The Forward: Issues come and go at the 250-acre Bread and Puppet Theater farm in Glover, Vermont. But for the past 20 years, the plight of Palestinians has been a continuing focus for the decidedly anti-war, anti-capitalist troupe, which has performed shows about atrocities in Vietnam, Central America, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition to being Bread and Puppet’s founder and director, 88 year-old Peter Schumann, widely considered a genius in the theater world, is also a prolific painter who reportedly finishes a painting or two a day on old, donated motel bed sheets. Some of his paintings confront the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
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Schuman’s portrayal in this article does not convince me he is in the right for the shows he puts on. Considering his closest relation to the territories that house the stories he produces is that he’s visited twice in the past 20 years does not give me a good feeling about the content concerns brought up in the article. I understand all theatre storytelling is biased and can sometimes especially historically just flat out have a political agenda, but if Shuman’s stories are spreading false narratives or sensationalized “satires” of real life events then I don’t believe that is a good use of artistic expression. Making a statement is one thing but misleading people on real life events even knowing the show is meant to make a commentary is no good. From the gist of the article and I could be wrong, but I don’t think the stories Shuman chooses to put on are exactly his stories to tell or turn into funny little skits.
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