The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 3/2/06 Section: Arts

Media Credit: Vlad Lodoaba The animated entourage of politically-active characters, including Middlebury alumnus Kevin Buckland '05.5, bring an animated performance of serious issues to the forefront with daring drama and humor.

A clever and compelling conclusion to the winter carnival weekend, the Bread and Puppet Theater of Vermont offered three interesting workshops and performed their eccentric work entitled, "National Circus of the Correct Moment." The show was funny, unconventional and inspiring in its own right, and the satirical skits covered a diverse array of prominent issues, including evolution, the separation of Church and State and the Iraqi War.

The Bread and Puppet Theater, founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann in New York City, is a politically radical puppet theater based in Glover, Vt. Bread and Puppet is one of the oldest nonprofit, self-supporting theatrical companies in the country. It was active during the Vietnam War in anti-war protests and is often remembered as a central part of the political scene of the time, as its enormous puppets were fixtures in many demonstrations.

In 1970, the theater moved to Vermont, where it still resides. The traveling shows range from tightly composed pieces presented by members of the company to extensive pageants that encourage the participation of the audience. The name Bread and Puppet derives from the theater's practice of sharing its own fresh bread, for free, with the spectators of each performance as a means of creating community, and from its central principle that art should be as basic to life as bread.

The Bread and Puppet Theater was brought to Middlebury through VACA (Vitality in the Artistic Community Association) and the efforts of their co-president, Kevin Buckland '05.5, who just graduated this February, and Assistant Director of Campus Activities for Student Organizations and Administration Charlotte Chase.

Middlebury sponsored Bread and Puppet, and all of the proceeds from the $5 recommended donation went to F.E.E.D. (Food Education Every Day), a local organization that advocates home-grown food and backyard gardens. All in all, the show garnered around $850 - much more than was expected.

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