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).