The Bread & Puppet Theater, one of the oldest, nonprofit, political theatre companies in the country, will bring its 60th anniversary tour to Albert Einstein High School in Kensington for a free performance at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 8. The performance will be hosted by the Wheaton Arts Parade.The performance of Inflammatory Earthling Rant (with help from Kropotkin) lasts about one hour and will be followed by a Q&A session with the performers. Free tickets can be reserved at eventbrite.
Einstein High School is located at 11135 Newport Mill Road in Kensington. The performance takes place in Gym No. 1.
The Bread and 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 group included problems of the neighborhood. More complex theater pieces followed in which sculpture, music, dance and language were equal partners. The puppets grew bigger and bigger.
In 1974, Bread and Puppet 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. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theater pieces presented by members of the company to extensive outdoor pageants that require the participation of many volunteers.
To offer free tickets to the public, Wheaton Arts Parade is seeking donations to cover the fee for the 13-member company of puppeteers and musicians. Donations can be made at Donation Form | Wheaton Arts Parade.