“This Is Father Berrigan Speaking from the Underground” SJ and the Conception of a Radical Theatre Benjamin Halligan

Figure 1. Daniel Berrigan with the cast of The Trial of the . Salt City Playhouse, Syracuse, NY, 1972. Daniel Berrigan papers, box 1a, folder 1. Special Collections and Archives, DePaul University Library. (Photo by Merton J. Gordon; reproduction courtesy of Special Collections and Archives, DePaul University Library, Chicago, IL)

“Father Berrigan Speaks to the Actors from Underground” is, relative to Daniel Berrigan’s very substantial body of published writing across more than 50 years, only a fragment, and some- thing of an incidental fragment in terms of its seemingly limited concerns. It is nominally a let- ter, from the Jesuit priest, poet, academic, and activist to the actors and audiences involved in the production of his play The Trial of the Catonsville Nine ([1970] 2004). The essay was first published in the public domain, in an edited form, in on 31 January 1971 (Berrigan 1971b) and, in full, in America Is Hard to Find: Notes from the Underground and Letters from Danbury Prison in 1972, a collection of writings mostly from Berrigan’s four months “on

TDR: The Drama Review 62:2 (T238) Summer 2018. ©2018 New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 97

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29September 2021 98 Benjamin Halligan in Danbury,Connecticut. agents posingasbirdwatchers.Hewasimprisonedfortwoyearsofhisthree-yearsentence logian WilliamStringfellow’scottageonBlockIsland,RhodeinAugust1970,byFBI Berrigan, apparentlyontheFBI’slistof10“MostWanted”fugitives,wascapturedintheo- dated April1970beginswith:“Istartthesenotesquiteliterallyontherun”(Berrigan1971a:1). from thisperiod,TheDarkNightofResistance,whichappearedin1971,anopeningsection from aperiodof“underground”existenceforBerrigan.Anearliercollectionhiswritings the run”fromFederalBureauofInvestigation(Berrigan[1972]1973). and Academic, 2013),Reverberations: The Philosophy, Aesthetics and Politics of Noise (Continuum, 2012), Rock toElectropop (Routledge, 2013),Resonances: Noise Music andContemporary (Bloomsbury Music, Media Academic, andMass (Bloomsbury Entertainment 2015),The Music Acid Documentary: Michael Reeves (Manchester University Press, 2003),TheArenaand thecoeditedcollections Concert: include Benjamin Halligan isDirector ofthe Doctoral College oftheUniversity of Wolverhampton. Publications those involved, allstandinginasemicircleformationandspeakingturn. complete withreligiousinvocations(spontaneousarticulationsandwell-knownprayers)from action (wagingnonviolence2013). The eventseemstobestructuredlikeaprayer­ their homemadenapalm(gasolinemixedwithIvoryFlakessoappowder)toundertake Philip, awriter, activist, andJosephiteRomanCatholicpriest)calmly, evenapologetically, using Maryland, on17May1968, revealsthesmallactivistgroup(whichincludedDaniel’sbrother Americans conscriptedtofightin Vietnam. ThefilmfootageofthiseventinCatonsville, ecuted forhiscentralinvolvementinthepublicburningof600stolen1-Adraftrecords “felonious vagrancy”([1972]1973:60). activism, wentundergroundatthistime.In1970,Berriganreferredtohispositionasoneof (1979) identifiesasthe“CatholicLeft”who,furthertononviolentpolitical(mostlyantiwar) tious matterof “The Berrigans,” atthisjuncture, pointedtothequestion, “Signs orModels?” to thepossibilityoffuturesimilaracts of theCatonsvilleNineasahistoricalrecord(seeO’Connor2013:27, 34). And theactgestured the subsequenttrial, asevidence, aswellincorporatedintoanearlyproductionofTheTrial “war effort.” Inthis respect, theactwasillegal. And thusthefootageofactionwasusedat rupted, evenifonlytoamodestornegligibledegree, thebureaucraticprocessesofwider in illegalantiwaractivities), theactionwasmorethanmeresymbolism:burningcardsdis- and aid. And althoughtheactionorspectaclehadaprofoundsymbolicvalue(clericsengaged event isseeminglymorethanjustprotestactivismsinceitalsoseeksdivineacknowledgement 3. 2. 1. Berrigan’s fugitiveperiodarosefromhisfirstarrest. Hewastriedandsuccessfullypros- 2001 documentary 2001 documentary For of the filming see Olzen the backstory (2013). The footage itselfwas the central concern of Lynne Sachs’s of Berrigan’s legal status, in relation to nonviolent activism and its implicit critique of law, see Jeannot (2012). Daniel Berrigan was born in 1921 and died in 2016; Philip was born in 1923 and died in 2002. On the matter For details, see Polner and O’Grady’s joint biography of the brothers Daniel and ([1997] 1998). in Berrigan’sits importance oeuvre. “To the Actors” coda, addressed and crucial to the audience, was removed), (its short indicative is nevertheless of that I would eventually wind up in such a position” (True 1988:xiii). The inclusion thenversion of a truncated vary, and in previous reviews of his work I have mentioned that Daniel Berrigan needs an editor, not knowing concludes his preface by noting that “For anyone who has published so much, the quality of his writing will often lected pieces covering his trial, “underground” period, and imprisonment. The volume’s editor, Michael True, Drama, Prose, retitled “To the Actors, from Underground” and described as an essay. It was one of the eight col- “To the Actors,” as it will be termed hereafter, was later included in the 1988 collection Mark E.Smith and The Fall: Art, Music and 2010)[email protected] (Ashgate, Desires for Reality: Radicalism andRevolution in Western European Film (Berghahn,2016), Investigation of a Flame. 2 BerriganwasoneofanumberfiguresthatCharlesA.Meconis — so thatforRobertMcAfeeBrown, theentirevexa- 1 3 Suchwritingcame Daniel Berrigan: Poetry, Inthisrespect, the meeting —

Daniel Berrigan and Radical Theatre 99 - Berrigan an overlap, an overlap, — — organiza-

were impacted by on the other side of his jail term on the other side of his — adapted by Berrigan, directed by Davidson, and directed by Davidson, adapted by Berrigan, — was also released in 1972. was also released in 1972. American citizens could end it. end it. American citizens could — — to put it bluntly ˘ — nh and Berrigan [1975] 2001:128). Central to this resistance was the war in Central to this resistance 2001:128). nh and Berrigan [1975] , which dramatized the trial of 5–9 October 1968, the trial of 5–9 October 1968, which dramatized of the Catonsville Nine, Trial The

While the play very directly invites a consideration of its autobiographical nature, “To the “To While the play very directly invites a consideration of its autobiographical nature, Berrigan’s who challenge the secular power of the law This theatrical event about religious activists distinct institutional gathering places; this combines the physical markers from three that all these gathering places normally exist intersection of the three serves as a reminder (39) for acting out ritualistic cultural practices. in separate spheres but all function as sites Catonsville Nine won two of the Trial Theatre The After the June 1971 run at the Lyceum Actors” suggests something more: the theatrical event itself was part of a continuum of activ- suggests something more: the theatrical Actors” audi- ism that engendered a solidarity between fugitive or imprisoned activists and the play’s made between the are to be Actors,” the “To as contextualized in And these connections, ences. some of free citizens, “overground” resisters and the of the hunted activists and “underground” of the Catonsville Nine, Trial to The as participants in or witnesses of whom, tion and including a Benedictine priest in their number, who torched 10,000 draft cards on torched 10,000 draft who priest in their number, a Benedictine tion and including The Catonsville “models.” the answer was clearly 24 September 1988:285), 1968 (see Klejment were and there notes, Anne Klejment as beyond just Catholics, example extended action as an after the Berrigans and Catonsville raids” on the “modeled instances 50 other such and of the wider population, at least in respect reading, “sign” the leans towards (Brown (277). [1971:67].) Meconis notes ruptures that the Catonsville action caused then turns to the ethical find- seemingly was uneasy with the event, Merton monk and writer Trappist that the language of power” “the protest a problematic overlap with ing in this nonviolent protest or state violence (1979:36– who would engage in destructive violent with those that is, the Catonsville event in 1975 Reflecting on 38). Theatre Group specifically for the audio ation Gordon Davidson staged with the Center die Neun titled Der Prozess gegen and East German television film adaptations, West recording. 1972 respectively (the former directed were broadcast in January and March , Catonsville von the latter directed by Hans-Erich Sturzenegger for ZDF, Yvonne August Everding and by Korbschmitt); and a US feature film drama produced by the actor Berrigan’s conception of radical theatre and its affective role in the resistance movement. Worker with the Catholic associated Fourteen, For the Milwaukee (1971:60–70). was written in 1969 and first published in 1970. Early theatrical productions included the Early theatrical first published in 1970. was written in 1969 and Forum in Los Taper Theatre Group at the Mark performance by the Center one at directed by Gordon Davidson; Now series, Theater for as part of the New Angeles, Theater Company; in January 1971 by the Phoenix York Good Shepherd-Faith Church in New Hendy; and a show at the Valerie directed by an amateur production at Boston University, summarizes the complex pro- Jacqueline O’Connor in June 1971. York Theatre in New Lyceum Angeles at least two public readings of the play in Los duction history (2013:192n25) and notes by the obscure group Citizens Legal Defense in 1970–71 (193n46) and legal action mounted Earl Crow recalls a High Point Forum production (34–35). Taper Alliance against the Mark “to were picked himself included, members, University production in 1973 in which audience Theater production appropriated the altar The Phoenix (1996:67). participate in a mock jury” in the pulpit, with the Judge positioned as the set, area of the Good Shepherd-Faith Church and with the (O’Connor 2013:39), and courtroom” theatre “intersection of church, staging the For O’Connor: audience taking the place of the jury. was perceived as a political act in itself. From the outset, then, the play’s production production and distinguished direction (for Obie Drama Critics awards for distinguished version of an iter Caedmon Records produced a double LP Also in 1971, Gordon Davidson). opted for the term “resistance” to describe the action, effectively affiliating it with a wider coun- effectively to describe the action, “resistance” opted for the term “very important around 1967 as he acknowledged, that had become, terculture of resistance (Ha in the States” and how Vietnam Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29September 2021 100 University Libraries) of of Specialthe Department 1968. (Courtesy Collections, StanfordCourthouse, Figure Moylan 2. Mary and Daniel Berrigan leaving the Baltimore Federal Benjamin Halligan was thewayinwhichagenerativerenewalcouldoccur:toreturn tocontactwiththeeveryman and its1971publication),forBerriganasevidencedin“To theActors,”underground able option.ButforJenkins,asRobertsinhisfieldworksurvey (forhis1969doctoralthesis No conscientiouspositionwithinsuchasphereseemedpossible; arouteoutwastheonlypalat- bourgeois life,andadeclarationofconcernoverimpendingecological andnucleardisasters. Itwasamoveofresistanceagainststateviolenceandtheprospect aloveless 1983:24–25). home, andlocalizedaggressionagainstthosewhopresentedthemselves asdiscontents([1979] tential burdenoftheescalationimperialwarsabroad,widespreaddrugaddictionsforthoseat an existencethatseemed,forJenkinsin1973,intractablybesetbytheethicalormoralexis- move to“dropout”ofhisprofessionalcommitmentsinorderwalkacrossAmerica,leaving Dennis Hopper’sfilmEasyRider(1969).ThusBerrigan’smoveisofapiecewithPeterJenkins’s that hadseeminglylostitsway [...] whenmypointismadeandthegoodofcommunityhasbeenserved”([1972]1973:37). Berrigan notedinhis1970“LettertotheJesuits”thatintentionwas“surrenderCaesar would remainundergroundfornearlyadecadebeforesurrenderingtotheauthoritiesin1979. tences wereduetobegin.Oneassociate,MaryMoylan(1936–1995),sentencedtwoyears, Daniel Berrigan,hisbrother,andsomeoftheirassociatesvanishedjustbeforesen- To theUnderground

4. Weather,” from 6 December 1970 (Dohrn and [1970] 2006:161–69). immediately upon absconding; she is mentioned in the Weatherman communique “New Morning is a direct link between Berrigan and the Weathermen: she seems to have joined the Weather Underground Dan” upon his final arrest, urgedhim to “join us soon”(Weather Underground [1970] 2006:155, 156). Moylan tives ate figure to effectively become the official chaplain to the Weathermen who, like himself atthat time, were fugi- January 1971 (1988). In the documentary writings, “Letter to Actors” is followed by the “Letter to the Weathermen,” first published in the Village Voice There is evidence of some connection between Berrigan and the Weathermen. In True’s collection of Berrigan’s — but still engaged in armed insurrection against the state. The Weathermen, writing publiclyto “Brother — as perthe1968song“America”bySimonandGarfunkel,or Holy Outlaw, Berrigan suggests or volunteers himself as an appropri- ing reacquaintedwithacountry road tripasawayofbecom- or undertakingthepicaresque “an alternativesociety”(1971:1), gist RonE.Robertsexploredas kind ofcommunelifesociolo- rejecting citylifeinfavorofthe to “goingbackthecountry,” the times,movewasakin respect, intheterminologyof mainstream dailylife.Inthis tendency: agentleexitingof sidered inrelationtoanother ground isperhapsbettercon- Berrigan’s casegoingunder- the Americanstate. tionary armedstruggleagainst who werewaginganinsurrec- and theWeatherUnderground, Symbionese LiberationArmy more withgroupssuchasthe was, atthetime,associated This goingunderground 4 Butin — Changing in in Daniel Berrigan and Radical Theatre 101 foot- 5 ˘ nh and Berrigan 2001:147–48) that is, a proactive, physical encounter with the a proactive, that is, — , which melds faux-Gregorian chant with “acid” guitar jams, was used in partin used was jams, guitar for with “acid” chant faux-Gregorian melds which , F Minor in Mass

was the condition of spiritual existence for Berrigan. Spiritual existence is not exclu- Spiritual spiritual existence for Berrigan. was the condition of — Mass in F Minor is one of these” (1968).

VOICEOVER: [...] During the time he was in hiding, Father Berrigan changed his [...] During the time he was in hiding, VOICEOVER: families in 10 Eastern and Midwestern cities. He stayed with 37 different location often. interviewed by for NET Father Berrigan was days prior to his arrest, Ten in an apartment in New location, in an underground Television) (National Educational City. York for music The Rider. Easy For Jenkins, Roberts, and Berrigan, such dropping out is not just a radical refusal to work such dropping out is not just a radical refusal and Berrigan, Roberts, For Jenkins, When I got home from work that summer day [of 1973], I called Cooper [Jenkins’s dog] I called Cooper summer day [of 1973], home from work that When I got we would do. a decision about what walk [...] I made for a long meditative and we went going to give were We right! That’s to walk about the U.S.A. Cooper and I were going ([1979] 1983:26–27) chance [...]. this country one last movement or simply Walking, otherworldliness world in Victorian rejection of Berrigan found a striking parallel to this He’s walking with His friends [...] So much Jesus is always in motion; He teaches while tossing He sits there in heavenly rest, art has snuffed out the spirit of Jesus. “sacred” But in Pasolini’s movie there’s a kind of [his friends] words which they accept passively. is The same physical effort required to stay with Him on the road uneasy motion [...] (Ha required to stay with Him in spirit. 5. age from the underground period shows Berrigan reflecting on his fugitive status: age from the underground period shows Berrigan reflecting on his fugitive status: or of the mores and demands of bourgeois society, nor is it done with a preference for a full society, or of the mores and demands of bourgeois down to an as per Roberts [1971:37–46]) or dropping embrace of hedonism (“erotic utopians” dropping into the day-to-day this was active mobilization: Rather, self-sufficiency. “off the grid” with the people and empathy for their daily struggles a vibrant reconnection realities of citizens, alienating to alleviate oppression; and a recalibration of a sensibility otherwise deranged by the The Holy Outlaw, Daniel Berrigan: Father In the documentary effects of contemporary life.

could suitably have been titled or subtitled (as per Berrigan’s collection titled or subtitled (as per Berrigan’s could suitably have been A Walk Across America America Is Hard to Find. of writing from the underground), world “veil the notion of the world as a a withdrawal into otherworldliness and sively identified with Spiritual exis- II era. the pre–Vatican with general Catholic tendencies of in keeping of tears,” the very means of rediscovering and so becomes along existential lines, tence is reconfigured, ordinary lives. According to secondo Matteo (The Gospel Vangelo Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Christ in his film Il 1964): St Matthew, of the country, and to understand and feel that the country remained theirs, despite the abuses despite the abuses country remained theirs, and feel that the and to understand of the country, committed abroad and the crimes in government by their representatives of power perpetrated in a Damascene moment: So, for Jenkins, in their names. The potential of opening up to spiritual activities outside the institutions, dogma, and rituals of The potential of opening up to spiritual activities 1960s. Some even went so far as to relate this open- the church was much in the air in the late experiences: record company executive ing up to the psychological benefits of hallucinogenic the expansive potential for relocating spirituality in Stan Cornyn felt emboldened to articulate Mass in F Minor by The Electric Prunes: “So much the sleeve notes of the 1968 psychedelic LP man, intent on making him feel smaller [...] Christian in the old cathedral seemed, to the young in shining robes and danced in jungles and worship has been graven on granite and vested has forms as many as the creative energies of Man. shared on lake shores [...] Christian worship The Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29September 2021 102 Benjamin Halligan in differentiate thenbetweenfugitiveresistance(theunderground where, necessarily, allactions dressed asapriestforthis), andsocanbeunderstoodas essentiallypartofhisjob. Oneshould resistance: theCatonsvillefirewaslitwhilehe “atwork” (asapriest, andindeedhewas becomes asubjectofhismeditation(19). text ofchoicewasThe I havefallen” ([1972]1973:77). Duringthisperiodofunderground contemplation, Berrigan’s same time, Ithink, themostsensiblewayofexpressing thetroubleintowhichmybrotherand pursuit ofcontemplationbecomesastrictlysubversiveactivity. This isthedeepestandat Berrigan observedthat “[t]he timewillshortlybeuponus, ifitisnotalreadyhere, whenthe life, inaquestforthespiritual. Extendingthisinversiontohiswritingwhileunderground, Berrigan’s lifeundergroundallowedhimtoembracetheworldlyaspectsofaremadereligious of “uncover[ing] thefundamentallyworldlycoreofaprofessionalreligiousfigure” (1972:55). itual reflectiontrulyoccur. ForEugeneC. BianchithisparadoxinBerrigan’scasewasamatter bered bytrivialengagementswiththeworld(asin, forexample, amonasticlife)candeepspir breaks withaChristiantraditionthatwouldholdonlyoncetheindividualisunencum- a positionofactiveresistance, sothatreflectionandresistanceareentwined. Thisposition stages ofanewhumanity,together”(1971a:6). an unavoidablequestion:“Howarewetoliveourlivestoday?Weinthedarkpreliminary Soviet Russia.InDarkNightofResistance,Berriganpresentslivingundergroundasaresponseto a “Jesuitunderground”andrelatesthistosuppressionofclericsinElizabethanEngland ing, “Wehavechosentobebrandedas‘peacecriminals’bywarcriminals.”Helaterrefers And thesermonthatfollows ground presencewhichwillbenonviolentandpoliticallyaudible”(Berrigan[1972]1973:54). respect toaclearpoliticalstrategy,albeit“chancy”strategy:“anattemptcreateanunder- Underground.” Theprecisionofthispositionwasarticulated(seeminglywritingin1970) done,” hepromises,inthedocumentary. Catholics, andIwanttorefertheNewTestament,usrelateitwhatwe’ve an urbanchurch[...]IwanttobewithagroupofworshippingChristians,notnecessarily ever-greater mindfulness,andreflectonhisactions:“I’mgoingtopreachinachurch, note, breakinghiscoveraffordshimtheopportunitytocontinueformalministrywith For Berrigan,existenceundergroundissomewhatlikearetreat 7. 6. the The undergroundasasubversiveretreatcontrastssharplywith Berrigan’sactualandactive The paradoxinthisshiftfromover- toundergroundisthatspiritualreflectionarisesfrom and Lenzer1970;seewagingnonviolence2016) doing beforebuttodoitsquared:twiceasintensely, twiceasmuch. (Lockwood reflect andmeditate, todoagreatdealofreading opportunity toworkup-closewithpeople, withsmallgroups, tomeetwiththemedia, to enough BERRIGAN: All Icansayisthatitlookslikecouldgoonforever. Itlooksgood What’s itliketobeundergroundintheUnitedStatesof America? LOCKWOOD (off-camera):FatherDan, you’vebeenundergroundforsometimenow. Berrigan’s legal standing, so the conversation cannot be verified as from this period. (1971:37–63). Riemer is understandably guarded as to the precise date of their extended discussion in respect to For conversation from further the underground period, see Berrigan and Coles ([1971] 2001) and Riemer /skybluemindblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/outlaw.jpg?ssl=1&w=450. Kansas School of Religion, as “sponsored advertised by University Christian Movement”; see https://i1.wp.com university campus screenings (for example, five screenings on Friday 4 December 1970 at the University of The film was broadcast in 1970 on the National Education network, and had an afterlife of Television (NET) underground, butrather — looks usefulenough Dark NightoftheSoulbySt. JohnoftheCross(Berrigan1971a:7), and it — — which isalsoincludedinthefilm as theletter/articlehasit,inthisinstance — for themovement. Ithinkit’sbeenanenormous 7 Afterall,thisisnotacaseofhimsituatinghimself 6 — in fact, todoeverythingthatIwas — — and indeed,hegoesonto includes Berrigansay- — speaking “from -

Daniel Berrigan and Radical Theatre 103 as — Figure 3. Life underground: Daniel Berrigan transfers to a a to transfers Berrigan Daniel underground: Life 3. Figure (Courtesy 1970. Departmentthe Special of of hideaway, new Libraries) University Stanford Collections, finally appending some lyrics from the West finally appending some lyrics from the — - - that — over the inevi- —

It is this latter question fails to Wilkerson Tellingly, This chapter also opens with Berrigan’s draft card burning. tability of fugitive resistance for anyone truly tability of fugitive resistance resistance engaged in active public Christian circles at the was quite pertinent in thrown onto such think- Some light is time. by a long-forgotten inter and tensions, ing, who sought Wilkerson vention from David to address the spiritual/theological situation pub - , of the late 1960s in Purple-Violet-Squish provides an over Wilkerson lished in 1969. view of various counterculture strata via a - spirited attempt to speak to his young audi and ence in their own assumed language, LSD subjects (free love, “difficult” tackling His and so on). disrespect for authority, use, and at position is essentially conservative, - times highly partisan (at one point he asso Altizer Thomas J.J. ciates the theologian Wilkerson with the mental incapacity that anachronistically notes arises from LSD use and confusion often takes [1969:22–23]), is reluctant to accept the notion of the priest in crisis as indexical to a wider Wilkerson hold. the church can- there is nothing that the structures of crisis: despite the challenges of the times, Wilkerson’s as per albeit finessed by a modicum of fraternal free-thinking, not accommodate, with deals with the politicized hippies, Yippies,” “The second chapter, Wilkerson’s own work. and Students for a anticolonial currents, also lumps the Black Panthers, Wilkerson whom and the Angels whole construction with the Hell’s and associates the Democratic Society, “lib- concludes by quoting an unnamed Wilkerson Maoist tendencies among activists/radicals. that at least Communists had a program and so were, who claims eral university administrator” and easier to engage with “sensible” relatively, (1969:33). Airplane Coast psychedelic group Jefferson was also an activist Wilkerson like Berrigan, And yet, either condemn or praise the act. a network of Bible-based help centers for people with drug Challenge, Teen the founder of equivocation at least acknowledges and grapples with Wilkerson’s But abuse–related issues. The philosopher and the new culture in an aspirationally evenhanded (if ill-informed) way. in sharp con- journalist Jean-François Revel’s parade of caricatures of deluded grotesques, “Jesus, in 1970 on Writing of the new sensibility. seems to seek to dismiss the entirety trast, post-dogma, Revel broadly despairs at a freeform, ([1970] 1972:166–200), America” Marx and “‘Buddhist of monks’ [...] all natives modishness, countercultural religious pseudo-ecumenical, ‘naturist pantheist’ [who] sells fruit and vegetables grown Arizona [...alongside] a of Oregon or are disapproved of) and public resistance (the of) and public are disapproved in in which actions mounted overground, are presented a position in society respect to indeed not to And civic duty). as part of one’s as Berrigan “fatal,” can be be underground who told the case for Merton, recalls was (1971a:180), dead...” dead, “I am already him, had fatally as if Merton’s respectability at “aliveness” or eroded his earthly ministry, potential for a time of seemingly enormous further social change. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29September 2021 104 Benjamin Halligan ing thoughtsmayhaveseemedunsurprisingoreveninevitable. on thepeopleofVietnam,Catonsvilleactiononlyafewmonthsaftertheseconclud- ture, andasaggravatedbytheseeminglyinexorableescalationofmilitarybrutalityvisited In respecttowhatclearlyseemedbeirresolvabletensionsinthisfledglingtheologicalcul- the thoughtthat Vietnam disrupt Western composuresodeeply?” (OglesbyandShaull1967:4) closeswith 1966 attheUnion Theological SocietyinNew York City, openswiththeprompt “Why should the joint-authoredContainmentandChange of1967, drawnfromdebatesrehearsedinFebruary vening, wasclearlyfelttobeunavoidableandindeedessentialinyoungertheologicalcircles; despite Wilkerson’s counselandRevel’scondemnations, takingaposition, andeventheninter the 1970sandfirsthalfof1980s. of thechurch,especiallyinrelationtotheologicalstrugglesaroundLiberationTheology in turnadvancebeyondBerrigan’spositions,thedevelopmentofideasocialrole that time)wasbrieflyiconic.Suchideasofnewformsresistanceandcommunitieswould counterculture of1967–1968,inwhichBerrigan(inhisuselanguage,andevenappearanceat theological changesoftheVaticansweptintotideactivismaroundNorthAmerican Vatican II(1962–1965)seemstohavelivedon,asopenedandexpanded,insuchthinking.The later describeas “morally intolerable” (Ha tures andcrisesthatwouldunavoidablyarisefromthewarin Vietnam, whichBerriganwould begin totakeaposition, orevensympathize, wouldbetoplaceoneselfindangeroftherup- unarticulated (for Wilkerson) orwarranted aferocious, “scorched earth” attack(forRevel). To questions forChristiansofthistimesuchmagnitudeandimmediacythattheywerebestleft ent editoriallinein Wilkerson andRevel’s slandersindicatesthatBerrigan’sactionraised glers ininsurrectionarycurrents, orthosefleecinggulliblebenefactors. Theabsenceofacoher entirely asanoutgrowthofthe Woodstock musicfestival, havingrubbedshoulderswithstrag- (184).trip’” Heusesthepejorativeterm “Jesus Freaks” fortheJesusMovement, andseesthem isthebest without fertilizer” and (180), Marxism’” “‘Jesus wieldingsloganssuchas “‘Zen 10.

The publication 8. The 9. a strugglemaybecomemorevisiblethroughsuchaneffort. (247) nificance fortherevolutionarymovementasawhole;andresourcesavailablesuch and informalcommunitiesnewideasquestionsmaytakeshapewhichwillbeofsig- community onthefrontlinesofrevolution[...]Itisjustpossiblethatinsuchweak on aroundtheworldwilldepend, Ibelieve, ontheemergenceofnewformsChristian Any hopeforasignificantChristiancontributiontotherevolutionarystrugglesgoing appears in the film in a nonspeaking capacity to the filmmakers, isrole, seen and worked variously in an advisory Liberation Theology is, for Hale (1995), engagingly reflected in the film of Liberation”“Theology (Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith 1984). Berrigan’s own engagement with with the publication of That is, if one dates the formal close of these struggles vice” (Oglesby and Shaull 1967:196). attacks at various points, a small group of people may be able to liberate large institutions for more effective ser- whether based inside or outside an institution, force it to accelerate its own renewal. By means of many limited sary, based on institutional critique: “The focus here is on the formation of small groups and movements which, closely anticipates the Berrigans’ actions, proclaiming that a “political equivalent” of “guerrilla warfare” is neces- And indeed Richard Shaull, in his section of bibliographic note to erated around the Berrigans, and the Catholic Left in general, is apparent in Robert Coles’s 1971 introductory actions, albeit with respect to debates firmly within the . The mass of critical writing rapidly gen- stantial correspondence) sought to represent a more informed engagement with the challenges of the Berrigans’ of New Cross Quarterly, “The Burden of the Berrigans” (which had then been much in demand and elicited sub- The Berrigans The Geography of Faith (in Berrigan and Coles [1971] 2001:32). (Casey and Nobile 1971), an expanded version of the January 1971 special issue 10 Containment and Change, elaborates on such a position in a way that nh andBerrigan[1975]2001:134). ˘ The Mission 9 Themodernizingimpulseof Instruction of the Aspects on Certain Joffé 1986). Berrigan, who ( 8 But, atthetime, - - Daniel Berrigan and Radical Theatre 105 and to gen- —

to side with those Jesuits who engaged in a fatal nonviolent protest to imperial destruction,to imperial those with protest than rather a fatal nonviolent in engaged who with those Jesuits side to the of Paraguay in question, in mission (semifictional) the protect to back fought arms, up taking who, Jesuits in even apart milieu him his setting as Berrigan from to apparent was action militant against position This 1740s. I June, “by that concludes he where play, Catonsville the to introduction 1969 the in made comments in 1969, Living the to occurred vanguard the with favor of out falling same The 2004:xix). [1970] (Berrigan hat” old was that notes Brown And stance. pacifist their to relation in 1969, around also and below, discussed as too, Theatre their down “cool” to attempting trial Catonsville the during time” of amounts “inordinate spent Berrigans the direct Berrigan’s For 1971:65). (Brown it” or provoking violence inciting avoid supportersagitated “to outside, Berrigan see support Sandinistas), the for Cardenal’s Ernesto Fr. to relation (in resistance armed on thoughts 1988:166–70). ([1978] “Berrigan Raps” into public awareness, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine pushed the card-burning protest further and spreading culture of resistance. The act itself, as inviting consideration of it within a wider effective. Mark Popowski notes that by October 1970, an example, had seemingly proven to be activities of the Catholic Left, associated with the 250 draft offices had been raided and wider included acts of sabotage against military vehi- Berrigan brothers in the popular imagination, of draft cards destroyed by the wider Catholic Left cles (2008:295). Meconis totals the number in on arguments as to the effectiveness of this type as over a million by March 1971, and weighs of the act needed to be extended of intervention (1979:151, 167). But the reach considering the Berrigan brothers in relation to erate institutional critique. Noam Chomsky, actions such as those in Catonsville and Milwaukee activism, noted: “[m]y impression is that were made to explain and discuss them. If there has might receive broad support, if the effort And it been a serious failing, I think it is in this indispensable second-order effort” (1971:55). the various is this indispensable second-order effort, of generating awareness, that comprises Figure 4. A demonstrator outside the Baltimore Federal Courthouse carries a placard reading “Celebrate Life Life “Celebrate reading Courthouse placard a carries Federal Baltimore the outside demonstrator A 4. Figure destructionthe of convicted government of were Nine Catonsville the cards, burning draft For Property.” Not Libraries) University Stanford Collections, (Courtesy1968. propertyDepartmentthe October of Special in of Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29September 2021 106 Benjamin Halligan 14. 13. 1996:105–08). on theirdustjacketsthatmayhavesuggestedvainegoismthepartofBerrigan(seeBartelme through commissioningeditorElizabethBartelme,anddidnothesitatetousetermsimages tion, andonlynominallyaplaytextinits1970publishedform(Berrigan[1970]2004) existing powers.” The playwasthecatalystforonesuchcommunitythatdemonstratedit“contemptuousof he saidin1971, men” andnewcommunitiesanalogousto “the earlyChristians”: “we mustcreatecommunities,” not oneof, asitwere, infernosofdraftcards, butonethatshowsthewaytorebirth beyond theinterventionsandactionsofCatholicLeft, Berrigannotesthatthelightis books andarticlesonhimaswell. even anLP ­public appearances,writingsandpublicationsofallkinds(letters,essays,poems,collections, projects ofthePRarmDanielBerrigan’sactionsduringtheseyearsinhiding 12. 11. remaining trulyhiddenwasanineffectivewayofworkingtointerveneinwidersociety. ite testimonials, for dramatic brevity (42–43). the play do not remain “strictly faithful procedures,”to the courtroom and revisions to the play included compos- pher ([1970] 2004:xvii). O’Connor also discusses the play texts in detail (2013:22–62), and finds that versions of the 2004 edition, which I’ve used for my discussion, a fidelity to the “original words” stenogra- from the court rather than “exact transcription taken record”from the court (1971:124). Berrigan notes in his introduction to 2013:36, 42–43, and 191n9). Dan Isaac, writing in 1971, refers to the play text as a “foreshortened reshaping” fromwas hewn a longer unpublished text sages” (see Berrigan [1970] 2004:xvi). Other variants do exist, and the text of the Broadway version of the play Berrigan “changed only slightly” the 2004 publication, according to Robin Andersen, and “rewrote various pas- see Goddardstrategy on their part, (2018). their message, especially in countering a uniformly hostile mainstream mass media. For a full discussion of this The Weather Underground also developed and maintained a PR operation, along similar lines of propagating timent, “betray the Church” (in Riemer 1971:47). time withPresident Richard Nixon andcombat-active troops ratherthan prisonersoracknowledging antiwarsen- freedom of his rhetoric in this respect, concluding that the most senior Catholic clerics, noted as spending their tance with itself Riemer,from antiwar sentiment and activism in general. In an interview Berrigan evidences the would have damaged his activist credibility in the longer term, it may be surmised, and allowed the order to dis- (Riemer 1971:38) that maintaining a public profile prevented him being expelled from the Jesuit order which The Trial oftheCatonsvilleNine 2001:171–72) men offeristobealivethetruehopethatbeforeus. (BerriganandColes[1971] well appearinmanyplacesandunderguises, andthattobealivethesignsthose [...] willbemadeupofthemostdiversepeopleItseemstomethat “new men” may upon us. Perhapsthesecommunities, peaceaffirming, contemptuousofexistingpowers which themselvesbecomesignsofhope, signsthattheHolySpiritisindeedcoming Observing the Weathermen andtheircommuniques, Berriganwouldhaveunderstoodthat The Berrigans appeared on the cover of leader,every innovator, every charismatic person presumably with especially hard” every has to struggle [...] I ask youin a position of leadership [which is] potentially corrupting again about the sin of pride, something for Coles, “the adulation and devotion someone like you gets from a number of people elevates you and puts you directly,And the question of pride is discussed at length, and very by Berrigan and Coles ([1971] 2001:60–75); view, readings. and poetry giving a peace sign, is on the cover; and the recording consists of “A Sermon from the Underground,” an inter- Caedmon Records. The sleeve notes were taken from apicture Riemer’s of Berrigan in handcuffs, 1971 interview; ing album that presents of Berrigan an intimate as portrait a man and as a radical” The as LPfree was advertised with mail order purchases of the — 12 Berrigan Raps),documentariesfeaturinghimasasubject,andinnumerablecritical

11 — DoubledaywasparticularlykeenonBerriganpublications, Time nominally aworkofdocumentarytheatreratherthanfic- — an operation conducted by playwright Saul Levitt (see O’Connor magazine on 25 January 1971. Berrigan mentions elsewhere Trial of the Catonsville Nine — and was also released by a excit- LP —“an — clandestine — 14 of “new 13 —on ­(60–61). But, Daniel Berrigan and Radical Theatre 107 - quotations (without much in the quotations (without — as a theatre experience is one of intellectual rather than emotional with a thesis (burning draft cards), antithesis (arrest and trial), and antic- (arrest and trial), antithesis with a thesis (burning draft cards), —

Berrigan provides little to no stage direction, and reworks much of the dialogue of the trial dialogue of the trial reworks much of the and direction, little to no stage Berrigan provides itself contains oblique interjections The text of the play , Berrigan talks of his actions as working “so that a Berrigan talks of his actions as working During the sermon in The Holy Outlaw, “death- opened up a second front against the in this context, of the Catonsville Nine, Trial The into a kind of blank verse, which at times spatially organizes words or phrases on the page to which at times spatially organizes into a kind of blank verse, The play is structured into five underscore wider meanings or implications. invite performers to of the “The Day the Facts of the Case,” “The Day of the Jury of Peers,” “The Day of sections: But the chief concern Verdict.” “The Day of and “The Day of Summation,” Nine Defendants,” which discuss the think- accused, the often lengthy speeches from the of the play is showcasing - and his civil, legal, ethical, political, philosophical, often from moral, ing behind their actions, torical positions. one level universalized the historic act of critiquing the machinations of the State that occurred the State that occurred the machinations of act of critiquing the historic one level universalized in its play text as avantgarde to consider the it would be tempting While trial. in the Catonsville from 1970 concerning production to think of any theatrical it would be difficult construction, - of the uncom text was representative Berrigan’s avantgarde. to an extent, not, that was Vietnam of its moment. political theatre sometimes unpolished and impassioned, promising, way of citation information) from a variety of sources: poems (by Berrigan and others); snippets from a variety of sources: poems way of citation information) Robert Oppenheimer, J. of Munich, Bishop Defregger (Thomas Jefferson, of political speeches twice); extracts from other writers ( and Ho Chi Minh Adolf Hitler, Jean-Paul Fidel Castro, Franz Kafka); handbooks (a presumably fic- Weiss, Peter Sophocles, Albert Camus, Sartre, of the Green Berets); other court records; and even tional Mafia handbook and the handbook (to illustrate the confusion of the presiding judge); the court record of the Catonsville trial itself and other of the figures presented in the play, as well as uncaptioned photographs of some (or even dieget- or explicitly while never explained, Such interjections, images of obscure origin. vic- plays concerning Two are certainly telling. trial, ically) related to the text concerning the and via from his 1943 play Life of Galileo via Brecht, tims of Catholic persecution also appear: Perhaps these interjections were The Honor of God. or Anouilh from his 1959 play Becket, Jean Brechtian and other nonnaturalistic devices to be intended to offer license and material for who would produce it. introduced into the performed play by those actions should and says his individual solid wall of conscience confronts the death-makers,” that con- (A few of the members of own actions. spur on others in the congregation to their seem either stunned or confused.) But what of those gregation are interviewed afterwards and gives the summer of 1970 as the point at which who did try to follow this example? Meconis This was not a matter of a theologi- (1979:76). “virtual standstill” the Catholic Left was at a the tactically disastrous decision to go under argues Meconis pessimistically, but, cal impasse, which engendered increased police action and harsher regimes for ground a few months prior, and fatally problematized the notion of nonviolent protest, those associates actually imprisoned, Catholic “the to sustain this level of resistance: miscalculated the capacity of the community nor the discipline to successfully conduct what Left’s members possessed neither the know-how recalling the difficulties of the time many However, (146). amounted to urban guerrilla warfare” “made it which Berrigan notes the palpable successes of the antiwar movement, years later, weapons politically impossible to continue the war [...,] morally impossible to launch nuclear (in Kisseloff 2007:117). [...and] helped remove two presidents from office” Certainly it was a way to educate both the curi- on the part of the antiwar movement. makers” as Chomsky ous and disinterested about the Catonsville action and the state response to it, in dialectical 2 of the engagement with the state or, But clearly the trial itself is act claims. its antithesis terms, ipated synthesis (public outrage and further antiwar actions). In this respect, and in keeping In this respect, ipated synthesis (public outrage and further antiwar actions). and indeed acknowledging the with the principles or discipline necessary for nonviolent action, The Trial ­talkiness of the text, engagement. In “Father Berrigan Speaks to the Actors from Underground,” Berrigan notes Actors from Underground,” “Father Berrigan Speaks to the In engagement. “our behalf” (as if an expedition out into the unknown) on (that “launched” that the play was Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29September 2021 108 Benjamin Halligan out intothecounterculture. menters requiredanexpandedviewofmoralityand, aswith Wilkerson, thecouragetoventure (88) isachieved. ForaCatholicpriesttoreachsuchanunderstandingofthesetheatreexperi- instance maybefinite, Berrigannotes “somesenseofthedepth, inwardnessandcommunality” munity. Despitetheprovisothatcommunitymaybefiniteinduration, andindeedthateach experimentation, throughheightenedcommunicationandunderstanding, comesanewcom- exciting, innovativecharacter” (Berrigan[1972]1973:88). Fromthecrucibleofthiscollective politics, andaboveallperhaps[...]acommonlinkinglovethatgrants[thesetwotroupes]an is onethatof, orengenders, “a commondiscipline, acommonviewoftheworld, acommon and Puppet Theater (Berrigan[1972]1973:62, 89). appearance atCornellUniversity, hiddeninoneofthegiantpuppetsbelongingtoBread ter withcontemporarytheatre:hisseeminglyaudaciousescapefromtheFBIagentsduring into productiveglory” (inRoszak1970:152). them /withlovevessels[...]wewanttochangethedemoniccharacterofouropponents the hostileelementsinsociety, “we want/tozapthemwithholiness[...]weopen you call ‘enemies’ areultimatelyourfriends” (inCroyden1974:124);and, JulianBeckwrote, of anger, hatred, bitterness, hostility, andhunger, thenit’s for us toturnittheotherside... What frontations tolovingones[...]Revolutionmeansturnthewheel, andifit’saworldfullof of the “death-makers”: JudithMalinaclaimed, in1968, “Our aimistochangeallhostilecon- lence, andre-charged. Thus theLiving Theatre wagedakindofpsychicwarfareonthesociety tions,” andsoreturningcitizenstotheirprotestactivitieshealedofstateintimidationvio- therapeutic too:thetheatreexperienceascleansingpopulationofitsbadkarmaor “vibra- ety: afree, communal, nonviolent, utopiansociety. And theperformanceswereunderstoodtobe mation ofanewsocietythatwouldexistbeyondtherestraints20th-century Western soci- Theatre wasbusydeconstructingallwallsandraisingthecollectiveconsciencethroughfor Theatre. UnlikeBerrigan’snotionofconstructinga “solid wallofconscience,” theLiving “envy” withrespecttowhatwasthenthepremierecounterculturaltheatretroupe them toamoreaccurate, realistic, andpainfulsenseofthings” ([1972]1973:87). is, seeminglythebehalfofthoseunderground), sothatit “might speaktopeople, mightbring 15. life incontemporaryNorthAmerican societythatisakindoflivingdeath,infavor“dying” is withaformofresurrection(although Berrigandoesnotstateitintheseterms):torejectthe phrasing WilliamBlake.Theparallel thatsuggestsitselfin,effectively,somethingofasermon, The Catonsvilleactionitselfgrewoutofasensehavingleft innocenceforexperience,para- who waskilledinacaraccidentsixmonthsafterhehadparticipated inthedraftcardburning. cent statewiththatofhislateassociateBrotherDavidDarst, a memberoftheCatonsvilleNine thing seemspossiblethroughsucharemaking.Berriganlikens thispotentialandreborninno- to “thefirstmorningofthecreationman”(88). Everything, then,awaits,andevery- ties offerawayofbeing world, andsopresumablyarepreytotheperilsofsuchafallen environment,thesecommuni- “teams orcaucuses”([1972]1973:87).Forindividualswhofind themselves“lowered”intothe surprise heneverthelessfinds“communitiesarisingveryquickly,” whichhealsoreferstoas and violence-­ and theabove-notedintentionsforplay,withanobservation that,despitethe“befouled “Father BerriganSpeakstotheActorsfromUnderground”begins,afteraninitialgreeting To Actors,to Audiences For Berrigan, theLiving Theatre experience, aswiththeNew Theater forNowproductions, In thislettertotheactorspreparingaproductionofplay, Berriganthentalksofhis and Beck’s poem, see Halligan (2016:4–5). For an extended discussion of the Living Theatre in relation to the 1968 production of ridden atmosphereinwhich[...]youngpeoplearecominginto adulthood,”tohis — “a newwayofgettingbornintheworld”(87) 15 Later, Berriganrecallsanotherdirectencoun- — Paradise Now and karma, which hethenlikens — the Living - Daniel Berrigan and Radical Theatre 109 - in in — 16

Ironically, the absent Berrigan seems to have been very present in a spiritualist form for some performancessome for veryform spiritualist been a in have to seems present Berrigan the absent Ironically, the sense of disembodied voices “from the other side.” Davidson recalled that his Los Angeles production began began production Angeles Los his that recalled Davidson side.” other the “from voices disembodied of sense the the with and began, play the before played house”), “safe a (from Berrigan of made had he recording tape a with And underground.” the from speaking Berrigan Father is “This begins: recording The half-dimmed. lights house the search hopelessly and immediately to audience the in hidden FBI the of members alarmed the prompted this 2013:34). O’Connor also see 2005; (Davidson Jesuit fugitive the for premises From this vantage point, the line or direction of communication of the play, as it were, as it were, the line or direction of communication of the play, From this vantage point, 16. becomes clear: those who died and have been reborn talking to those who are alive but repre- becomes clear: those who died and have been American theatre itself seems to have found a position Contemporary sent a kind of living dead. “sprayed are for Berrigan, and off-Broadway which, on this spectrum too: entertainments on the moral anomie [...] are infantile [...] retard[ing] amnesia, with the false front of frivolity, Berrigan’s conception of theatre is (90). “escapism” ([1972] 1973:89) and are thus sense of man” get get going, Americans get born, “help to audience, one of awakening rather than lulling the “moral passion and Their And this awakening is the role of the actor in the play. (89). growing” (89). “human spirit” and “spirit” can channel that which Berrigan refers to as bodily gestures” and while spirit suggests spiri- weigh his words, Berrigan can be taken to carefully As a poet, be Berrigan’s preferred interpretation: not to be other the very opposite position seems to tual, as with Pasolini’s walking Christ, physically embedded in the moment, but to be deeply, worldly, Spirit and spiritual are thus presented as antag- as with the condition of being underground. tactile presentness of others as beheld (audience the spirit is the almost onistic: for Berrigan, encountering actor) in the same space. to that society in order to live in a new way. And this dying can be extrapolated then as both lit- to that society in order to live in a new way. of polite society, going underground, or find- eral (in Darst’s case) and professional (rejections ing or forming new communities). Figure 5. Berrigan escapes from FBI agents during his appearance at , by hiding in one one in hiding by Cornellat University, appearance his during agents FBI from escapes Berrigan 5. Figure Special (CourtesyDepartment the of of Theater. Puppet and Bread the to belonging puppets giant the of Libraries) University Stanford Collections, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29September 2021 110 Benjamin Halligan Special Collections and Archives, DePaul University Library, Chicago, IL) Catonsville Nine by Daniel Berrigan, Syracuse, NY. (Reproduction of courtesy Figure 6. Poster for the Salt City Playhouse production of sible mise-en-scèneorproduction design with us” (90). The talkofheatandtightening, andcircleslight, suggest somethingofapos- ing ourreachsothatwearenot theonlyonessaved;sothatothersgetinandunderaway what Iamtryingtodointheunderground,” whichis “hottening thingsup[...] andthenextend- to Berrigan’sposition: “in such awaylinkisclosedbetweenwhatyouaredoingonstageand sequences. And inthis respect oftightening, theconceptualizationoftheatreisrelated closely of itsconsequences. The play, afterall, simplyconcerns(fromanarrativepointofview)con- for thepurposesofdistillingitintoaconcentratedcrisis:heightening theunavoidablenature crisis” ([1972]1973:90). Tightening wouldseemtobeamatterofarticulatingthewidercrisis tive protection,” avantagepointfromwhich everyoneis “facing togethertheconsequenceof The Trial of the — one ofclosenessanddiscomfort, aswith, Iwould stood “in acircleofimagina- ening ofcrisis” forthosewho actor isnotedasthe “tight- (Bennett 1994:163). tions takecareofthemselves” should playandlettheimplica- iour, andthatiswhatactors istic accountofordinarybehav- What Kafkawritesisanatural- the implicationsoftext. [...] don’t playthetext, theyplay same [...:]actorsanddirectors matizing Kafkaisalwaysthe narrative: “The mistakeindra- matizing meaningratherthan noted thedangersofactorsdra- playwright Alan Bennetthas tive, foractorspreparing. The tical, orevencounterproduc- difficult andsingularlyimprac- suggestions Berriganmakesare tion” speakingthezeitgeist, the involves the “voice ofagenera- lations. Butinallthis, which ures andtheirideasorarticu- give voicetohistoricalfig- for, specificallyquotationsthat the playtextcanbeaccounted ­jarringly obliqueinterjectionsin ground playwright. Inthis, the absent othersincludetheunder connection iseasilygrasped:the (89). Intermsofthisplay, sucha ground, orexiled, ordeceased as thoseinprison, orunder absent others:listedbyBerrigan from, beinginterlocutorsfor ies,” andthisachieves, orcomes cating lightaroundtheirbod- found “creating andcommuni- An additionalroleforthe For theactors, thisspiritis - - Daniel Berrigan and Radical Theatre 111 - - - - - dropping — ­ pressing aware 17 as the way change was to be enacted: a shift in con- —

of a repressive and repressed society Berrigan posits a connection to classical Greek drama in terms of his understanding of the potential operation of of operation potential the of understanding his of terms in drama Greek classical to connection a posits Berrigan of act “an as theatre Greek of “mimesis” the interprets idiosyncratically but pity, of problem the including theatre, remembrance of act an became itself which trial, the of case his in presumably 1973:90), ([1972] remembrance” world. the of mimicryof form a understood, typically more is as than, rather action, the of representation or This positioning of the audience, or identification of its character, suggests a further move or identification of its character, This positioning of the audience, In the coda to the letter, “And to the Audience,” Berrigan conceptualizes the audience, Berrigan conceptualizes the audience, Audience,” to the “And In the coda to the letter, Berrigan concludes this matter with: “So the connection between resistance and the theatre and the theatre between resistance “So the connection with: this matter Berrigan concludes those who are “spectators at events, crises, dramas” ([1972] 1973:90), as in need of a galvaniz- 1973:90), ([1972] dramas” crises, at events, “spectators those who are who were once Catonsville group, “us”: the notes that this was the state of Berrigan ing change. action involved purging them- But the process that enabled the Catonsville unenlightened too. The widely circulated images of consequences for illegal actions. selves of the fear of punitive Underground Weather prompted the even Raps liner, as on the Berrigan Berrigan in handcuffs, raised [...] [y]ou have refused the corruption of your “smiling and with hands to proclaim that, Purging is also the modus operandi of Underground [1970] 2006:156). (Weather generation” appreciation of a clear-headed seemingly, pity and to, the play: to push the audience away from The distillation of crisis is presumably to these taken. the wider situation and the actions to be unshackled by and so a freedom to act, from fear, And the purging results in a freedom ends. are the “fear” and “pity” Thus the Catonsville Nine. as per the example of societal propriety, Pity would seem to be a major of the audiences’ hearts ([1972] 1973:93). “inhabiting demons” need to exor and it is odd that Berrigan would talk of the moral virtue in a Christian context, cise it. Nor is it clear whether pity, found in “the veins of the mind” (91) refers to pity for oth- (91) “the veins of the mind” found in Nor is it clear whether pity, cise it. before to be the quality that motivated Berrigan to act, And pity would seem or self-pity. ers, a half decades): pity for victims of US aggres- and after Catonsville (for another four and in which he “Children in the Shelter,” most notably in his excoriating and stunning poem sion, “the whom he described as Vietnam, raid while in recalls cradling a child after a US bombing Pity for [1968] 1988:154). True (in child from hell” “a Hiroshima and messiah / of all my tears,” Berrigan But then pity is a condition of immobility: the victims seems the only human response. Pity helpless and vulnerable. effectively “in the Shelter,” describes his being with the children act requires leaving such a cul-de-sac. To or waylays anger. disables action, 17. lectual engagement is quite different from the Living Theatre and the move to get “out of it,” “out of it,” Theatre and the move to get lectual engagement is quite different from the Living and in a societal way hallucinogenics, via for example both in a psychological sense, ness of and material grounding in a sense of immediate reality. The audience that would need The audience that of immediate reality. ness of and material grounding in a sense did not include those associated with the under to be brought back down to earth presumably Such an intel living in ignorance. everyday overground, but those of the not activists, ground, ment away from “spiritual” qualities of empathy, or subjective reactions, toward a ­ toward or subjective reactions, of empathy, qualities “spiritual” from away ment out ought to be pondered not merely by actors but by the relationship they strive to establish with strive to establish with relationship they by actors but by the pondered not merely ought to be He also warns ([1972] 1973:89). attract” kind of audience they as well as by the their audience “of a in them “changes” in of working with this text will result the actors that the experience communicate the nature of pac- Presumably the actors so effectively (90). rather serious order” wider implications for society at large, and the critique of war-mongering, as a ifist activism, audience too. may occur in the “changes” such as Berrigan notes, that, suggest, theatre in the round, which prevents an audience from hiding from the action in the from the action in audience from hiding which prevents an theatre in the round, suggest, self-contained and over the performance as or treating space, of the theatre darkened recesses has ended. once the play sciousness rather than conscience, although the shift in conscience would clearly follow. But the shift in conscience would clearly follow. although sciousness rather than conscience, Theatre event in the late 1960s were probably those who would attend a Living even then, or or fear), already sympathetic to alternative lifestyles (and so not so beset by the devils of pity to be akin for Berrigan, seems, “out of it” be To indeed fully conversant in alternative lifestyles. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00750 by guest on 29September 2021 112 Benjamin Halligan ask: whichonedoyouchoose? available. FatherBerrigan’svoice, fromundergroundandthroughthetheatre, couldbeheardto responses (suchaspity), inwhichitwaspossibletocoexistwithwar. These were theoptions of theunderground. And thealternativewasmerelyspiritual, astateofimmobilizingsubjective spirit, albeitattheriskoflosingpersonalfreedom. This wasthepreferenceof “other” world of failure, butnonethelesssoughttoincubateanewsocietyandengenderregenerationofthe Catholic Leftandfellowtravelers. Onewasarguablyidealistic, andpossiblydoomedtoadegree incursion intothehostile(overground)territoryofthosewhohadyettobecivilized. and Berrigan’sconceptionofaradicaltheatre, isunderstoodasakindofmissionaryaction:an would returntothewiderworld, fromwhichtheyweredrawn, changed. Inthisrespecttheplay, recorded intheplay). Butunlikethejuridicalaudience, thisaudience, exorcisedoftheirdemons, “they” arerelatedtothejurywhodidnotunderstand, andwereclearintheirguiltyverdicts(as this way, theaudienceisconceivedaspartially, intheireverymanignorance, hostile. After all, the CatonsvilleNineisextensionofprocesspurging(Berrigan[1972]1973:91). In the playisanaffectiveexperienceforaudience. The “boon andfavor” fromthetrialof purging oftheaudiencetransubstantiatesactivism, throughtheplay, inthewaywhich this worldconsists, Berriganconcludes, of “our friendsandhearersaudiencejury.” The with theatrewasonlyoneaspectofhislifeatthistime(unlikefortheLiving Theatre). And have adifferenttheatrethanthat, Ithink” (62). and ageneralinvasionofhumandignityforthoseinvolved(63). Bluntly, “we’re goingtohave formance, whichheexitedearly) “simplistic,” “degrading,” “threatening” (inRiemer1971:62), distance fromthemethodsofLiving Theatre, whichhedescribesas(foranunspecifiedper theworldoutside)andtheologicalotherworldliness. of” And, asanoutsider, Berriganexpressed awareness. And afurtheranalogysuggestsitself:tobe “out ofit” intermsofmonasticlife(“out to ­ Chomsky, Noam. 1971. “On theLimitsofCivilDisobedience.”by William InTheBerrigans Van,edited Casey, William Van Etten, SJ, andPhilip Nobile, eds. 1971. TheBerrigans.New York: Avon. Brown, RobertMcAfee. 1971. “The Berrigans:SignsorModels?”by William InTheBerrigans Van,edited Bianchi, EugeneC. 1972. TheReligiousExperienceofRevolutionaries. New York: Doubleday&Company, Inc. Berrigan, Daniel, andRobertColes. (1971)2001. TheGeography ofFaith: Underground Conversations on Berrigan, Daniel. (1978)1988. “Letter toErnesto Cardenal:GunsDon’t Work.” InDanielBerrigan: Poetry, Berrigan, Daniel. Berrigan, Daniel, SJ. 1971b. “From Underground, FatherBerriganSpeaksto Actors.” NewYork Times, Berrigan, Daniel. 1971a. TheDark NightofResistance . New York: Doubleday&Company, Inc. Berrigan, Daniel. (1970)2004. The Trial. oftheCatonsvilleNine New York: FordhamUniversityPress. Bennett, Alan.1994. Bartelme, Elizabeth. 1996. “A PoetforDifficult Times.” InApostleofPeace: Essays inHonorofDanielBerrigan , References escapist theatre:intellectuallyandpoliticallydisengaged, andsostuntingthegrowthofself- Thus, ontheculturalfront, Berriganpositedtwokindsofpossibleotherworldlinessforthe Berrigan’s audienceisthereforetheworldatlarge. And, indeed, Berrigan’sengagement Etten Casey, SJ, andPhilipNobile, 37–59. New York: Avon. Etten Casey, SJ, andPhilipNobile, 60–70. New York: Avon. Religious, Political andSocialChange. Woodstock, VT:Publishing. Skylight Drama, Prose, editedbyMichael True, 166–70. Maryknoll, NY: OrbisBooks. Prison. London:SPCK. -father-berrigan-speaks-to-actors.html. 31 January:D13. Accessed 26January2018. www.nytimes.com/1971/01/31/archives/from-underground edited byJohnDear, 105–08. Maryknoll, NY: OrbisBooks. (1972) 1973. AmericaIsHard toFind: Notesfromtheundergroundandletters fromDanbury Writing Home. London:FaberandFaber. - Daniel Berrigan and Radical Theatre 113

23, 1 (April):72–91. 23, Changing Weather.” Weather.” Changing — London and Los Angeles: Goldcrest Films/Warner Bros/Kingsmere/ Bros/Kingsmere/ Angeles: Goldcrest Films/Warner London and Los Aired 7 September 1970, NET Journal. Aired 7 September 1970, The Raft Is Not the Shore: Conversations toward a toward Conversations The Raft Is Not the Shore: (1975) 2001. and Daniel Berrigan. t, ´

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