Generation

10th Anniversary of Original Site-Specific Ritual at Silo City

August 4-13th, 2023

The August rituals at the silos are early harvest festivals. They represent what has been metaphorically sown and reaped; familially, locally and globally. They are also meditations on universal themes.

This year The Society is celebrating a decade of ceremonies at the Silo City grounds. In recognition of the loss of Marshall Maxwell who passed on in December of 2022 this year’s festival is to honor St. Maxwell and Father Marshall the Twin Spirits. In three movements, the society will enact a series of 13 ceremonies to generate energy and potential for the next decade. Over the last ten years the society has lost Diane Gaidry, the Healer, Willy Judson, Authority, and Marshall Maxwell, Friendship. A transference of powers is necessary to move The Society into the next realm and transcend boundaries and borders.

This year, The Society stands witness to the historical exchange of bodies for borders, of the transcendence of the living body and the outer edges of the known universe.

Not only are these early harvest festivals a ritual performance – they are also a gathering together of the community. We want to offer a space to come back to each year and to be part of an ongoing celebration. You are the ceremony – this is the ritual. We create an open space for people to come together, to reflect on the past year: what was gained, what was lost? What has changed and what needs changing, Who has come into our lives and who has left? A space to prepare for the coming year. A time in mid-August – with the summer ending but not yet over. The days are still long and the nights still warm.

If it is your first time joining us, welcome and if you are returning, welcome back. We wish you well in the year that lies ahead. Here’s to St. Maxwell/Father Marshall for embodied friendship and the power of love to transcend boundaries and borders.

 

1st Movement – King’s Day

Ceremony 1 – Procession of Paladins – Honoring the past – transference of power

Ceremony 2 – Welcoming the Tiger – induction of the conduit

Ceremony 3 – Reverberations of the Past – echoes of ancestors

Ceremony 4 – The Light and the Darkness – processing trauma

 

2nd Movement- The Festival of Saint Marshall

Ceremony 5 – Competitions of Luck, Skill and Strength – rituals to build potential and energy

Ceremony 6 – Einstein-Rosen Bridge – the first transgression of Space/Time

Ceremony 7 – The Truth Speech – exposing past transgressions

Ceremony 8 – The Purification of the conduit – Preparation for Transformation

Ceremony 9- Nullification of Contracts – releasing the binds

 

3rd Movement : The Feast of Saint Maxwell

Ceremony 10 – Flailing of the Fascists- reenactment for catharsis

Ceremony 11 – The Tender – caring for the wounds

Ceremony 12 – Levitation – breaking boundaries

Ceremony 13 – Transformation and transcendence – expanding the borders

 

SYMBOLS

Green – life, renewal, nature, energy, and environment

Stag – continuity, prosperity, longevity, and abundance

Serpent – rebirth, transformation, immortality, healing

Hawk – determination, focus, leadership, and clarity

Cottonwood Tree – the sun; afterlife

Rock – The pink granite stones were dug by hand out of the grounds surrounding Star Lake in the Adirondack region of upstate New York. The granite stones represent labor of love. Granite facilitates and maintains balance in relationships and within cooperative groups. Granite supports discretion and diplomacy. Element of water and earth.

Fire – Creation, Destruction, Transformation

Labyrinth – A symbol that relates to wholeness. It combines the imagery of the circle and the spiral into a meandering but purposeful path. The labyrinth sculpture is a vertical representation of the three ritual spaces: The large cottonwood tree, the poison garden and the small cottonwood tree.

Season Flags – Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

 

Performed by

  • Thea Duskin
  • Nikiya Garza
  • Becky Globus
  • Holly Kirkpatrick
  • Sean Kulak
  • Justin Leis
  • Echo Martínez
  • Tim McPeek
  • Michael Parkot
  • Matthew Rittler
  • Justin Rowland
  • Carmen Swans
  • Kalub Thompson
  • Christine Turturro
  • Priscilla Young-Anker

 

Production Team

  • Co-Directors/Co-Writers – Dan Shanahan,
  • Melissa Meola Shanahan
  • Production Manager – Carly Weiser
  • Stage Manager – Sarah Foote
  • Asst. Stage Manager –
  • Mary Margaret Keenan- Brown
  • Managing Director – Marisa Caruso
  • Technical Directors – Matthew Divita, Tony Rajewski
  • Assistant Technical Director – Daniel Toner
  • Sound Design – Justin Rowland
  • Costume Design – Jessica Wegrzyn
  • Prop Designer – Thea Duskin
  • Carpenter – Sean Kulak
  • Technical Crew – Marcus Aiello, Darren Valdrea
  • Box Office/Front of House Manager – Jenn Carter
  • Box Office – Katie Osborne
  • Digital Marketing Support – Holly Kirkpatrick
  • Silo City Management – Kate Gorman
  • Silo City Landscape Ecologist – Josh Smith

Special Thanks: Rick Smith, Always Something Farm, the folks of Lyceum at Silo City, Josh Smith, Kate Gorman and The Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle

10 Years of Torn Space Productions at Silo City

Title – Year – Theme

  • Motion Picture – 2013 – Quest
  • Storehouse – 2014 – Identity
  • They Kill Things – 2015 – Slaughter
  • Burden – 2016 – Burden
  • The Gathering – 2017 – Resistance
  • Stations – 2018 – Transcendence
  • Feast – 2019 – Transformation
  • Silence – 2020 – Rumination
  • …And the Sun Sets in Golden Circles – 2021 – Evolution
  • Ages – 2022 – Heterotopia
  • Generation – 2023 – Borders and Boundaries