"We have two types of puppet shows: good ones and bad ones, but all of them are for good and against evil.” -Peter SchumannThe Bread and Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter & Elka Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side. Besides rod-puppet and hand puppet shows for children, the concerns of the first productions were rents, rats, police, and other problems of the neighborhood. More complex theater pieces followed, in which sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners. The puppets grew bigger and bigger. Annual presentations for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Memorial Day often included children and adults from the community as participants. Many performances were done in the street. During the Vietnam War, Bread and puppet staged block-long processions and pageants involving hundreds of people.In 1974 Bread and Puppet moved to a farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The 140-year old hay barn was transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two day outdoor festival of puppetry shows, was presented annually through 1998.The company makes its income from touring new and old productions both on the American continent and abroad, and from sales of Bread and Puppet Press’ posters and publications. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces presented by members of the company, to extensive outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers.Bread and Puppet is one of the oldest, nonprofit, political theatre companies in the country.

Help sustain Bread & Puppet into the future.In 2013, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Bread and Puppet Theater, we took stock of what had been accomplished, and how expansive a community it had become. We recognized that this network of support, committed to an art form that is homemade and which addresses the concerns of the world and celebrates its beauty, is what has defined the Theater and made its work possible.Since 2013, we have had ongoing discussions about what lies ahead for Bread and Puppet in the near and not-so-near future. At the same time, the urgency to counter this era of ever-more-extreme right wing rule has made our special kind of political puppetry more needed than ever. One of the most enduring legacies of Bread and Puppet is its economic autonomy, receiving no direct government, corporate or foundation funding, but instead relying on its own practice of frugality and a huge amount of volunteerism, together with income from performance fees, Press sales and donations. This model is itself an art form, a lived philosophy of independent art and activism.The Sustainability Fund was created by our board for the preservation of the theater’s infrastructure, the health and welfare of long-term members, and the sustainability of the theater’s work and vision. Even as we recognize that nothing lasts forever, we are also focused on preserving the physical components–the buildings and land and artwork–and protecting the legacy of Peter Schumann’s artistic vision. In response to the challenge of creating a structure and conditions for sustaining Bread and Puppet into a future beyond Peter’s direct unifying vision and leadership, the Board of Directors came to the conclusion that additional financial means are needed. That was the catalyst for the creation of this fund, to be built over time through individual donations, and used as necessary to support the capacity for Bread and Puppet’s continuation.Bread and Puppet Theater is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and donations are fully tax-deductible.

Help support our (traveling) cardboard radicality!