A Portal of Initiations

by Threefold Educational Center staff

For almost sixty-five years, Threefold Auditorium has served cultural life and the anthroposophical movement with only essential maintenance and repairs. In June we launched a $1.7 million capital campaign to preserve the building’s historic elements, and to completely upgrade and update its systems and spaces to ensure its continued service to our movement, and the world.

A $350,000 gift from Herbert H. Hagens will fully fund design and construction in August of new electrical, sewer and municipal water lines to the building. Work on the auditorium, which was designed in the late 1940s as a permanent home for the Threefold community’s anthroposophical summer schools, will include installationof a modern heating and air-conditioning system to allow the building to be used in the summer months.

The redesigned interior will offer flexible spaces that can be readily adapted to future needs as they arise. Plans include renovated spaces for work and study, and a complete restoration of the building’s unique interior surfaces, with special attention to the remarkable acoustics and custom woodwork in the auditorium.

The entire project is built around a thorough, ongoing evaluation of the needs of all the institutions in the Threefold community and beyond, today and in the future. Threefold Educational Center Executive Director Rafael Manaças and a steering committee of board and community members are actively seeking input to ensure that the renovated building best meets the needs of its present users, and will be adaptable to future needs. Since its dedication in 1949, the auditorium has continuously nurtured the anthroposophical movement in ways large and small, many of them never foreseen by its original builders:

• The site of countless eurythmy performances, the auditorium has been a key teaching space for the School of Eurythmy since its founding in 1972 and is home stage and rehearsal space for the Eurythmy Spring Valley ensemble.

• Since the 1950s, the auditorium has been home for the Threefold Mystery Drama Group and performances of Rudolf Steiner’s mystery dramas under the direction of Hans Pusch, Peter Menaker, and Barbara Renold.

• The editorial and business offices of Anthroposophic Press were here from the mid-1960s into the 1980s.

• The Biodynamic Association held annual meetings in Threefold Auditorium from 1949 until 1980; the renascent BDA held a landmark national conference here in 2010.

• The Biochemical Research Laboratory founded by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer had labs and offices in Threefold Auditorium from 1949 until it closed in 1976.

• Since 2011, the Otto Specht School (providing Waldorf educationto children with learning differences) has had offices and classrooms in Threefold Auditorium.

Original view from the air

• The Anthroposophical Society in America has held many Annual General Meetings in Threefold Auditorium, most recently in 2009.

• In June of 2014, Threefold Auditorium was home to the InPower youth conference, brought nearly 100 young people from every corner of the country.

Remaining work on the auditorium will begin when the goal of $1.37 million is met. Donations can be made online at www.threefold.org/auditorium, whereupdated information about the campaign. To learn more, contact Rafael Manaças: Rafael@threefold.org or 845-352-5020 x12.

watercolor impression of one of the front doors

The Threefold Auditorium

by Torin M. Finser, PhD

For most of its long and rich history, the Threefold auditorium has been a cultural center that brought people together within the community and from around the world for summer conferences. It has served as a living symbol of anthroposophical work in America.

As a child growing up in the threefold community in what was then commonly referred to as the town of Spring Valley, the images of the auditorium form a wonderful collage of memories, a few of which I will share.

I remember the two key individuals who helped design and fund the initial building sitting in the front row of performances: Charlotte Parker and Ralph Courtney. They came as close to royalty as we Americans could experience, riding around the community in a large 50s era car, presiding at the head of the long table in the dining room, and establishing a community based on threefolding ideals. They attracted many of the early members of the community and generously supported the unfolding of threefold as a conference center.

In December the auditorium always hosted the Oberufer plays, which children from Green Meadow were fortunate to attend year after year: Howland Vibber was the quintessential God, ArnoldLogan was frequently Adam, Christine Sloan the most beautiful angel ever, Peter Clem spent many a year as Joseph, Colin Young and others were rollicking shepherds, and Walter Leicht (architect of Green Meadow) a most frightening Herod. My heart always jumped a beat when I heard the knock on the back door of the auditorium and the first chords resounded in the hall to start the annual performances. The archetypes of these plays lived on in my soul life, giving me strength for later tasks.

Then I remember working behind stage on lighting during the mystery dramas. Then I had my first paid job as mail order clerk for the Anthroposophic Press downstairs, working for Sally Burns, Charlotte Driggs, and Gilbert Church—each one a strong character for an impressionable teenager!

For some years the opposite side of the auditorium’s lower level became a Décor Toy factory, and my father spent many hours working with students to cut, paint, and shellack wooden puzzles and toys. His ideal was to build a kind of cottage industry that would support students so they would not have to take out so many loans.

As a backdrop to flowers (above); windows and interior stairway (below).

Then there were many lectures held in the auditorium, which I occasionally attended, especially after becoming a member at age 18: William Mann and his breathtaking lectures on art history, Francis Edmunds with his vivid imagination and stamping of a foot for emphasis, René Querido weaving a rich tapestry of anthroposophical threads… Then there were the eurythmy performances: Kari van Oordt, Lisa Monges and others, often joined by artists from Europe… The memories are endless. My favorites were always the tone eurythmy pieces.

So what does this rich history mean for a building such as the Threefold Auditorium? Are the plays, concerts, lectures, and experiences now engrained in the wonderful wood interior carved by Karl Schleicher so many years ago? Have the hand carved wood panels absorbed the cultural life of the place the way a musical instrument improves with age? There is a quality in the building today that speaks of history, and yet longs for the future. It couldeither become a museum or transform itself to serve a few more generations in new ways.

Because of the rich history of the Threefold Auditorium it is essential for the anthroposophical movement and the Anthroposophical Society that it remain a vibrant center of activity, a visible “face” for our work. It has served as a symbol of a rich cultural life, so needed in our time. For countless visitors for many, many years the Threefold Auditorium has extended unconditional hospitality to all who walked through its doors. It is now our turn to extend exceptional generosity to restore and preserve this cultural icon, not only for the sake of the local community, but also for the common human ideals we all serve.

At this time of St Johns, 2014.

Torin Finser is General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America