THIS MAN OF LOVE
Celebrating the Beloved's Birthday at Meherabad
by Nancy Wall
When the bell rang at 4:00 on the morning of Avatar Meher Baba's 102nd birthday, many of those staying in Meherabad were already up. Most had played some role in preparing for the festivities — decorating the Samadhi and Beloved Baba's gadi with shiny baubles, fairy lights, and colourful fabric ornaments made by Marge Liboron over a period of many years; practicing a song or poem to be offered to Meher Baba after morning arti; trimming the foliage from thousands of flowers and stringing them into garlands; or taking some part in the birthday play, either on stage or off. Just before 5:00, everyone gathered in and around the Samadhi grew quiet, awaiting the moment of His birth, signaled by the joyous repetition of “Avatar Meher Baba, Ki Jai!” seven times before arti and the singing of “Happy Birthday.” During the musical programme that followed, Baba's lovers stood in the long darshan line, moving slowly toward the threshold of the tomb, giving hugs and birthday greetings to one another. The prasad was sweet and abundant, and under the tin shed across from Mansari's kitchen, next to Baba's gadi, tea was waiting. Unexpected clouds on this unusually warm morning brought a spectacular sunrise, a shifting pink panorama that faded as people headed down the hill to prepare for the rest of the day's celebration.
Gift to thr Beloved
Arnavaz Dadachanji placing a copy of her autobiography "Gift of God" on Beloved Meher Baba's chair in Mandali Hall a day before His Birthday. The publisher Naosherwan Anzar and one of the editors, Nancy Wall, were present on the occasion. Later Eruch Jessawala was photographed reading the book.
By 10:00 the actors were at the theatre putting on costumes and makeup, and the backstage area was a bustle of activity with light and sound technicians making last minute adjustments and actors and musicians warming up voices and tuning instruments. During this time those not directly involved in the play gathered on the hill again to greet the women mandali as they arrived at Meher Baba's Samadhi. Mani remained in Meherazad, recuperating from her recent surgery in Poona, but the rest of the women brought flowers to the Samadhi and took Meher Baba's darshan. Since there was no musical programme this year, the women were then taken to the theatre in shiny old blue De Soto. This year's play was an unusual choice. The plays for Mehera's birthday, as well as those most recently performed for Baba's birthday, have dealt with past spiritual figures from different traditions, requiring exotic costumes and sets. This time Eruch made a surprising suggestion: why not do a play based on This Man David, a screenplay that Meher Baba Himself supervised over a period of three years? Mani was consulted, and with her encouragement the work began.References to Meher Baba's involvement in film projects appear in the last pages of Volume V and throughout most of Volume VI of Bhau Kalchuri's Lord Meher. Late in l933 Baba even spoke with Padri, His brother Beheram, and Arnavaz's father, Naoroji Dadachanji, about the possibility of building a film studio at Meherabad. There was talk of doing a film based on Meher Baba's life and two other projects involving well-known screenwriters Karl Vollmoeller and H. S. Kraft and director Gabriel Pascal. Margaret Craske was to do the choreography for these pieces. All the work completed on these projects, none of which was ever filmed, took place under Meher Baba's direct guidance. Vollmoeller, Norina Matchabelli's first husband, had more than twenty years earlier written the scenario for Max Reinhardt's lavish production The Miracle, in which Norina, under the stage name of Maria Carmi, played a statue of the Virgin Mary that came to life. This play toured throughout Europe and the United States during the early part of the century.
At one point it was decided that Vollmoeller would do the screenplay for This Man David and Kraft would write another about evolution, How It All Happened, following three characters through several lifetimes. However, the version of This Man David used as a basis for Meher Baba's birthday play had both their names on it, and an additional version by Garrett Fort was consulted as well.
Because of the vast difference between a treatment for a screenplay and an actual play script, a good deal of work needed to be done and a lot of dialogue written in order to come up with a stageable play. Heather Nadel stayed as close to the original as possible, using the characters and the small amount of dialogue given in the outline. She then filled in the gaps, creating other characters only mentioned in the original and writing additional dialogue. Under the direction of Alan Wagner, with the help of stage manager Candice Hawksley, a large cast with a range of actors from professional to beginner performed beautifully in front of a spectacular set executed by Katherine Cox and Carmen Diaz-Bolton. The story deals with a man named David Lord (played by Ted Judson) who arrives unexpectedly by train at a town where trains never stop. This town, Middlesville, is run by a few affluent citizens who stay that way at the expense of the poor, and they heartily resist change. “Nothing ever changes in Middlesville, and we sure do like it that way!” sings Mrs. Matthews (Mary Sutton), wife of the general store owner and matriarch of the town. They are careful to keep up appearances, and they react with intolerance to anyone who challenges their ways. David Lord, mistaken for a long awaited school teacher, gently does just that. When Goofy (Gabriel Mednick), a young, slightly retarded man shunned by the town, appears at a school social, Lord horrifies people by inviting him in. Lord also confronts the town bully, Duke, a mean, brooding James Deanish figure, who physically abuses Goofy to the amusement of the crowd. And when young, pregnant Eva (Brandi Batchelder) is deserted by her sweetheart William (Minoo Hamilton), Lord becomes Eva's comforter. He and Goofy are the only ones she can count on in her crisis, as the town vilifies her once her condition is known.
In befriending Eva and Goofy, David Lord infuriates the power structure in Middlesville, and when he goes to the nearby city to find William, Duke bullies Goofy into setting fire to the general store. Lord returns to find the forlorn Eva dead in Goofy's arms under a tree, but he brings her back to life to the haunting accompaniment of a spirit dance (performed by Sarah Dwyer). Goofy's joy is short lived, however, as the townspeople, led by Duke, come to accuse Lord of burning the general store. Duke ignores Goofy's attempted confession, convincing the others that he saw David Lord light the fire himself. In the passion of the moment the crowd, already angered by their discovery that Lord is not really a teacher, takes “justice” into their own hands and lynches him. A repentant William arrives too late, though both he and Goofy see at once that this stranger was no ordinary man. A final tableau shows Eva, William and their baby sitting under the tree with Goofy. The face of David Lord has appeared in the bark of the tree, and William's family, who supported Lord all along, appears with flowers to take darshan. Goofy has crudely lettered a sign with David Lord's words: “I have come not to teach, but to awaken.” Granny (Janice Rieman) sings a final song, a recognition that David was indeed Lord. Telling the story in bare outline cannot capture the intensity of emotion both on and off stage during some scenes — or the beauty of Ward Parks' original music, played by a team of fine musicians. And the face on the tree — a slight departure from the original movie treatment, in which the branches formed themselves into Lord's profile — came as a real surprise to the audience. More than thirty years before His face appeared on the tree outside Mehera's window, Meher Baba gave this dramatic hint of what was to come. This Man David is a powerful play. The theme seems particularly appropriate today in terms of the increasing intolerance and anger of the times we live in, and the entire audience was touched. As Heather Nadel commented from the stage afterwards, the videotape that was made for Mani to view was, in a sense, the film that had never been made.
After the curtain calls — and there is not space enough here to mention all the actors, musicians, light and sound technicians and other backstage workers who made this show come together — the stage was cleared and tables brought in to hold a sumptuous feast that Alan and the Meherabad kitchen staff had prepared for the assembled guests. The audience chatted with one another and the actors, this time as themselves, came out to greet the mandali. After everyone had eaten and the mandali had left for Meherazad, the crowd thinned out as small groups headed back to the Pilgrim Centre, still talking about the play. But the extraordinary events of the day were not over yet. In Meherabad, early on the morning of her Beloved's birthday, Banumasi Kerawala, one of Baba's oldest living disciples at 96, had slipped away to join Him. Later that afternoon she was cremated next to the Pilgrim Centre, to the accompaniment of songs of praise for Meher Baba, Avatar of the Age.