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I'VE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY
a work-in-progress presentation of a new musical transmedia performance party
December 4 - 13, 2008 (Thurs - Sat at 8pm).

book and lyrics by Kirk Lynn

music and lyrics by Peter Stopschinski

curated and directed by Thomas Graves and Lana Lesley
scenic design by Leilah Stewart | lighting design by Stephen Pruitt | silhouette video by Noel Gaulen and Erin Meyer

A transmedia performance party that purposely defies definition, we invite you to experience a sort of western carnival that may include a short documentary film about the Rude Mechs' parents, our patented "Ask the West" booth featuring a real rancher and a mountain lion ready with answers, a margarita and/or salsa competition, a Rube-Goldberg style art-making installation centered on how the West has affected gender identity, the environment, culture... You might go home with a western portrait, shoot a magical bow and arrow which cannot miss its target, and you just might be listened to for the first time in your life! And at the center of this evening are selections from Rude Mechs' newest musical.

I've Never Been So Happy, with music and lyrics by Austin Experimental Punk Grand Wizard Peter Stopschinski and book and lyrics by Austin Experimental Theatre Mascot Kirk Lynn, is an exploration of the wild frontier of parenthood. A single mother ties her son to the last mountain lion in Texas to toughen him up. A single father tries to keep his daughter from leaving home. Philip Larkin said it best, "They fuck you up, your mum and dad." All this plus a dachshund race, three jokes about rope, a seven-piece band, eight singers, three video puppeteers, and a tiny dance team to create a wild west wonderland in the Rudes' theater, THE OFF CENTER. (And remember, The Off Center was once a feed store!).