Health & Fitness
Innovative Giant-Puppet Troupe Offers Free Performance at KO
Long before there was “The Lion King,” there was Bread and Puppet Theater – a remarkable giant-puppet troupe that became prominent and popular during Vietnam-era antiwar demonstrations.
On Friday, Oct. 25, Bread and Puppet’s rich history will come to life on the stage of Roberts Theater at Kingswood Oxford School, as it performs the “50 Years Cabaret,” spotlighting key social and political moments from the past 50 years.
The community performance, which begins at 7:30pm, is open to the public and free of charge (though reservations are appreciated). It is generously sponsored by KO’s Goodman Banks Series for the Performing Arts. Doors open at 7pm. To reserve seats, visit www.kingswoodoxford.org/puppets.
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“Bread and Puppet’s enduring strategies are knit from so many of the arts – theatrical and visual art, dance and music – creating theater not only in-the-round, but also of-the-audience,” said Katherine Nicholson, chair of KO’s Middle School Creative Arts Department.
The Bread and Puppet Theater is one of the oldest non-profit, self-supporting theatrical companies in the United States. Founded on NY’s Lower East Side in 1963 by Peter Schumann, a sculptor, dancer, and baker who’d recently emigrated from Germany, the company got its name from its early rod-puppet and hand-puppet children’s shows as well as the homemade sourdough bread Schumann distributed to his audiences.
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In the 1970s, Bread and Puppet moved to an old dairy farm in Glover, in the Northeast Kingdom. Over the years, the group has grown into a vast community that has performed thousands of shows addressing some of the most pressing social and urban issues of our era.
At Kingswood Oxford School -- an independent, co-ed, college prep day school for grades 6-12,located steps from Blue Back Square – creativity is not just nice; it’s necessary. Prospective families are invited to an Upper School Open House on Nov. 3, 1:30-3:30pm and a Middle School Open House on Nov. 17, 1:30-3:30pm. Interviews for September 2014 enrollment began on Sept. 23; for an appointment, call 860-727-5000 or email admissions@k-o.org.
