Shepherd University’s Rude Mechanicals Medieval and Renaissance Players led by Dr. Betty Ellzey, chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages, have been invited to perform a program of medieval French farces at the University of California Santa Barbara on Friday, May 17. The group of nine students and two alumni will perform farces that have not been performed publicly since the 16th century

The farces were edited and translated by Dr. Jody Enders, distinguished professor of French and Italian at University of California Santa Barbara, and published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. The plays were written and performed in the 15th and 16th centuries throughout France, usually outdoors in market squares for the peasants and middle class; they are often satirical and full of physical comedy.