Grrl Action, a program of Rude Mechanicals, began in 1999 as a summer workshop in creative writing and performance designed to empower girls between the ages of 13 and 16 to find their public voices and build confidence while collaborating with young women from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.  In fall 2007, after eight years of success, Grrl Action expanded its mission, and added a year-round performance-based artistic education program.

Grrl Action now enables young women from 13 to 18 to plan and execute individual, long-term artistic projects, working across the disciplines, alongside professional female artists as their mentors.  Grrl Action participants now can expand their practice beyond the theatre space and into their everyday lives and communities, making them not only better writers and performers, but better citizens, activists, and role models. Engaging them through collectivity and community involvement, Grrl Action inspires young women to widen and transcend the definition of what it means to be an artist.