City of Brotherly Rudes

This week, the Rude Mechs hit Philly in a big way, presenting their award-winning production of How Late It Was, How Late in the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. The Rudes were invited to perform at this two-week banquet of more than 50 shows, which spun out of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and now runs concurrently with the Philly Fringe. Dikran Utidjian is reprising his Austin Critics Table Award-winning performance as Sammy, the ex-con beaten and blinded by Glasgow cops, and the original cast returns with one exception. Shawn Sides is taking the roles originally played by Lana Lesley, who's on what may be an even sweeter gig: touring with SITI Company in its new work, systems/layers, a theatrical collaboration with the Louisville band Rachel's.

When Lesley was taking SITI's summer training intensive at Skidmore College in 2003, company members were working up an open rehearsal performance of systems/layers, which follows eight characters through one day of their lives in a city, as seen through the eyes of an international tourist. Cast member Ellen Lauren was called away to tour another show, and Lesley was invited to cover her roles. As a result, she was named standby for the women in the piece. When Kelly Maurer was unable to go on the tour this fall, Lesley got the call to fill in. She describes systems/layers as "a really beautiful piece," with music that's "stunning." Its world premiere is Sept. 16-18 at Utah State University in Logan.