Bread and Puppet Theater
The Bread and Puppet Theater is a political theater collective committed to empowering communities through cheap art. Rooted in anti-capitalist, anti-war, and grassroots ideas, the theater uses large puppets and street performance to satirically comment on social injustice. The heart of the collective’s practice is the tradition of bread-sharing where they share fresh bread for the audience and performers to enjoy–reinforcing their belief that art and food are fundamental human rights.
The theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann in New York City’s Lower East Side. The concerns of the first productions were rent, rats, police, and other problems of the neighborhood. The puppets grew bigger and bigger and the performances became more complex–incorporating sculpture, music, dance, and language. In 1974, the Bread and Puppet Theater moved out of the Lower East Side to a farm in Glover, Vermont. The farm and land was transformed into a museum for the veteran puppets. Now, the theater tours and performs new and old productions, runs apprenticeship programs, and community workshops. Peter Schumann, the founder of the Bread and Puppet Theater, explains the collective’s philosophy:
“We want you to understand that theater is not yet an established form, not the place of commerce you think it is, where you pay to get something. Theater is different. It is more like bread, more like a necessity. Theater is a form of religion. It preaches sermons and builds a self-sufficient ritual. Puppet theater is the theater of all means. Puppets and masks should be played in the street. They are louder than the traffic. They don’t teach problems, but they scream and dance and display life in its clearest terms. Puppet theater is of action rather than dialogue” (Peter Schumann).
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Resources
Goodman, David. “Vermont Conversation: Peter Schumann on 60 years of Bread and Puppet Theater.” VTDigger, 27 September 2023, vtdigger.org/2023/09/27/vermont-conversation-peter-schumann-on-60-years-of-bread-and-puppet-theater/.
“Interview with Peter Schumann of the Bread and Puppet Theater.” Legendry, Vermont Public Radio, 3 March 1979, americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_211-418kq334.
Schumann, Peter. “Bread and Puppet Theater Founder Peter Schumann on 50 Years of Art and Resistance.” YouTube, uploaded by Democracy Now!, 26 December 2013, youtu.be/TkFzR8l5_Gs?si=Q4fl2sxgAQFyrRvh.
Schumann, Peter. “Virtual Gallery Talk with Peter Schumann, of Bread and Puppet Theatre.” YouTube, uploaded by Vermont Studio Center, 1 December 2020, youtu.be/eCv6UFFaBSI?si=iR2wtOaI4xrfCqXq.
Schumann, Peter. Interview by Marc Estrin, https://breadandpuppet.org/about-bread-and-puppet/other-links/peter-schumann.
Schumann, Peter and Elke. “Bread & Puppet & Peace with Peter Schumann 20.” iMMERSE, by Charlie Morrow, 30 March 2023, immersesoundlightspace.podbean.com/e/bread-and-puppet-theater/.
Schumann, Peter and Ziggy Bird. BOMB MAGAZINE, by Amanda Chen, 6 December 2022, bombmagazine.org/articles/2022/12/06/peter-schumann-and-ziggy-bird-mckenzie-by-amanda-chen/.
Books:
Bell, John. Landscape and Desire: Bread and Puppet Pageants in the 1990s. Bread and Puppet Press, 1997.
Brecht, Stefan. The Bread and Puppet Theatre, Volume One. Methuen/Routledge, 1988.
Brecht, Stefan. The Bread and Puppet Theatre, Volume Two. Methuen/Routledge, 1988.
Dennison, George. An Existing Better World: Notes on the Bread and Puppet Theater. Autonomedia, 2000.
Kourilsky, Françoise. Le Bread and Puppet Theatre. La Cité, 1971.
Green, Susan. Bread & Puppet: Stories of Struggle & Faith from Central America. Green Valley Film and Art, 1985.
Simon, Ronald T. and Marc Estrin Rehearsing with Gods: Photographs and Essays on the Bread & Puppet Theater. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2004.
Audios:
Puppet Uprising: The Art of Peter Schumann’s Bread and Puppet Theater. CBC, December 2002, www.davidcayley.com/podcasts/2015/1/9/puppet-uprising-the-art-of-peter-schmanns-bread-and-puppet-theater.
Videos:
Ah! The Hopeful Pageantry of Bread and Puppet. Directed by DeeDee Halleck, 2002.
“Brother Bread, Sister Puppet.” YouTube, uploaded by Contemporary Arts Media, 9 April 2013, youtu.be/LyudUEuHF0c?si=QTiJOF5fwe-9sM_u.
“Vermont Ink.” Vimeo, uploaded by Andrew Ceen, 9 May 2017, vimeo.com/216775535.
Photo Gallery:
“Photo Gallery.” Bread and Puppet, breadandpuppet.org/about-bread-and-puppet/photo-gallery.
Articles:
Bell, John. The End of Our Domestic Resurrection Circus: Bread and Puppet Theater and Counterculture Performance in the 1990s.“ TDR, vol. 43, no. 3, 1999, muse.jhu.edu/article/32945.
Ilari, Mayumi Denise Senoi. The political theater and protestation in the globalized world: the Bread & Puppet Theater in the consumer society. São Paulo, 2008. doi.org/10.11606/T.8.2008.tde-14052008-134439.
Morris, Bob. “At 89, Still Making Art (and Bread) With a Message.” The New York Times, 15 August 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/08/15/theater/bread-and-puppet-theater-peter-schumann.html.
Ryder, Andrew. “Peter Schumann: Puppets, Bread and Art.” The Puppetry Home Page, Sagecraft Productions, 1995, www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/papers/Schumann.html?_ga=2.2308088.995103871.1745241958-1214497529.1745241958.
Schumann, Peter. “The Radicality of the Puppet Theatre.” TDR, vol. 35, no. 4, 1991, doi.org/10.2307/1146164.
Schumann, Peter. “What, At the End of This Century, Is the Situation of Puppets & Performing Objects?” TDR, vol. 43, no. 3, 1999, doi.org/10.1162/105420499760347324.
Social Media:
“Bread and Puppet Theater.” Facebook, www.facebook.com/breadandpuppet/.
”Bread and Puppet Theater [@breadandpuppet].” Instagram, www.instagram.com/breadandpuppet/.
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