Bread and Puppet Theatre: Insurrection Resurrection Service Circus Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

Jul 1 2020

Location: 

Traveling Exhibition

The Insurrection-Resurrection Service Circus is this summer’s [started in 2020 and is ongoing] contribution to the iconic Bread and Puppet Circus tradition beloved by audiences worldwide for nearly 2 generations — a bright, raucous melee of short acts governed by a brass band, addressing the heart of the current moment using diverse puppetry styles and spanning many moods, from slapstick to the sublime.

Bread and Puppet’s founder and director, Peter Schumann, says the show is “a service for citizens, aliens & immigrants alike to demonstrate the ills that inspire uprising against callously incompetent government & the tragedies that result from that callous incompetence & call for resurrection.

After the shows Bread and Puppet will serve its famous sourdough rye bread with aioli, and Bread and Puppet’s “Cheap Art” – books, posters, postcards, pamphlets and banners from the Bread and Puppet Press – will be for sale.

“The Insurrection-Resurrection Service Circus aims to demonstrate the ills that inspire insurrection against this callously incompetent government & the tragedies that result from that callous incompetence & call for resurrection. The frequently changing acts of the circus are performed outdoors with ample space for audiences to respect distancing. Bread & aioli will also be served in compliance with distancing rules.” — Peter Schumann

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bread & Puppet Theater is an internationally celebrated company that champions a visually rich, street-theater brand of performance art filled with music, dance and slapstick. Its shows are political and spectacular, with huge puppets made of paper maché and cardboard. Founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side, the theater has been based in the North East Kingdom of Vermont since the early 1970s.

External sources: 

https://breadandpuppet.org/insurrection-circus
Posted by JFerragamo on Mar 31 2024

Staff rating: 

0

Effectiveness

How does this project help?

Activates (people)Energizes and organizes people into action. Can include emotion work
Amplifies (issue or campaign)Brings public and political attention to an issue or campaign.  Can include prefigurative action, making the invisible visible.

Timeframe For change

This project seems to be part of a campaign with a clear long-term goal. Long-term goals tend to be things like: end racism; end homophobia; make the sun stand still in the sky. A campaign with a long-term goal also needs to have some kind of theory of change.
This project and organization has a long-term goal of inspiring substantive change political change.

Notes

This project certainly garners attention and unites an audience, however, beyond raising awareness and morale, it is unclear how impactful these performances are.