MORENO ACADEMY, WORLD CENTER OF PSYCHODRAMA AT BEACON, N.Y., AS SEEN BY AN ARGENTINIAN

Abstract

A small town, about 60 miles away from Manhattan, Beacon, N.Y. is the place where Dr. J. L. Moreno lives with his wife Zerka. The place
itself is one more of many small towns along the Hudson River. There is nothing special about it, except for the presence of the most unique training center I've ever seen: "The Moreno Academy," training center of psychodrama. In spite of a statement in the bulletin which reads: "Sessions from 10:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and an evening session lasting about two hours," one can say that Psychodrama is the subject at Beacon, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. People from everywhere come and go; one may run into a Frenchman, an American or an Argentinian and for as long as you plan to stay you will work constantly, without a day off. As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as a "day off" for J. L. Moreno or his wife Zerka. She supervises the training, runs the
afternoon session while "the Doctor," as everybody calls him, is usually seen in the evening. On Friday they go to New York City where Zerka runs a public session at the Moreno Institute. Back to Beacon for the weekend, since that is the time when Beacon has more people coming. In addition, a session open to the public of the Mid-Hudson valley area has recently been instituted, taking place every Saturday night at the Beacon theatre. The reason for weekends being so busy is that many people in training fly or drive in on Fridays and stay until Sunday night or Monday, when they go back to their work.