By Maria Shaplin and Mary Tuomanen On a chilly Sunday Night in late February, Applied Mechanics arrived at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland for a lovely weeklong residency to work on FEED. Our engagement included two performances, a guest teaching spot and a workshop, all of which were well attended by the hungry and inquisitive […]

By Maria Shaplin Chapter 1: The Abridged Herstory of a 36 Year Old White Liberal from Vermont Who Once Upon A Time Fancied Herself a Radical (OR, What Brought me to the Women’s March) I was raised with a daily immersion in American politics. Angry letters to the editor being frantically typed by my stay at home dad.

By Rebecca Wright Just before the holidays, Applied Mechanics hosted another awesome Winter Warm-Up Party. This one had a Solstice spin, and featured a guest performance by Crisco Thunder, guest bartending by Applied Mechanics Superfan Brian Crowley-Koch, and superfly guest hostess Lee Minora. Brett Robinson won the Warmest Award and Meg Walsh walked away from

By Mary Tuomanen FAILING IN HOTLANTA! Last month, we had the privilege of teaching a workshop in Productive Failure at Turner Broadcasting. Turner is known for some great things (Among them, those bastions of excellence, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.) We knew we were going to encounter some creative types. The workshop was part of an

by Ellen Chenoweth Originally published in thINKing DANCE on December 7th, 2016 http://www.thinkingdance.net/articles/2016/12/07//Circumstances-for-Delight-and-Discovery/ What might a choreographer learn from training with an oral historian? Or a dramaturg from a sculptor? What about a group of devised-theater makers from a fiction writer or a digital storyteller? Learning from other fields, in dynamic exchange, seems to be

By Rebecca Wright A few weeks ago, Jess and I spent five days in Ann Arbor, MI, the first of three visits Applied Mechanics will make this academic year as part of a research residency with UMS (the University Musical Society, the presenters attached to the University of Michigan.) Our prompt for this residency is

AWESOME EMERGING ARTISTS ALERT! This November, Applied Mechanics had our first self-organized public workshop. It occurred to us that this type of knowledge-share might be interesting to folks in the community, and we might come into contact with some great new art-brains. Wow, did we ever. For two days, we had the honor of sharing the

By Terry Mittelman Donuts mean a lot to me. I eat donuts for breakfast probably fives times a week, selling donuts is my main source of income, my love of donuts is by far my best and most attractive quality on my tinder profile, and I have made some of my best friends because of

By Maria Shaplin Applied Mechanics has lots of amazing friends in the Philadelphia area. Few are quite AS AMAZING as our dear friend Adam Woods, the proprietor of Camden Printworks right across the Walt Whitman bridge in Camden, NJ. His  business employs a crack team of local superstars, and provides high quality screen printing jobs for clients all

Over the next few weeks, lucky attendees of various farmers markets around Philadelphia will get to see a sneak peak of the new Applied Mechanics show, FEED. Amid the tents of fresh produce and devotees of organic dirt, revelers from the world of FEED will assemble and perform The Hygge, a traditional dance from our newly

By Maria Shaplin This weekend, Applied Mechanics descended upon a gorgeous mansion in Mt Airy for our annual Jamboree. You might be familiar with Girl Scout, or even World Scout Jamborees- national and international gatherings of scouting organizations. But did you know that the word jamboree is a turn of the century American phrase, meaning

by Deb Miller on July 24, 2016 There are more than 175 shows in this year’s Philadelphia Fringe Festival, spanning eleven different genres and covering a wide array of subjects. Two experimental Fringe regulars, Applied Mechanics and The Renegade Company, are each creating food-based pieces for September’s big event, considering the greater context of what we

By Mary Tuomanen Poised between news of the Brexit and the upcoming DNC, we in Philly stand at an interesting point in time. The atmosphere is decidedly politically charged. The rally for Orlando at City Hall brought us out in droves. Strangers were pressing hands, sharing tears, exchanging gestures of respect between communities as various

CELEBRATION! BARN! CELEBRATION BARN! We few, we happy few, we band of mechanicians descended on South Paris, Maine on June 5th for a residency at Celebration Barn for our September show, FEED. With us were the usual suspects: Artistic Director Becky “Fearless” Wright Designer Maria “Zoomba” Shaplin Stage Manager Bayla “Bay-ray-roo” Rubin Dramaturg Jess “iron fist

By Thomas Choinacky I just got back from a hiking trip of Scotland’s West Highland Way. The walk is 96 miles, which I completed in 7 days. It was a gorgeous experience to free the mind into the hills of the Highlands and push my body in new ways as I seeped into nature. The