海角大神

Peter Schumann 鈥� baker, puppeteer, and founder and director of the Bread and Puppet Theater 鈥� began playing with puppets some 75 years ago in Silesia, now part of Poland, when he was just a boy.

He was 10 years old in 1944 when the rumbling of Russian tanks accompanied by the crackle and pop of artillery fire forced his family to flee their home. 鈥淓very night we saw what we called 鈥楥hristmas trees鈥� in the sky,鈥� Mr. Schumann recalls as he rolls lumps of raw dough on a rough table next to his Quebec-style clay oven on a gray autumn day in Glover, Vt.

鈥淭he Allies used the 鈥楥hristmas trees鈥� to illuminate the ground beneath their bombers to find their targets,鈥� he continues. 鈥淭hey were beautiful fireworks. But when we saw them light up in the sky, we knew that bombs would fall.鈥�

When the Schumanns fled, each child was allowed to bring only a few items.

鈥淚 brought bread, a book of Brothers Grimm fairy tales, and hand puppets,鈥� Schumann recalls. 鈥淓ventually we got on an overcrowded train. People were hanging like grapes from the train.... We were the lucky ones who made it out.鈥�

The items Schumann chose to pack are telling: Refugees carry only those things that matter most to them.

Flash forward to July 23, 2014. Schumann had become one of the foremost practitioners of experimental puppet theater in the world. After reading reports on the escalating situation in Gaza, where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was playing out with devastating results, Schumann felt the need to respond.

He halted Bread and Puppet Theater鈥檚 summer program, three shows performed weekly from June through September, and he decided to remount 鈥淔ire,鈥� a silent play for a combination of masked performers and mannequins that he鈥檇 created in response to America鈥檚 involvement in Vietnam back in 1965-66.

The show, now called 鈥淔ire: Emergency Performance for Gaza,鈥� would challenge his collaborators. But they agreed to perform it the following Friday, leaving little more than a day for rehearsals.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not an easy play to do,鈥� Schumann explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so concentrated 鈥� the movement, the degree of focus required of the performers and the audience. It鈥檚 a piece where you can鈥檛 think of anything else. Otherwise you can鈥檛 do it.鈥�

The majority of Schumann鈥檚 performers had no experience with that kind of theater. But he has always worked with little time, scant resources, untrained performers, and, perhaps most important, a singular devotion to his cause.

Schumann and his wife, Elka, had moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1961. Judith Malina, who cofounded The Living Theatre with her partner, Julian Beck, offered Schumann a performance space in the East Village.

鈥淚 knew Peter was a great artist the first time we met,鈥� Ms. Malina says. 鈥淎n artist has to have some idea of what they鈥檙e fighting for, and what they鈥檙e against. Peter Schumann has always known.鈥�

In 1963, Schumann founded the Bread and Puppet Theater in New York City. He also worked a series of odd jobs to support his family, but he knew that more than anything he needed to devote his life to his art.

After years of struggle, Schumann finally combined a way to make a living and his desire to make art by working with underprivileged children in New York. 鈥淲e did big workshops with kids in Harlem, South Bronx, and Bedford-Stuyvesant,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut it always felt like, when the project was finished, I was walking out on those kids.

鈥淚 remember going back to central Harlem after working with the kids there. The gangs were too powerful. The kids were imprisoned on their own block, so I took them to Coney Island one day to see the ocean. It was amazing. They lived so close to the sea, but they had never seen it.鈥�

Schumann had first performed 鈥淔ire鈥� in 1965 because, as he puts it, 鈥淭he horror of what America did in Vietnam, and the Buddhist monks鈥� response, setting themselves ablaze, was so shockingly hurtful....鈥� His voice trails off. 鈥淲e wanted the littlest movements, the littlest bursts of outrage, the simplest gestures as possible. We needed the deepest, simplest possible means to communicate that horror.鈥�

Schumann and company faced criticism.

鈥淣aturally, there were confrontations,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen we did 鈥楩ire鈥� in Atlanta, as part of a student uprising at Emory [University], a police helicopter dropped tear gas on us. But we had a circus tent that protected us. The play made some people angry.

鈥淪till, we had to do it.鈥�

Why did he have to do it? Schumann鈥檚 eyes light up. 鈥淭he wrongs have to be attacked,鈥� he says.

海角大神 Dupavillon 鈥� who at the time was curator of the Nancy Theatre Festival in France 鈥� was beside himself after attending a performance.

鈥淭he imagery, the use of silence, it was shocking,鈥� Mr. Dupavillon recalls 50 years later, now living in Cambridge, Mass. 鈥淚鈥檒l never forget it. After the show, I immediately invited Schumann to perform 鈥楩ire鈥� at Nancy. The show was perpetually sold out.鈥�

By 1968 鈥淔ire鈥� was a success. Indeed, it afforded Schumann and the Bread and Puppet Theater needed financial stability.

John Bell, director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry in Storrs, Conn., worked with Bread聽 and Puppet from 1975 to 1985. He says Schumann totally changed puppetry in the United States.

鈥淚 was taught to put distance between yourself and the material, in the way that Shakespeare and Ibsen did,鈥� Dr. Bell says. 鈥淭hey removed themselves from their own time and place and put their problems somewhere else.

鈥淧eter made it possible to make shows about who we are, the problems we face.鈥�

Schumann resists the idea that he鈥檚 made a significant contribution to the worlds of theater and activism. But the Rev. Dr. Robert Brashear, pastor of West Park Presbyterian Church in New York, disagrees with him.

鈥淔or one reason or another, Mr. Schumann鈥檚 work goes largely unnoticed,鈥� he says in a phone interview. 鈥淎nd yet I remember seeing Bread and Puppet pieces at so many protests and social action events over the years. He鈥檚 completely changed the visual aspect of social change. Really, Mr. Schumann鈥檚 work has become the defining visual imagery used in protests today.鈥�

Today Schumann鈥檚 focus remains on his work. He doesn鈥檛 seek recognition. To bake bread, to feed the audience, and to make puppet shows that shout and claw at human follies seems to be enough for him.

After the company鈥檚 first performance of 鈥淔ire: Emergency Performance for Gaza,鈥� Schumann stood among the audience in the theater鈥檚 museum. It was a warm Friday night in July. The audience had silently gathered after the show to eat sourdough rye bread, slathered with aioli.

鈥淭hese performers did an amazing job,鈥� Schumann says to a friend. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e never done this kind of work. And with only one rehearsal, they couldn鈥檛 have done better.鈥�

The performers鈥� success depends upon their ability to connect with the material, he says. 鈥淭he play will affect the audience on the condition that it affects the performer. The performer who is effective at what he does isn鈥檛 effective because of his performing skills, but because of his commitment to what he鈥檚 doing there, performing.鈥�

The same may be said of Schumann鈥檚 career. The source of his success lies in his commitment to his work. Some of the performers discovered this in themselves while performing 鈥淔ire: Emergency Performance for Gaza.鈥� But Schumann had begun to discover it when he was a boy with his puppets, looking out the window of a cramped train, creeping across the German countryside.

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