Interactive theater activates campus Bread and Puppet performance pulls Middlebury's strings

Author: Sara Jameson

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.

On Saturday, Bread and Puppet offered workshops on junk music, paper mache masks and cantastoria (picture stories).

Starrett Berry '09 said, "The workshops were actually a lot of fun." Of the cantastoria workshop, Berry explained, "We learned to tell a story with a political or social moral at the end of it using music, narration and movement. It was intriguing because the concept was almost childish but surprisingly effective." In the mask workshop, participants experimented with using caspers - giant masks that cover your entire body.

"Here we would learn to put on a one-sided play that involved minimal dialogue among the actors and lots of comedy," explained Berry.

Overall, the workshops proved very effective. "Altogether we had a really good time," Berry said. "[We were] surprised at how much fun we had, yet at the same time how thought provoking the whole experience was."

The group's performance on Sunday night was also a hit - passionately and even ironically portraying it's ideals of peace, individualism, artistic freedom and community. Through their witty skits, the actors made clear their messages, often with the help of audience participation.

At one point, the crowd was called upon to stand up and, together, blow over the giant, evil chicken Wally­­ - symbolizing the destructive enterprise, Wal-Mart - so that the other, more local and friendly chickens could once more live in peace and happiness. Another skit consisted of "The National Finger Pointing Event," in which a giant puppet of a pointing finger danced onto the stage and began to randomly point at people. There were many other skits like these that also employed the same clever, satiric humor to convey the actors' messages.

Overall, this unusual form of theater was extremely well-received. Amid both the laughter and the more somber moments, the sense of community and need for political activism was strong. The witty skits and creative presentation not only entertained the audience, but excited them. When Melissa Marshall '09, was asked if she was glad she came, she said, "Of course! I got to blow over Wal-Mart!"