Department of
Theater, Film, and Media Studies

Bread & Puppet Theater: The Sourdough Philosophy Circus

conceived by Bread & Puppet Theater under the direction of Peter Schumann
Free performance workshops, Sept. 25-27

Performance, Saturday, Sept. 27 at 2:00 p.m., Recreational Courts of the ARC

"To live in America and never see the Bread and Puppet Theater perform is like living in Egypt and never seeing the pyramids." (Christian Science Monitor)

"A living national treasure." (The New York Times)

Dancing zebras, turkeys, and free range cows, all led by a bunch of cooks who specialize in the various stews and pancakes of our everyday First World experience! With accompaniment from The Rotten Idea Theater Company and the Sourdough Philosophy Brass Band! That's Bread & Puppet Theater, who will transform the SMCM campus into a big-top parade of giant puppets and large-scale pageantry when it returns for its seventh engagement to the College from Thursday through Saturday, September 25-27. Members of the local community (especially singers and musicians) are encouraged to participate in two days of free performance workshops that will lead to the outdoor performance on the Admissions Field of The Sourdough Philosophy Circus on Saturday, September 27, at 2:00 p.m. Rain location is the Recreational Courts in the Athletic and Recreation Center on campus. The workshops and performance are free and open to the public. Learn more about Bread & Puppet Theater.

Workshop and performance schedule. Please note: In case of inclement weather, workshops and performance will take place in the Recreational Courts of the ARC (Athletics and Recreation Center). For those interested in participating in the workshops and the performance, an orientation meeting with Bread & Puppet Theater will take place Thursday, September 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall Fine Arts Center. Performance workshops are currently scheduled for Friday, September 26, from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., 1:30-4:30 p.m., and 7:00-9:30 p.m., and on Saturday, September 27, from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and at again 1:15 p.m. in preparation for the performance at 2:00 p.m. All workshops will take place in the Recreational Courts of the ARC.

Under the direction of German-born sculptor Peter Schumann, Bread & Puppet Theater has toured internationally for more than 40 years. The Vermont-based troupe performs on urgent social, political, and environmental issues. The company thrives on the active involvement of the communities it visits. "Our performance is more than a cultural curiosity imported by some theater specialists," said Schumann. "The majority of the performers are local volunteers who, in a few days (sometimes only hours) of intense rehearsals, become active puppeteers, musicians, and masked dancers. They are the muscle-power of the play. Their input transforms the play into a community event, which incorporates their special skills and enhances the production. This involvement is positive. The event is joyous and forward-going. It teaches hope."

Schumann founded Bread & Puppet in 1963 in New York City. Hand-puppet shows for children and rod-puppet shows for the street were produced from early experiments. Later, complex stylized compositions with masked performers, over-life sized effigies, improvised music and narration astounded audience. Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving shows performed in churches and schools became part of the repertory; spontaneous parades supported rent strikes and voter registration and opposition to the Vietnam War.

In 1970, Bread & Puppet moved to Vermont and lived as theater-in-residence at Goddard College, combining and alternating puppet-building, gardening, rehearsing, bread-baking, and touring. Since 1974, the troupe has continued its work from a farm near the Canadian border. The company has won distinction at international theater festivals in Italy, Poland, France, Venezuela, and South Korea. Awards include the Erasmus Prize of Amsterdam, two off-Broadway Obie Awards, the Puppeteers of America President's Award, a Guggenheim Award, the Vermont Governor's Award, and numerous tropies from local small-town parades.

The fanciful work of the troupe was recently featured in Julie Taymor's Beatles-music movie, Across the Universe. Taymor, who worked with Bread & Puppet in the 1970s, recreated some of its pageantry and featured it as a setting for two songs, "I am the Walrus," performed by Bono, and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," performed by Eddie Izzard.

Bread & Puppet's residency is made possible in part by grants from Lecture and Fine Arts and Arts Alliance of St. Mary's College of Maryland, the St. Mary's County Arts Council, and the Service and Social Change program of Student Activities at the College.

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Looking for TarÔ Kaja: An Evening of KyÔgen Plays

translated and directed by Holly A. Blumner

Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall Fine Arts Center
Oct. 23-25 & 30-31, Nov. 1 at 8:00 p.m.
Oct. 26 & Nov. 2 at 2:00 p.m.

Tarô Kaja--trickster, mischief-maker, and funny-man--outwits and outsmarts his master and others in performances of Japanese kyôgen comedies in translation, including Catching Plovers (Chidori), The Snail (Kagyû), and The Healing Drink, written by student Ian Prince. A special feature of the evening is a short kyôgen, Iroha (Learning the Alphabet), performed in the original Japanese by students who studied traditional Japanese theater in Japan as ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows during summer 2008. Student Fellows included Ian Prince, Judy Sellner, Rachel Reckling, Kathryn Miller, and Zach Pajak.

"Kyôgen" literally means "mad words" or "wild speech" and is a traditional form of Japanese comic performance. It developed alongside the more formal, solemn, and symbolic noh form; in fact, kyôgen comedies were played as an "intermission" or interlude between each act of the five-act noh play. Its primary goal is to make the audience laugh.

Catching Plovers (Chidori) is translated by Holly A. Blumner; The Snail (Kagyû) is translated by Julie A. Iezzi; detailed summary or subtitles for Iroha (Learning the Alphabet) supplied by Holly A. Blumner. The fourth kyôgen, The Healing Drink, is originally written in English by kyôgen studies student, Ian Prince.

Of special interest to our patrons: The performance on Sunday, October 26 will benefit Prison Performing Arts, a St. Louis-based organization founded by artistic director Agnes Wilcox, who stages Shakespeare's plays with incarcerated men, women, and juveniles in Missouri's penal system. The ticket price for this special performance is $10.00. Ticket prices for all other performances are $4 or $6.

To reserve tickets, contact the Theater Box Office at 240-895-4243 (ext. 4243), or e-mail boxoffice@smcm.edu. Ticket prices are $4 for students, faculty, SMCM staff, senior citizens, and Arts Alliance members; $6 general admission. Patrons must pick up their reserved tickets at the Box Office window by 7:50 p.m. for evening performances and by 1:50 p.m. for matinee performances; otherwise, unclaimed tickets will be released for sale.

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SubUrbia

In a town not-so-ironically called Burnfield, three men in their very early twenties claim the parking lot of a local 7-Eleven as their own, as a kind of home-away-from-home: Jeff, an angst-ridden philosopher "taking one class on the history of Cuba and barely holding a job packing boxes;" Buff, an easy-going party animal, aspiring filmmaker, and full time "bro;" and Tim, an alcoholic Air Force vet. With nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no future prospects, they pass the time talking "trash," harassing Nazeer, the Pakistani owner of the convenience store, and reveling in their high-school glory days, when life seemed to offer so much promise. They drink beer, get high, eat Oreos, while Jeff ponders his problematic relationship with his artist girlfriend, Sooze, and Buff fantasizes a relationship with Sooze's best friend, Bee-Bee, a nurses' aide on the critical ward of the local hospital.

However, the importance of this singular night lies in the return of their former high school classmate, Neil "Pony" Moynihan, who's long blown town, "gotten a life," and become a minor rock sensation. When Pony arrives with his publicist Erica, jealousies and passions flare up, and the night takes an ultimately tragic turn.

Originally written in 1994 and updated in 2006, Bogosian's play lays bare the emptiness of an American way of life in suburbia and examines, through the lens of a bunch of misfit twenty-somethings, what keeps us apart and what it means to move on and to leave youth behind.

Auditions: Auditions for subUrbia will take place on Thursday, October 2, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. in the White Room and Friday, October 3, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. in the Bruce Davis Theater. Both the White Room and the Bruce Davis Theater are located in the Montgomery Hall Fine Arts Center. No experience required. Please prepare a 1-2 minute monologue from a contemporary play of your choosing. Callbacks will be held on Sunday, October 5.

To reserve tickets, contact the Theater Box Office at 240-895-4243 (ext. 4243), or e-mail boxoffice@smcm.edu. Ticket prices are $4 for students, faculty, SMCM staff, senior citizens, and Arts Alliance members; $6 general admission. Patrons must pick up their reserved tickets at the Box Office window by 7:50 p.m. for evening performances and by 1:50 p.m. for matinee performances; otherwise, unclaimed tickets will be released for sale.

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Department of Theater, Film, and Media Studies, 2008 All Rights Reserved