An act that’s good for body and soul
Peter Schumann, founder of Bread and Puppet Theater, finds making of bread and making of puppets equally soul-satisfying.
“Bread and Puppet Theater” gives audience something to chew on.
By Mary Therese Biebel mbiebel@timesleader.com Features Writer
When Peter Schumann was growing up in Germany, he estimates, three of every four meals were “bread meals.”
Peter Schumann, founder of Bread and Puppet Theater, finds making of bread and making of puppets equally soul-satisfying.
Oh, there may have been some farmers cheese or schmaltz – “grease from geese or pigs, rendered with onions or apples” -- but they were just spreads to top the main event.
“Good bread, that took a lot of chewing,” is what he remembers. And that’s the kind of bread he likes to serve the audience when his puppets are in a show. During the warmer months, visitors flock to Glover, Vt., for outdoor performances of Schumann’s internationally known “Bread and Puppet Theater,” where munching a slice of the staff of life is part of the experience.
On Sunday afternoon, area residents are welcome to attend an indoor “Bread and Puppet” show at Marywood University and to taste bread Schumann will bake that morning at Something Special restaurant in Kingston.
Actually, the bread will bake that morning, but it had its start long before Sunday.
“I use good rye berries,” the 73-year-old Schumann said early Thursday at Something Special, explaining how he had just milled the grain in a hand-cranked, portable grinder. “Then I mix it with water and throw in a fistful of sour dough.”
That “starter dough,” which Schumann will “feed” today and Saturday with more freshly milled grain and more water, can be traced to a batch a Danish family began 150 years ago, with pieces always kept in reserve for the next baking day.
“It’s the real thing, from the grain,” he said. “And still the old-fashioned yeast.”
The way Schumann makes his puppets also is a time-honored procedure and sounds a bit like kneading dough – except that his proteges use their feet to churn clay. “We round up all the kids in the neighborhood and have them roll up their pants and get into the old wash tubs we collect. They march, march, march for hours, for miles,” he said.
“Oh, that’s what the bathtub was for,” Something Special owner Jan Sailus said with delight. “I saw a cast-iron bathtub,” she said, remembering a day of puppet performances she had seen several years ago at Schumann’s farm in Vermont.
Flashing an apologetic smile at Schumann, Sailus admitted she couldn’t remember what the show was about, perhaps because she’d been tending to an 8-month-old daughter that day. “I think it was something about the Sandanistas,” she said. “I just remember everyone was peaceful and happy.”
Performances by the non-profit Bread and Puppet Theater have political, social or environmental themes – as well as the message that art should be inexpensive and available to the masses.
On Sunday afternoon, Marywood spokeswoman Laurie Camlet said, faculty, staff and students are likely to wear Bread and Puppet masks and take part in the free performance, which she expects will last until 5 p.m.
While they’re on campus, visitors also are invited to see “The Sisyphis Project – Part II” exhibit of art by sculptor and puppeteer John Bromberg, whose friendship with Schumann brought him, and his sour dough, to Northeastern Pennsylvania.
IF YOU GO What: Bread and Puppet Theater performance
When: 3 p.m. Sunday, March 9, 2008
Where: Sette LaVerghetta Center for the Performing Arts, Marywood University campus, 2300 Adams Ave., Scranton.
Admission: Free
Info: 460-4156
Special refreshment: Homemade bread
