Fort Point Theatre Channel presents 

The Spirits Teach Us How to Build the Union Family Sewing Machine

Fort Point Open Studios
Sunday, October 16, 2022
The Gallery at 249 A Street
Fort Point, Boston MA
Free

This 35-minute show reenacted efforts of John Murray Spear (1804–1887) and his friends to fashion an affordable sewing machine, with the help of the spirits of deceased luminaries. We celebrated a time when it felt (to some at least) like anything was possible.

The Spirits Teach Us How . . . dramatizes a process envisioned by John Murray Spear (1804–1887), an American abolitionist, temperance and gender-equality advocate, proponent of labor and prisoners’ rights, and Universalist minister. In 1851 he turned to spiritualism, pronouncing himself and his daughter and various associates as mediums who would bring about a world where the living and the spirits of deceased luminaries work together to create new technologies, and bring about a golden age.

AMP Gallery
432 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA

On September 24, 2022, Fort Point Theatre Channel returned to Provincetown’s AMP Gallery with The Spirits Teach Us How to Build the Union Family Sewing Machine, a segment in repeating episodes from a planned production of John Spear’s The Electric Infant. 

Workshop Open Rehearsal @
Gallery at Lynn Arts (GALA)
25 Exchange St, Lynn, MA

On August 21, 2022, FPTC hosted an open rehearsal at GALA, serving ceremonial lemonade, practicing songs, and running through the improvisational script. It was a fun afternoon learning how to build a sewing machine as taught by the spirits.

The Spirits Teach Us How . . . begins with a study of the human hand,

accompanied by a song from the Spirits (puppets) ­­during which the machine’s Integralist (mother) is shown different parts of the machine.

While she concentrates on them, the Implement­ists begin immediate modelic actions of different parts, recorded on the whiteboard. Then during an anointing and serving of the Lemonade (combination of acid and base), the Communicator speaks a brief lesson to the audience.  

Participants, adopting their defined roles, act out the functions of different sewing machine parts. Two participants dance together, standing in for the impregnation of the Integralist. After a brief dreamlike pause accompanied by chaotic trance music, everyone crowds around and designs the parts on the whiteboard. One participant goes to the work bench and produces the part that, with great rejoicing and music, is placed on the central sewing machine (a sculpture by Rick Dorff). A song is given and the episode is over. 

The company (so far):  

Mitchel Ahern (Producer/Author, Immediate Modelic Action) performed in and wrote the lyrics and narration for our previous AMP show, Serf’s Up. He is a letterpress artist and experimental musician whose first FPTC production was Dahlgren Sunrise, a show based on Samuel R. Delaney’s science fiction.

Danny Gessner (Immediate Modelic Action) is FPTC’s treasurer, conscience, and our most level-headed member. He produced and performed in our last show at the AMP Gallery, Serf’s Up.

Rick Dorff (sculpture, Immediate Modelic Action) created the sculpture that inspired FPTC’s first show at the AMP Gallery, Threw the Keyhole. He has created scenic designs for a number of FPTC productions, including Inter-Actions, a show based on kinetic sculpture that he produced in July 2015.

Vanessa LeFevre (invented music and Immediate Modelic Action) has a background in dance. She produced the Salem-based “Sonorium” series, and performed “bleeping and skronking” music in Dahlgren Sunrise and in the groups Viae Ensemble and ALYance.

Letta Neely (Immediate Modelic Action) is an Earthling. She is also a proud Black-n-Queer poet, playwright, director, teacher, activist, and performer. Twice a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for poetry, she was named one of The Root’s Top 30 Black Performance Poets in 2012.

Shereen Heart Salem (motion coach, Immediate Modelic Action) is a choreographer who offers dance performances as a busker in the Boston area. She provides “visual aid” to audio performers and choreography for multimedia productions. Shereen handled the dance/movement and performed in Dahlgren Sunrise.

Nick Thorkelson (music, puppets, Immediate Modelic Action) is a cartoonist/musician and a founding member of FPTC. He was in Boston’s first reggae band, Jamaica Hylton, and he created the music for the FPTC productions Carny Knowledge, The Good Person of Setzuan, Bohemians, and Dreambook.