Bread and Puppet Theater

Theatrical historians call the Bread and Puppet Theater of Peter Schumann the East Coast counterpart of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, but this is somewhat incorrect. This designation came about because of Bread and Puppet's involvement in the Vietnam War protests, for which it paraded down the streets of New York with huge puppets. Schumann's involvement was not that of a protester but rather a statement of humanitarian principles, because he does not protest, he says. A protester is someone who is upset about something and gets up and shouts about it. The Bread and Puppet Theater is not interested in ideology. The Bread and [Page 268]Puppet Theater is interested in exposing the problem of inhumanity and saying what needs to be said; what the audience does after the performance is out of the theater's hands.

Peter and Elka Schumann stand at their Bread and Puppet Theater Museum in Glover, VT, on Wednesday, June 4, 2003. The Schumanns marked 40 years of Bread and Puppet's creativity and activism, which began in New York City's Lower East Side in the 1960s. Performers gave a variety of short puppet and picture shows on Sunday, June 8, 2003, including a revival of one of theater's oldest works, an allegory on the abuse of power.

Source: AP Photo.

Rebelling against the comfort and conditioned reactions of traditional theater, which Schumann found superfluous in American society, the Bread and Puppet Theater was established to feed the audience. The theater should be as basic as bread. Before performances, the actors bake bread and hand it out to their audience. Thus the name Bread and Puppet Theater. In accordance with Schumann's belief about conventional theater, Bread and Puppet performs outdoors, in the streets, and in the parks. Why? Because sometimes his point is made just by being there, for suddenly there is this thing right in front of people, confronting them, and they cannot escape it.

Another reason for outdoor performances is that Schumann believes that theater is a community occurrence. With this in mind, Bread and Puppet began giving back to the community by going into the schools and working with children, often using shows developed by these children. Many of the shows are based on biblical themes, which perhaps fuel his moral challenge to action. For this reason, often depicted are the victims of injustice, war, hunger, or other forms of oppression.

Outside in the streets and parks, what is needed in this simple theater—with puppets that range in size from 6 inches to 18 feet—is intensity. Puppets, more than live actors, have intrinsic power. They can say things that humans cannot say—just by their size. Movement and music are more important than dialogue, and for this reason, Bread and Puppet's scripts are minimally written, the performances more or less improvised. Movement and pacing is of necessity simple and slow because the puppets are so large.

The Bread and Puppet Theater has gained international fame, with performances throughout Europe.