Publications

Student Reports - Peter Schuman

Peter Shuman & the Bread and Puppet Theater
by Michael McKenna
student paper for
Trends in Contemporary American Puppet Theater
University of Connecticut
1997

Once upon a time there was a dog. One day this dog was given a bone from his master. The dog was so exited about this bone that he immediately ran outside with it. In passing a pond, he caught sight of his own reflection. What he thought he had spotted was another dog with a bone just like the one his master had given him. Upon seeing this he was suddenly very interested in the other bone, and the prospect of getting a second bone was quite appealing. He moved closer to the water, where he saw this reflection, growled and showed his teeth. As he did this he noticed that the other dog was showing his teeth too, and looked quite attached to the bone that was in his mouth. So the dog gave his most ferocious bark at the other dog he saw in the pond. Sploosh! Suddenly, just as fast as he had barked, his bone had dropped into the water. Now in seeing the reflection he saw a sad, and confused dog with no bone at all.

Themes in this story speak of man kinds inclination to be greedy and selfish. The bone is representative of what we, in this society, often take for granted. Living the kind of consumer based lives we are used to, we are tolled that we are always in need of something, or that what we currently have is never enough. The commercialization of so much that we see creates problems for us that are often times ignored. What Peter Schumann says with his Bread and Puppet shows, is that this is a far bigger problem than most are willing to admit. This story then, is to me a similar kind to one typically told by Bread and Puppet, at least in pertaining to their themes. Peter Schumann and Bread and Puppet always go a step further and tell stories that tend to be a bit more grim. They are most often more descriptive, more violent, in other words more real. A story told in true Bread and Puppet style will often leave an audience gasping, usually with a feeling of guilt or inspiration, depending on who is watching it.

Our show ended with the destruction of the national guard by a populace, and finally with a lunching of a giant blue sail boat, a Noah's ark, in which the slain bishop, according to his own prophecy, resurrected by his own people, sailed off (whenever the performing space allowed) ---Peter Schumann

" Unlike most stage nativities, this one's sentimentally is earned rather than conned, wrenched out of dreamlike images of slaughter and poverty In one ghastly scene (I've flinched both times) Herod hangs the calf's mother, her death symbolized by the long red cloth that slides from her belly " ---Bill Marx, of The Boston Phoenix from a critique of performance done in Boston, at The performance place 277 Broadway Somerville, " The Death of King Herod "

Peter Schumann has impressed and inspired me as much more than an artist but as a deeply spiritual, hard working, role model, to whom I will always respect and admire. It is no wonder that his shows are often a religious experience to audience members. Seeing just one performance can change ones entire life. A Bread and Puppet performance is in many ways a ritual of spiritual significance. Peter Schumann will use such ritualistic type techniques in his puppet shows, as various kinds of churches might in different services. Rituals are used in many ways by different religions. In a ritual all involved can receive energy from within the group. A mystical power can be derived when people are brought together to pray, sing, or somehow take part in any such experience. Peter Schumann is one man who can use this phenomena in his puppetry. In all Bread and Puppet shows, he is able to capture this energy and focus it. It is a powerful tool used in his performance technique.

Peter Schumann was born in 1934, in Breslay, Germany (now Poland). He was raised in a Christian home, "Christian at heart, but not fervently so, but unemphatetically" Stefan Brecht, Bread and Puppet Theatre (vl). His family lived in a small village where food was something that was valued greatly The baking of the bread was a family tradition passed down from generation to generation. Each family in the village had a sort of branding iron used to mark their bread loaves. The unbaked loaves were stamped and then brought to a communal oven that all the families in the village used to bake the bread. The labels, or brands marked into a family's loaf was the only way to tell who's was who's when picking them up after baking them. This baking of the bread took a big part in Peters growing up and the custom is held dear. It made quite an impact on Peter, as he too would remember the bread recipes and passes them on to his children today This is now the bread he bakes at each and every Bread and Puppet performance. Sharing this bread at the end of performances is something Peter considers sacred.

" War and hunger have to be abolished; water, air, and soil have to be brought back to life... War is made up by the mind, and poverty and hunger exist through our inefficiencies. Our mind is hungry, and Jesus says: man does not live on bread alone, but from puppet shows as well..."

" I have always believed in god rather than in PR... in intensity rather than mass media" --- Peter Schumann

Peter has always incorporated his strong religious beliefs into all of his work. His vision of man and God is what is most important to Peter. More so than the "...superficialities of stage-craft. "-James Roose-Evans, Experimental Theatre. This is not to say however that Peter was any less inspiring with his physical art. From a very young age he excelled in sculpture, in dance, and in other arts as well. The puppets used by Bread and Puppet are all beautiful sculptures and certainly works of art in their own. Peter believes in working from what ever is around him. He uses primarily paper maché, sticks, and clay in the puppets he builds and performs with. Very environmentally conscious, Peter works only with things that are cheap and easily available.

" Peter Schumann founder of Bread and Puppet, by assembling a volunteer ensemble of forty-seven trained and untrained individuals and gathering sounds extracted from ordinary objects and human energy succeeded in composing a stunning vocal and dramatic presentation. His simple theatrical and choral technique wove a rich tapestry of sound and movement. " ---B C Vermeersch, of Ear magazine

" ...never been interested in commercialization, a good twenty years after it's foundation, it continues on the fringes of the established theatre world, respected but poor. " ---Eugene Van Erven, Radical People's Theatre

Although recognized as such down to earth, humble, and rustic style performances, Peter Schumann directs the most professional puppet troop I have ever discovered. If the professionalism of a puppeteer is defined in the ability of putting together of a show for an audience, and then in performing it, than Peter Schumann is most certainly a true professional. There has never been another man who could take an untrained group of people off of the street, and in less time than it would take to run the show, train them to be performers and produce a show the way Peter does. Despite any circumstance and in all situations, Peter Schumann will produce an incredible puppet show, using only who and what he has directly around him. Peter is one man with a vision for each and every thing he does. With this vision, he can direct large groups of trained and untrained individuals into creating something incredible. Unlike a chain, where it is only as strong as it's weakest link, a Bread and Puppet show directed by Peter Schumann is strong despite a stumbling, falling down, sloppy puppeteer.

In proving to me that puppetry is, and can be, a most amazing and spiritual experience, Peter Schumann has convinced me that this art is much more than just that. A Bread and Puppet show is a true spiritual experience. This is personally exiting to me, as I am finding out on my own, and seeing it in other forms of puppetry as well. Simply making good puppets and performing them well is not enough for Peter. To him it is much, much deeper. One must truly discover the soul of the puppet, and for Peter, that can not be done on any uncertain terms.

" The puppeteers harvest piles of human like and yet other worldly qualities from their observation of objects, especially from their practice of moving these objects. The souls of things don't reveal themselves easily, what speaks out of a doll's eyes is often beyond control. "

" The manipulation of puppets is over and above the willful targeting which aims for certain results from an audience. "

" The puppeteers only hope of mastering their puppets to enter their puppet's delicate and seeming in exhaustible lives. " --- Peter Schumann

CHRONOLOGY:

1963 Bread and Puppet Theater founded in New York City by Peter Schumann (born 1934 in Silesia; moved from Germany to U.S. in 1961).
1963-68 Major Productions in New York City: The Christmas Story, The King Story Leaf Feeling the Moonlight, A Man Says Goodbye to His Mother, Fire, The Pied Piper of Harlem, Chicken Little, The Puppet Christ, Grey Lady Cantata #1, Eating and Drinking in the Year of Our Lord.
1969 Toured France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia, England, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and Holland.
1970-72 Major productions: The Difficult Life of Uncle Fatso, Lamentations, Mississippi, Tristan and Isolde. Branch opened in Coney Island. Began New York workshops.
1970-74 Moves to Vermont and becomes theater-in-residence at Goddard College in Plainfield. More tours in Europe. Productions: The Birdcatcher in Hell, Grey Lady Cantatas #2 and #3, The Christmas Story, That Simple Light May Rise Out of Complicated Darkness, Stations of the Cross, Hallelujah, Laos, Grey Lady Cantatas #4 and #5, Harvey McLeod, The Revenge of the Law and Attica. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus a free outdoor event.
1975 Workshop with Grey Lady Cantata #6 in Paris; extensive workshop of parade and pageant; Ishi, the Last of the Indians, at University of California at Davis; five-week workshop-tour in Martinique and Germany; tour of Vermont and New England colleges.
1976 Three-month tour to North Africa and Eastern and Western Europe with company of twenty-eight with Our Domestic Resurrection Spectacle; two-month tour to Europe with Traveling Circus, White Horse Butcher and Chile; two-week workshop in Florence, Italy building papier maché exhibit of Masaccio’s Brancacci Chapel.
1977 Workshop in Canada and tours in New England, University of North Carolina, and Italy, France and Spain with White Horse Butcher and Joan of Arc; New York City and New England tour with The Ballad of Masaniello.
1978 Three month tour across U.S. with Word-of-Mouth Chorus and Ave Maris Stella; workshop in Adelaide, Australia; tour to Germany, Denmark and Holland where Bread and Puppet receives Erasmus Award; tour to Venezuela; New York and New England tour with Wolkenstein; workshop-tour in Italy with Masaniello.
1979 Brooklyn Academy of Music with Joan of Arc; tours of Vermont, England and Holland, and northeast states with Ah! Or The First Washerwoman Cantata; workshop in Bourges, France, and workshop-tours of East Coast, U.S. and France with The Washerwoman Nativity.
1980 Brooklyn Academy of Music and Montreal; three-month tour to England, France and Italy with Work-of-Mouth Chorus and Stations of the Cross; six week workshop in Villeurganne, France, creating Circus on theme of bread; workshop tour of France and Yugoslavia with Histoire du Pain; another tour to France and Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City with the Washerwoman Nativity.
1982 Theater for the New City, New York City, with Fear and Thunderstorm of the Youngest Child; tour to England; extensive street-show workshops, giant disarmament parade in New York City with one thousand five hundred participants; East Coast tour with Thunderstorm; Vermont and New York City with Diagonal Man; workshop performances in Judson Church, New York City, with the Washerwoman Nativity.
1983 Tour to France, Germany, Belgium and Iceland with Thunderstorm; five week tour of New York State with PAND (Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament); two week workshop in Caracas, Venezuela; East Coast fall tour with The End Falls Before the Beginning; street theater, parades and Insurrection Oratorio in London; Chicago with Diagonal Man and Circus workshop; workshop performances in Judson Church, New York City, with the Washerwoman Nativity.
1984 Five week Rites of Winter workshop at Goddard College, Vermont, with parades, pageant, small shows and Josephine, the Singer,; Judson Church, New York City, with Insurrection Opera/Oratorio and Josephine; tour to France, Germany, Austria and Poland and tour to northeast states with Diagonal Man; pageant workshop in three cities