What does an actor need to know about Bread and Puppet Theatre to produce and perform it - Essay Example

Bread and Puppet Theatre The research is based on famous Bread and Puppet Theatre located in Glover in Northeast kingdom of Vermont, North America. The research gives an overview on principles and information an actor should know in order to produce and perform it. "Theatre is as essential as Bread for daily Life"; "Theatre is a religion" are the principles on which exists the famous Obie Award winning Bread & Puppet Theatre founded in 1962 by Peter Schumann in New York City. Bread and Puppet theatre is one of the oldest, nonprofit and self supporting theatre companies in North America since 1960's.Bread and Puppet theatre, as the name suggests uses different arts in their shows like puppets (hand puppets and rod puppets), music, sculpture, dance etc. Bread and puppet is internationally recognized and renowned theatre group campaigning visually rich performance with slapstick, music and dance. Mostly all the performance of the group are done is streets or in farms or in large rooms (like churches). The participants/actors onstage and offstage are mostly local volunteers. Internationally Bread and Puppet theatre performs massive spectacles with hundreds of participants devoted to social, political and environmental issues and sometimes of simple life issues. In 1963 the theatre group initially started with rod puppets and hand puppets for children, and shows for basic concerns like Rents, Rats, and Police and neighborhood problems. Puppet Museum-Bread & Puppet Serving Bread with Aioli (Garlic Sauce) As the Bread and Puppet group believes in self dependency, The Company makes its own bread and patent of them is the distribution of self baked bread with "aioli" (garlic sauce) to the audience after every performance as a mean of creating community and from its central principle that "Art should be as basic to life as bread". The Bread and Puppet Group gained high visibility during early 60's and 70's during the time of Vietnam Wars for their Anti Vietnam War events. During the war times Bread and Puppet theatre staged processions involving hundreds of people. By the 80's the puppets had become emblematic of activist pacifism and a sine qua non of American Political theatre. All shows hosted by the group are antiwar, anti capitalism, anti globalization and pro Vermont independence. A brief background of the founder and the group will help a person to understand the foundations the theatre group is laid on. Peter Schumann, the founder of Bread and Puppet theatre was born in New York in 1934.Schumann studied and practiced dance and sculpture in Germany and in 1959 with a friend Dieter Starosky, he created dance group by the name "GRUPPE FUR NEUEN TANZ" (meaning New Dance Group). Schumann's work is not with formal or classical dance. He invented dance which was very different from traditional ballet and expressionist dance. Two years later, in 1961 with his wife Elka and two children he moved to the United States of America. He regularly attended lectures at Cunningham studio as he was heavily influenced by the radical innovations by John Cage and Merce Cunningham but very soon he separated himself from them. Peter was against the use of conventional form of dances ONLY, like Ballet which was a requirement for Cunningham. Cunningham refused to work with anybody who is not familiar with the Ballet form of dance. Peter Schumann-Founder of Bread & Puppet Theatre In 1970'sBread and puppet moved as theatre in residence to Goddard College where they practiced puppetry and exercised gardening and to make bread as a means of self dependency while living by the countryside. In 1974 the group moved into a 140years old hay farm in Glover, Vermont. The farm has a museum which is the resting place of many veteran puppets. Every year Bread and puppet group hosted Domestic Resurrection Circus which was a 2 day outdoor show which included skits highlighting many serious issues with a touch of humor. These Acts ranged from people dancing on Stilts to puppets lions dashing through the fire ring. On 19th August 1998, Peter Schumann announced the closing of the annual circus after the death of Michael Sarazin which made the continuation impossible. Some Images from Domestic Resurrection Circus For anyone who wants to produce and play Bread and Puppet theatre, it is essential to know the principles and Ideologies. Puppetry and Dance are the soul of all the performances of Bread and Puppet theater group. Puppetry has high and specific significance in each performance of the Bread and Puppet group. Peter Schumann explains the significance of puppetry as follows: 1. Puppetry is free of any kind of seriousness or respect for human authority or responsibility. A puppet is more effective in creating fun with all types of targets as compared to a live performer. On one hand puppets make us laugh and on the other hand they are more effective to initiate thought process in the minds of audience on the questions they raise as a part of the act. 2. More emphasis is on actions than dialogues. A puppet should communicate more through actions and gestures compared to the dialogues given. 3. Acting of Puppets should be unpretentious and unpredictable. 4. Peter Schumann describes his puppets as "Socially Embedded Sculptures", which represent concepts or ideas of simple common sense. A fact that remains universal in all performances is that there is a huge puppet representing the main character. Schumann's puppets are normally made up of basic materials like paper, rags and wood scraps. The puppet making is in two parts: "Mask Making" and "Puppet Building". The mask is usually made from clay sculptures. Sometimes people put clay on their faces to get the mask done for them. Then the mask is painted. The costumes are simple and made up of cheap material like Burlap fabric. Peter Schumann's shows don't have any script on prewritten dialogues. The show is rehearsed again and again till a final version is arrived improvising it each time. Different ideas and imaginations are implemented while rehearsing which ends up in a final version of the show. A person who is producing /coordinating the play needs to be imaginative and have good ideas. All plays of Bread and theatre group carry a message of social or political importance. For Example, "The Sourdough Philosophy Spectacle" is a play that carries a message about the need of human fermentation. It cites an example how apple cider is made. The show is performed by Peter Schumann and group along with large number of local volunteers, puppeteers and musicians. The show is run by a bunch of cooks; specialist is cooking various stews and pancakes. The messaging in the act is as follows: Our Republic teases us with the possibility of democracy, but citizens are raised like military apple orchards, pruned down to their predictable minimums, yielding controlled fruits that lack ecstasy of nature. However human fermentation happens in parts of the human body that are not governed by the government, like guts and gutsy parts of the brain. Fermented citizens are corrupted by the ecstasy of nature and from that corruption they derive strength to corrupt military orchard. "The Sourdough Philosophy Spectacle" As most of the shows performed by Bread and Puppet group are outdoors, it is important for a person to know the problems that might arise in an outdoor performance and plans to handle it. For Instance: 1. If the weather goes bad during the performance, there needs to be a backup plan to tackle it. 2. While performing outdoors, Spectators and actors can be distracted very easily. Attracting focuses of the audience all the time is the key and coordination between the actors, helps the actors to keep focus on the performance and get least distracted. 3. Performing in open (outdoor) is different from performing indoors. One needs to know how to define and utilize the space available. Bread and puppet theatre provides apprentice programs and workshops for students, musicians, housewives, truck drivers, activists to participate in Bread and puppet style of show making. The apprentice program is for 5 weeks or 2 weeks where the participant is to live together in the farm, Glover, Vermont with other 40-60 other eclectic people. The apprentice program is specific to the show being made and doesn't follow any defined syllabus on puppet making and puppetry. The program is not a summer camp for adults and hence apprentices are expected to be self motivated. Different aspects of Bread and Puppet show making styles that an apprentice learns includes movement and dance experimentation, mask and puppet manipulation, vocal or instrumental music or organized noise making, printmaking, singing, puppet making and stilt dancing. It also includes participation in agricultural chores and everyday task (cooking, cleaning etc.). For years Bread and puppet theatre had been influencing the society by addressing serious issues in the most comic way in the shadow of puppetry. To have an opportunity to produce and play Bread and Puppet style of show making is once a life time experience. It inculcates values in a person that enables him/her to think about serious issues that require immediate attention and kindles a fire within to influence others. References BREAD & PUPPET WEBSITE http://www.breadandpuppet.org/press_release_boston_09(WP).pdf http://www.breadandpuppet.org/apprenticeships.html THE PUPPETRY HOME PAGE http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/papers/Schumann.html HIGH BEAM RESEARCH http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11780385.html THE CIRCUS 1998 www.pbpub.com/bread&puppet/circus98.htm Photographs http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Life/67267-Photos-Bread-and-Puppet-Theater/page=8#TOPCONTENT http://picasaweb.google.com/swarthmore.theater/InsurrectionMassWithFuneralMarchForARottenIdea#5202195653451761714 Read More