Bread and Puppet Museum and Theater

A couple of hours from Montreal, in Glover, Vermont, a small theater company orchestrates annual productions with puppets, people, and a clear political message.

Peter Schumann, the founder of the theater, moved to the United States from Germany in 1961 in an attempt to bring folk motifs and politics back into the arts. This culminated in the Bread and Puppet Theater in 1982. The theater operates under the “cheap art” philosophy, which hopes to “reestablish the appreciation of artistic creation by making it available to a wider audience and inspire anyone to revel in an art-making process that is not subject to academic approval or curatorial acceptance.”

At each performance, the cast serves the audience bread and aioli, because art is as essential to life as food.

The company is most well known for their incredible, large puppets. Their puppetry can be seen in parades all over the world and has influenced puppetry at political protests. The puppets used for past productions are on display at the Bread and Puppet Museum from June through October.

Throughout the summer, Bread and Puppet has an indoor show every Friday at 7:30 p.m, and an outdoor political Circus and Pageant every Sunday at 3 p.m.