by MARY TUOMANEN
On April 13th, 2019, the warm breeze of real spring wafts into 338 Brown St in Philadelphia, and around us are 10 years of artifacts from Applied Mechanics shows. These included:
A chandelier of 4 blue arms that spread, octopus-like, from a battery made of felt. (Some Other Mettle, 2012)
A dj booth made of Beethoven’s sheet music, Napoleon’s maps and Germaine de Stael’s letters (VAINGLORIOUS, 2011)
Overhead, the skirts of famous feminists glowing light down on us — collages of Dorothy Day, Frida Kahlo, and Emma Goldman’s words in wearable form. (We Are Bandits, 2014)
A home-crafted wall of fame made of the names of over 150 artists and allies who worked with us over the past decade.
And flooding into the space as the 8pm toast approaches, the faces that go with those names.
Our 10th birthday party was one of the proudest moments of our life as a company. Surviving this long as a small ensemble with decidedly anti-capitalist ethos and democratic, consensus-based art/administrative practice is no easy task. As the old song goes, you gotta have friends. Community-building is not just the best survival tool, it is the MAIN survival tool. Applied Mechanics is not one weed growing out of the sidewalk in isolation. We are a little weed army. Our roots grow deep. On Saturday night, we were in full flower.
How do you account for a decade of making together? How do you take stock of this much reinvention, this much labor, this much community-making — 12 projects in 10 years?
You eat, you drink, you dance. You dance and dance.
Repurposed and re-adapted, the design genius of Maria Shaplin was on full display at Saturday night’s soirée. Perhaps my favorite part of the impromptu museum-come-dance-hall that we made was a little suitcase display with an article from Philly Mag printed beside it: https://www.phillymag.com/ticket/2014/08/02/applied-mechanics-bomb-prop-philly-police/print/
Nestled in it was one of the amazing bomb props from 2011’s OVERSEERS, which were so convincing that Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Joe Sullivan called it, “A very well-constructed theatrical device… It caused us a great deal of anxiety.” He said this shortly after his bomb squad evacuated the area around Asian Arts and blew a few of them up.
Another beautiful moment for me was looking at the wall of art made by the party attendees — images of Bandits icons Angela Davis and Voltarine deCleyre with florescent technicolor skin and hair.
DJ Elroy kept the tunes coming. Thomas Choinacky and Brett Robinson kept the dance floor poppin. Dr. Jess Hurley held court at the door in her signature A-line splendor.
Behind the bar, chef Becky Wright presided over the delicious treats. She and many of our Associated Artists had been cooking and baking over the past few days in preparation for the party, recalling the days (not too long ago!) when everyone was paid in food. Becky has fed a lot of us over the years, and gotten us through (literal) lean times with this alternative economic model. At its height, Becky was cooking for 40 people a rehearsal — VAINGLORIOUS was a show with 26 actors, 3 stage managers, and a team of designers. This food practice lead to our Free Community Dinners at Christ Church Neighborhood house, which lead to our show FEED in 2016. Becky’s labor and radical generosity is baked into the ethos of the company. The history of Applied Mechanics lives as much in Becky’s kitchen as the rehearsal room — so many afternoons together, chopping and measuring and mixing, talking through problems of life and art around the stove. On Saturday night, Becky was in a flowing, sheer garment covered in sequins, cackling, giggling, keeping the booze flowing, making sure the cake candles were blown out before the literally-under-10 crowd had to go to bed. That’s a radical woman that I am proud to know.
A good party feeds on itself, has its own rhythm. All it needs is to be set in motion. The gorgeous, multi-generational crew that celebrated on Saturday overflowed into the street. Some of us have been in Philadelphia for decades, some of us for months. We got to take a moment to remember how wonderful it is to be together, under the glowing skirts of dead feminists, below the tentacle arms of the battery chandelier, doing the good work of keeping Philly weird. Let’s do it for another 10 years, shall we?
Thank you to all our Associated Artists for putting so much love and labor into the preparation, cooking, decorating, and managing of this party! We are so lucky to have you on our team.
Thank you to our Event Sponsor PHILLY FOOD WORKS, who generously supported our lovingly-prepared treats with a food donation. Plus one lucky party attendee will be randomly selected to receive a $50 credit to their online market!
Thank you to Mariposa Food Co-Op for supporting our cause with a gift card.
Thank you to everyone who came to the party, to all the amazing folks who continue to inspire us with Philly-made bravery, Philly-made generosity, Philly-made art.