Behind the Curtain with Ellicia Elliott

By Rosemary Fotheringham

Ellicia Elliott is the founder and artistic director of the Rude Mechanicals, a local performing arts organization producing Shakespeare and Shakespeare-inspired plays. I met Ellicia at The Space, an event venue in the Uptown in Richland, where the Rude Mechanicals are rehearsing their production of As You Like It.

When I first walked into the empty venue, a woman teaching a virtual yoga class at the back of the room waved hello to me. Later, Ellicia introduced her to me, and it turned out she was Dr. Emily Rollie, Ellicia’s colleague and the intimacy coordinator for their play. The show’s intimacy choreographer and fight choreographer are both women, a rarity in this industry. Once the rehearsal started, Ellicia and I sat side by side on Emily’s yoga mat and she told me about how the Rude Mechanicals got started. The name itself is a nod to the ragtag group of amateur but enthusiastic actors in A Midsummer Night’s Dream who are laborers and craftsmen by day and actors by night.

Ellicia said people had encouraged her to start a theater company since her undergrad, but she never really thought she could do it. It was when she was on maternity leave after having her first son that she realized that between being a drama teacher at Richland High School full-time and running an after-school program, she wouldn’t be able to see her child. She didn’t want her son to ever feel the same way she did, having a dream but feeling like he couldn’t do it. Ellicia laughed as she explained, “I went on maternity leave and started a theater company, as you do!” A big part of the vision behind the Rude Mechanicals is making Shakespeare more accessible to everyone. Their tagline is “Kick-ass Shakespeare,” and their website says: “We believe that Shakespeare doesn’t have to be boring. Shakespeare should be funny, exciting, sexy, crude, tragic, violent, and most of all entertaining.” Ellicia says that there’s a huge population here who’s never seen live theater, and it’s been exciting to see the “big mix” of people who come to the shows. “When I was growing up, financially, I couldn’t go to plays so I would usher to go for free. I want people outside of our arts community to come experience art.”

Their next show, As You Like It, will be held outdoors at Howard Amon Park and is free to attend through a City of Richland grant. Ellicia hopes that their Shakespeare in the Park program will bring even more people to see live theater for the first time.

It’s important to Ellicia to create a space where anyone can be a part of what The Rude Mechanicals does. She wants people who are in a wheelchair or deaf to be able to audition if they want to. A number of transgender or non-binary actors who’ve been involved with the company have expressed to her, “I know I will feel safe with you guys.” She is embracing a growing practice of “color-concious” casting, where the best person for the role is cast, regardless of ethnicity, skin color, body shape, sex and/or gender, while still acknowledging the implications of skin color. She points out two of her cast members: “These two are playing brothers. One is black and one is white. Someone might say they don’t look related, but they’re the two best actors [for those roles], and we need to represent our community on stage.”

The Rude Mechanicals also embraces producing shows by female playwrights and playwrights of color, which have historically been underrepresented. In the future, Ellicia hopes that the Rude Mechanicals will be the first professional theater in this area: “Artists need to get paid.” She also plans to do paid freelance directing in other cities, returning to Richland as her home base.

Along with other theater companies, they struggled in the pandemic, and need the community’s support to ensure their work can continue. Ellicia encourages people who are interested in getting involved, donating, or becoming a corporate or foundation sponsor to check out the Rude Mechanicals’ website at rmtheatre.org.