group into Rude Mechanicals. They produced one non-musical performance a year, with no restrictions on the age of the cast. The first production was King Lear in the Fall of 1996, followed by A Few Good Men in Winter 1997.

​

Since then, Rude Mechanicals has consistently produced one dramatic play each semester in either the Lydia Mendelssohn or Arthur Miller Theatre.