AUSTIN: Ensemble company Rude Mechs is about to be one founder short. Cofounder and co-producing artistic director (abbreviated by the group as CoPad) Sarah Richardson will step down from the company she helped create, to focus more time on her toddler and two cats.

“Once a Rude, always a Rude,” said Richardson in a statement. “I tried for a while to follow a more conventional theatrical career path, but my heart was searching for the kind of artistic home that I finally found in Rude Mechs. Being a CoPad has been the defining role of my life in the theatre and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” While she will no longer be an active leader of Rude Mechs, Richardson will stay on as a company member and “CoPad emeritus.”

“I’m rooting for more decades of groundbreaking work,” said Richardson. “I’m proud to remain affiliated with such dedicated and talented people.”

Richardson has played a primary artistic role in 11 of the company’s 24 original productions, including the direction of How Late It Was How Late, Last Supper, and Ubu Roi. She also performed in 7 productions. Alongside her artistic work with Rude Mechs she served as marketing director on the administrative staff through 2004.

In addition to Richardson’s transition, Rude Mechs also announced the creation of a managing director post, which will be filled by Alexandra Bassett. Bassett previously worked with the group on their Lincoln Center Theater production Stop Hitting Yourself in 2014. She moved to Austin last fall.

Rude Mechs will continue to operate under the co-artistic leadership of Madge Darlington, Thomas Graves, Lana Lesley, Kirk Lynn, and Shawn Sides.