[act-ma] 9/2/2011 -- Bread and Puppet Theater's "Man = Carrot Circus" on the Cambridge Common

[Mary Curtin]

BREAD AND PUPPET THEATER

Man = Carrot Circus

with an introduction by
Scott Alarik
[author of 
Revival: 
A Folk Music Novel] 

Cambridge Common
Friday, September 2nd, 6 pm

launches 
Harvard Square’s “Revival Month”

 

(Cambridge, MA 02138) Bread and Puppet Theater: Man = Carrot Circus, with an
introduction by Scott Alarik.  Held on the Cambridge Common, near the
intersection of Mass. Ave. and Garden St., Cambridge.  Free performance
[pass-the-hat donations welcome], rain or shine.  For further details, call
the Boston-area Bread and Puppet Theater information line 617-800-9539 or
log onto www.breadandpuppet.org <http://www.breadandpuppet.org/> .

The award-winning Bread and Puppet Theater, from Vermont’s Northeast
Kingdom, presents their Man = Carrot Circus on the Cambridge Common, a space
they have not inhabited since the mid-1980’s.  Bread and Puppet champions a
visually rich slapstick style of street-theater that is filled with huge
puppets made of paper maché and cardboard, along with masked characters,
political commentary, and a lively brass band for accompaniment.

Man = Carrot Circus, for children of all ages, is based on the revelation
that upright man rooted in dirt was created in the image of the upright
carrot rooted in dirt.  Fifteen Vermont puppeteers and musicians will enact
the issues of the day, not only in how they affect carrots, but how they
affect us all.  Some of the circus acts may be politically puzzling to
adults, but usually an accompanying kid can explain what’s going on.  The
audience is welcome to examine all the masks and puppets after the
performance, and cheap art will be for sale.  Some examples of Bread and
Puppet’s work can be found at www.breadandpuppet.org
<http://www.breadandpuppet.org/> .

Scott Alarik (www.scottalarik.com <http://www.scottalarik.com/> ), who will
introduce the show, is the author of the very recently published Revival: A
Folk Music Novel.  He is no stranger to the music, theater, and art scene
that put Harvard Square on the map many moons ago.  His novel, along with
Bread and Puppet’s outdoor Circus on the Common, is serving as the impetus
to reinvigorate Harvard Square with an entire month of reincarnations,
complete with the return of the HONK! Parade: Share The Streets on Oct. 2nd,
a Bread and Puppet-inspired procession on Mass. Ave. leading into Harvard
Square’s Oktoberfest.  For complete information on Harvard Square’s “Revival
Month” visit www.harvardsquare.com <http://www.harvardsquare.com/> .  For
more information on HONK! and the parade that runs from Davis Square to
Harvard Square, log onto www.honkfest.org <http://www.honkfest.org/> .

Special thanks to the Cambridge Arts Council and the Harvard Square Business
Association for helping make this event possible.

A SHORT HISTORY OF BREAD AND PUPPET THEATER

The Bread & Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York
City’s Lower East Side.  Besides rod-puppet and hand-puppet shows for
children, the concerns of the first productions were rents, rats, police and
other problems of that neighborhood.  More complex theater pieces, in which
sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners, followed.  The
puppets grew bigger and bigger.  Annual presentations for Christmas, Easter,
Thanksgiving and Memorial Day often included children and adults from the
community as participants.  Many performances were done in the street.
During the Vietnam War, Bread & Puppet staged block-long precessions
involving hundreds of people.

In 1970 Bread & Puppet moved to Vermont as theater-in-residence at Goddard
College, combining puppetry with gardening and bread baking in a serious
way, learning to live in the countryside and letting itself be influenced by
the experience.

In 1974 the Theater moved to a farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of
Vermont.  The 140-year-old hay barn was transformed into a museum for
veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two-day outdoor
festival of puppetry shows, was presented annually through 1998.

The company makes its income from touring new and old productions on the
American continent and abroad and from the sales of Bread & Puppet Press’s
posters and publications.  The traveling puppet shows range from tightly
composed theater pieces presented by members of the company, to extensive
outdoor pageants which require the participation of many volunteers.

Bread & Puppet is one of the oldest, nonprofit, self-supporting theatrical
companies in this country.  www.breadandpuppet.org
<http://www.breadandpuppet.org/> 

 

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--submitted by marycurtinproductions [on behalf of Bread and Puppet Theater]
c/o Mary Curtin
PO Box 290703, Charlestown, MA 02129
617-241-9664, 617-470-5867 (cell),  <mailto:marycurtin at comcast.net>
marycurtin at comcast.net
"dedicated to staging insightful entertainment, particularly in
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