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Michaelmas 2009 in theBerkshire Taconic RegionIn June 2009, senior members of the Camphill Copake communityapproached the initiative group of the Berkshire TaconicBranch to ask if the branch would support a Michaelmas festivalbuilt around a Michaelmas play by Karl Koenig. The thoughtwas that this effort would reach out beyond the borders ofCopake Camphill and be imagined and incarnated togetherwith all in the wider community, including the Christian Communitywho felt moved to participate. For readers who havebeen following the “big picture,” what was just described is akind of microcosm of what stood behind the 2009 Michaelmas-Conference in Dornach, Switzerland. The very same play wasrehearsed and performed there. From the program notes of theDornach conference:“The theme for the Michaelmas Conference at the Goetheanumis Building Community in the Light of Michael. This conferencehas been prepared together with the Camphill Movementas a result of annual meetings between members of the FocusGroup of Camphill and the Executive Council at the Goetheanum.To create intentional, lifesharing, therapeutic communitiesas a form of social renewal has been the task of the CamphillMovement since its founding by Dr. Karl König, a medicaldoctor, Viennese war refugee and humanitarian, in1940 in Scotland. Community building is a centralissue today in which on the one hand theindividual seeking soul strives to becomecapable of community, and searches fornew community forms that transcendtraditional structures and ties. On theother hand each person in the age ofthe consciousness soul has to struggleconsciously to build community out ofthe forces of the individual “I,” as thisno longer arises by itself. To build andsustain communities in the context ofthe Time Spirit Michael, who championsindividual freedom, is the theme to beexplored in this Conference.”How could the initiative group not support such an impulse?It was wholeheartedly endorsed by all members. Shortlythereafter, a parallel initiative got underway at Copake, whereindividuals got together to study Rudolf Steiner’s The MichaelMystery early each Tuesday morning. This outwardly less visibledeed was intended to build a connection to the upcomingDornach Michaelmas Festival, as well as to create a context forthe Branch festival. The preparation for the “outer” festival gotgoing in earnest in the middle of August, when Patrick Doylestepped forward to oversee the whole festival, and StephenSteen and Ben Madlock agreed to produce the play. From thatdate forward, an enormous amount of “visible” work got underwayand, as befits any genuinely meaningful human endeavor, agreat deal of personal sacrifice went into it as well.Once the call to come and create the festival was sounded, awhole host of individuals answered. Musicians, singers, carpenters,set painters, eurythmists,cooks, actors, speechartists, technicians, and justplain willing hands all pulledtogether to engender theperformance and all that wasconnected with it. Possibly themost remarkable aspect wasthe venue: the festival tookplace in an old foundry buildingnear the Amtrak station inHudson, New York, a small butdynamic city on the banks ofthe river from which the citygets its name. The building isnow called Basilica Industriaand is owned by Patrick Doyle,who poured his heart and souland countless hours of timehe didn’t have into the event.In the cavernous, dimly litbrick-walled former forge, a setwas designed and built, towering flats painted to resemble anEgyptian temple. This backdrop soared up into the steel trussesthat support the building’s terra cotta tile roof. A series of broadsteps leading to the sealed temple doors comprised thestage. At great personal risk, Deena Pewtherer andPatrick Doyle cobbled a lighting system togetherout of salvaged bits and pieces, mounted itinto the grid work of rafters and bracing,and made it operational. Meantime, rehearsalsgot underway. With their deeplyfelt culture of consciously celebratingfestivals, the two area Camphill communities,Triform and Copake, contributedthe bulk of the players, but many othersoutside Camphill got involved, so thehope of including the widest possiblecommunity went a long way to beingrealized. The play was rehearsed onSaturday afternoons. It has musical andspeech choruses, some operatic soloparts, and a small orchestra with sound42 Evolving News for Members & Friends
effects. DianeBarnes preparedand conducted themusical parts ofthe performance.As Michaelmasdrew closer, activityintensified.The day came.There was an airof quiet confidenceamongstperformers and others involved. With the sun settingbehind the Catskill Mountains to the west, the audiencestreamed into the “hall,” led by Patrick Doyleand flag-bearing members of the Camphill communities.The building was no longer a gritty, dreary relicof America’s industrial greatness. Enormous paintingsand drapes now adorned the walls. A harvesttable decorated one end, and a simple but attractivesupper was laid out at the other. Patrick then boundedup onto the stage and spoke briefly but forcefullyto open the festival. He pointed to the fact that ironhad formerly been forged and formed within the verywalls of the building, and that it was that self-sameiron that coursed through the blood of all thosegathered, who were united in seekingto build community based onindividual self-awareness. The applauseand cheers from more thanfive hundred audience membersquickly turned to listening silencewhen the Grasshopper Productioneurythmy ensemble performed apart of a poem by Denise Levertovcalled “Two Threnodies andPsalm,” punctuated by the wail ofan Amtrak diesel engine’s air hornhauling a passenger train into thenearby station.Then the Michaelmas play commenced. For thosewho do not know the play, it is, according to theprogram notes, “an attempt to acknowledge the needsand aspirations of the human soul to understandthe transformations that it must be willing to undertakein order to bring about a healthy social life andtrue goodness in theworld.” The performancedid not includeeurythmy, but therewas almost everythingelse in the way ofperforming arts: orchestralmusic, choralsinging, speech chorus,dramatic acting,and operatic singing.Christoph-AndreasLindenberg composedthe score for the play,and at least to this listener, the performers, a mixof professionals and amateurs, filled the very largespace with strength and sensitivity.The dramatic thread of the play is certainly unconventional.It is a relatively short one act play—though “play” doesn’t quite fit what is actually presented—ina series of tableaux that reveal aspectsof the human soul’s experience. As the play buildstowards the moment when the temple doors areopened by the words that the working man speaks,it gradually becomes clear that through sufferingand sacrifice,what lies hidden isrevealed, and wholenessis achieved outof what is broken orlost.The performanceended with a processionof the speechchorus, singers andactors walking downthe center aisle tothe rear of the factorybuilding whilesinging a hymn.Then Patrick Doylewent on stage to the sacred flameburning in front of the temple, lita torch mounted on a long stick,and walked resolutely through theaudience to two large torch lightsmounted high on the rear walls,which he then ignited. This heartstoppinggesture signaled that itwas supper time. Was the smokytorchlight a reminder that one festivalwas not enough to overcomethe dragon? He smolders on. Muchgood work remains to be done,so all who initiated the eventnow will ponder how to makethis festival impulse alive andactive in the future.At the same time that theregional Michaelmas festivaltook place in Hudson, the GeneralSociety’s festival was heldin Dornach. Regional memberPenelope Baring, who attendedthe Dornach event, reportedback emphatically that “thecommunity came to Dornach.”Here in the Berkshire Taconicregion, the community came toHudson.Nick Franceschelli,Editor, ChanticleerFall-Winter 200943
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