The legendary Bread and Puppet Theater pays a rare visit to Savannah

ONE of the most seminal and longest-running political theatre companies in the country, Bread and Puppet Theater, will pay a very rare visit to Savannah this coming Sunday.

Church of the Epiphany at Waters and Washington – former home of St. Michael’s – will host this once-in-a-generation local performance on Dec. 1.

The show is $20, but in keeping with Bread and Puppet Theater’s longtime anarcho-socialist roots, “no one will be turned away for lack of funds,” says Epiphany’s Rev. Michael Chaney Jr.

Formed in 1963 in New York City by Peter Schumann (who is still alive at age 90), Bread and Puppet Theater first gained salience as a fixture of Vietnam War protests.

Since then, a key portion of their show – which you will experience in Savannah – is that every audience member is given a piece of the troupe’s own homemade sourdough bread, in keeping with Schumann’s credo that theatre, like bread, is a human necessity.

By 1974, Bread and Puppet had moved to a farm in Vermont’s “Northeast Kingdom,” a remote area on the Canadian border. Still headquartered there in Glover, Vt., their vast collection of puppets and staging resides in a massive 140-year-old barn.

The Savannah show on the current Bread and Puppet tour – which travels in a refitted school bus – came about through serendipity, during a visit to Vermont by local Savannahian singer/performing artist Mandy Madson.

“Mandy was up there visiting and caught a show at their headquarters,” says Rev. Chaney. “She said, ‘If you ever get down South let me know.’ And they did get South!”

As the idea of a Savannah tour stop began to coalesce, Chaney says, “Some of us gathered together to try and find a spot for them to perform. We thought, we had just made a big change in location at Epiphany and are looking to do more community-oriented things. Let’s do it here.”

Epiphany has been in the spot on the corner of Waters and Washington since this past January, sharing space in the complex with the Diocesan offices.

Chaney first saw a Bread and Puppet Theater show “about 30 years ago. As a young person then wrestling with ideas, they had a real impact on me,” he recalls.

“I’m awed at their approach. Their take on stage design, the poetry of their presentation.”

Bread and Puppet’s shows feature the troupe’s almost unbelievable skill with intricately detailed, large-scale puppet figures, mostly made out of papier-mache.

While their shows are scripted like most any other live theatre performance, they are known for their freewheeling, spontaneous approach to performance.

It's not just stage performance that will be featured. Bread and Puppet are also known for their artistic and compelling prints, some of which will be on sale for very low prices at the Savannah show – part of their commitment to what they call "Cheap Art."

Chaney says Bread and Puppet is just what the doctor ordered for this moment.

“We are living in tense political times. It’s fraught with anxiety. This show brings a concentration on that through the arts, so that people might be able to see through that fog of anxiety. Bread and Puppet Theater uses the arts to tell those stories,” he says.

“We want people to know they aren’t alone in their anxiety," Chaney adds. "We might not have all the answers, but what better way to navigate the questions we have to ask?”

Epiphany Church itself is a perfect match for Bread and Puppet Theater’s ethos of mutual aid, tolerance, peace, and charity, with a variety of programs in the community, including a huge component of homeless outreach.

“Our food pantry stays busy. On Tuesdays we give away 40-50 bags of groceries,” Chaney says. “We just wrapped up our Thanksgiving food drive and are working on our Christmas food drive now.”

Chaney says that audiences this Sunday will find part of the church “a construction zone,” as much-needed work is still being done on the building. But that shouldn’t bother anyone at home with Bread and Puppet’s anti-materialist aesthetic.

In any case, Chaney says with glee that “They bring their sourdough starter with them on the bus, to make the bread they give away. So there will be Bread, and there will be Puppets!”