HALCYON

Music by Joshua Groffman and Libretto by Sarah Heady

Halcyon (formerly Unfinished) is a new opera that explores the question: “What happens to us when a place that matters to us comes to ruin?” Centered on the story of Halcyon Hall and Bennett College in Millbrook, NY and developed through extensive archival research and personal interviews, the piece speaks to the importance that places (and their loss) hold in our lives.

At its root, Halcyon is the story of Halcyon Hall and the myriad lives that it once held. But it is also about the communities around the building—the college and its alumni, the Village of Millbrook, the Town of Washington—concentric circles of communities and stakeholders that add layer upon layer to the story of Halcyon. And at the center, the building itself becomes the beating heart of the piece—our main character.

Halcyon is the product of an intensely collaborative multi-year development process that will culminate in a world premiere in 2–3 years. The central challenge in Halcyon’s development has been the breadth of historical scope and need to determine a clear narrative. In looking at the 120-year history of Halcyon Hall, what stories do we tell and how? Over the course of Halcyon’s development, each iteration has added a new layer of perspective and allowed for stakeholder feedback.

We are currently planning a pre-premiere workshop of Halcyon in Millbrook in July 2021 that will culminate in two performances. We are also working with several community partners to co-produce additional events around and during the workshop period. 

You can see photos and video from our previous iterations here:

Music by Joshua Groffman and Libretto by Sarah Heady

Halcyon (formerly Unfinished) is a new opera that explores the question: “What happens to us when a place that matters to us comes to ruin?” Centered on the story of Halcyon Hall and Bennett College in Millbrook, NY and developed through extensive archival research and personal interviews, the piece speaks to the importance that places (and their loss) hold in our lives.

At its root, Halcyon is the story of Halcyon Hall and the myriad lives that it once held. But it is also about the communities around the building—the college and its alumni, the Village of Millbrook, the Town of Washington—concentric circles of communities and stakeholders that add layer upon layer to the story of Halcyon. And at the center, the building itself becomes the beating heart of the piece—our main character.

Halcyon is the product of an intensely collaborative multi-year development process that will culminate in a world premiere in 2–3 years. The central challenge in Halcyon’s development has been the breadth of historical scope and need to determine a clear narrative. In looking at the 120-year history of Halcyon Hall, what stories do we tell and how? Over the course of Halcyon’s development, each iteration has added a new layer of perspective and allowed for stakeholder feedback.

We are currently planning a pre-premiere workshop of Halcyon in Millbrook in July 2021 that will culminate in two performances. We are also working with several community partners to co-produce additional events around and during the workshop period.

You can see photos and video from our previous iterations here:

Opened in Millbrook, NY in 1907 as a finishing school for young women, the Bennett School for Girls’ unique educational philosophy often belied the stereotype of a finishing school. Recognizing that “to many American girls a diploma spells finished instead of begun,” founder May Friend Bennett emphasized the development of each young woman’s unique spiritual connection with herself and with the world. She encouraged her students to cultivate creative expression through the arts and to commune deeply with their idyllic Hudson Valley surroundings. As the twentieth century progressed and educational expectations for women changed, Bennett evolved into a junior college offering degrees in horsemanship, fashion and interior design, fine and performing arts, and early childhood education, in addition to a liberal arts curriculum that prepared students for transfer to four-year institutions.

Following the social upheavals of the 1960s, the model of single-sex education itself came under strain and Bennett College, as it was now known, suffered the same financial uncertainty as other American women’s colleges. In the early 1970s, Bennett began admitting male students and made efforts to restructure, including mergers with other institutions of higher education. Despite these efforts, as well as enormous investments in state-of-the-art facilities designed to attract applicants, enrollment dropped until it was at less than half capacity; the college’s financial situation deteriorated precipitously.

On August 10, 1977, the Millbrook Round Table ran the headline “Bennett College folds.” About 120 people lost their jobs and 225 students faced a nonexistent fall semester. As one of Bennett’s last presidents had noted in the mid-1960s, “Bennett College and Millbrook are synonymous…we are one, and this is as it should be.” With the loss of this major facet of its identity, the Village of Millbrook experienced significant changes to its economic and social fabric.

Since its shuttering, the 22-acre Bennett College campus, just outside the village of Millbrook, NY, has stood abandoned. Decades of attempts to repurpose the site have failed; the sprawling, Victorian heart of the campus, Halycon Hall, has decayed beyond repair. In 2014, the property passed into the hands of local owners, who declared their intention to repurpose the grounds as a public park.

(To see a collection of archival and contemporary images of Bennett College, click here.)