Performance Creation: Bread & Puppet Theatre
The Faculty of Fine Arts, and Concordia International are pleased to offer a 2-week intensive summer apprenticeship working at the Bread and Puppet Theater, culminating in a new performance under the direction of the Theater’s founder, Peter Schumann.
About the program
The Faculty of Fine Arts, the Performance Creation program of the Department of Theatre, and Concordia International are pleased to offer a 2-week intensive summer apprenticeship working at the Bread and Puppet Theater, culminating in a new performance under the direction of the Theater’s founder, Peter Schumann. As part of a 3-credit Performance Creation class, Concordia students will participate in the daily life of a busy theatre company, working with Schumann and staff to create a new performance over the course of a 14-day residency (including two travel days and one day off). The class will culminate in a final public performance at the annual Museum Opening on June 1st, 2025, launching the company’s summer season. A second performance may take place upon return to Montreal on June 2nd as part of the Suoni per il Popolo Festival at Sala Rosa (TBC).
Theatre Professor Mark Sussman will lead the class, coordinate logistics, and will give talks on the history and context of the company’s work, both prior to departure and while in Vermont. Students will work with puppet building, mask performance, improvised music and dance, cantastoria (picture-recitation performance), and character creation, and will have the opportunity to work at the Bread and Puppet Press.
Founded in the Lower East Side of New York City in 1963 and based in the town of Glover, Vermont (USA), Bread and Puppet Theater is one of the oldest continually operating non-profit companies in the United States. It continues to produce new shows at its headquarters, a working farm in the beautiful Northeast Kingdom region. Bread and Puppet has created and hundreds of touring theatrical productions, giant-scale community parades and pageants, and other spectacles in both urban and rural settings, often on themes relating to the pressing issues of the day and always in radically sustainable collaboration with the rural ecology of the company’s home.
Dates & courses
Dates: May 20, 2025 - June 2, 2025
- Undergraduate Course: PERC 496, Performance Creation Field School FAFS 398
- Graduate Course: FAFS 660 (MA/MFA) or FAFS 860 (PhD), Faculty of Fine Arts Field School
In addition to working with the company’s signature puppets, masks, costumes, music, and movement style, the Field School will comprise of preparatory meetings and historical/contextual presentations on the history and philosophy of Bread and Puppet Theater. Students will participate in simple choral singing and music-making, papier-mâché puppet construction, printing and painting of posters and broadsides in the print shop, and the everyday chores of a working farm. Additional smaller performances in local towns and communities will likely be scheduled during the residency. Living conditions at the Theater are rustic, and the field school will take place in a phone and screen-free environment. (Internet access is available at the local library and there is a computer available, but it’s best to plan to have most of your online business taken care of before departure.)
No prior performance experience is required, but an openness to trying things is helpful.
Estimated cost
Program fee: Concordia will charge program participants for 3 credits of undergraduate tuition or graduate tuition and a program fee $1,225 CDN to cover
- Bus transportation to and from Glover, Vermont
- Meals (dietary needs or restrictions will be accommodated)
- Workshops, Materials, and Transportation within Vermont
Additional costs: Students are responsible for mandatory health and travel insurance, any travel documents you may need, and spending money. Additional costs in Vermont are minimal.
Available Funding
Peter N. Thomson Family Field School Award
The Faculty of Fine Arts invites applications for the Peter N. Thomson Family Field School Awards. The Award offers an amount of $1,300 for thirty (30) eligible Fine Arts undergraduate or graduate students accepted to a Field School hosted by the Faculty of Fine Arts. Please consult the Peter N. Thomson Field School Award webpage for application instructions.
Quebec Mobility Bursary
To help with the costs of going abroad, Concordia offers a $1,050 CAD Quebec Mobility Bursary to students.
To qualify, you must be a Concordia student enrolled in a Concordia Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral degree program and approved to participate in the field school.
Important to note:
Field school applicants do not need to submit a bursary application as it is part of the on-line field school application, and you will automatically be considered for the Quebec Mobility bursary.
The bursary will be applied to student accounts. Details on the payment of the bursary will be sent to successful field school applicants.
Contact Concordia International if you have any questions on your eligibility for funding.
Travel Documents
Students are responsible for ensuring that they have the necessary documentation to enter the United States. If you are not traveling on a Canadian or US passport, please confirm soon whether a travel visa will be required, as visas can take time to acquire. For further information on entry requirements to the United States, please visit the U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Canada website.
Accommodations
Accommodations are rustic. Our group will be camping and should plan to provide their own camping gear. In case of cold or wet weather, indoor accommodations can be provided as a backup. If you don’t have camping equipment, we will work to see about lending or sharing equipment within the group. Detailed information on what you’ll need to pack will be provided at information meetings. You may also contact Mark Sussman (mark.sussman@concordia.ca) with questions.
Host Company
Bread and Puppet Theater is one of the oldest, non-profit, political theatre companies in the United States, founded in 1963 in New York City. In 1974, they moved to a former dairy farm in Glover in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The 150-year-old hay barn was transformed into a museum for veteran puppets. Our Domestic Resurrection Circus, a two-day outdoor festival of puppet shows drawing tens of thousands of audience members, was presented annually through 1998. Today, summer programs take place each weekend in July and August.
The company earns its income from touring new and old productions both on the American continent and abroad, and from sales of Bread and Puppet Press posters and publications. The traveling puppet shows range from tightly composed theatre pieces presented by members of the company to gigantic outdoor pageants which require the participation of dozens or hundreds of volunteers.
Application process
The Bread & Puppet Theater Field School is aimed at students in Fine Arts, but students from all programs at the University are eligible. There is a 2.7 minimum GPA requirement.
All students interested in applying to this program must attend an information session given by Concordia International prior to submitting an application.
Date: Thursday, February 6, 2025
(Additional meetings will be held, if this time conflicts with your class schedule.)
Time: 12:30-1:15pm
Submit the Concordia Field School Abroad Application by the application deadline of February 28th, 2025. The application can be accessed through the Concordia International CSEP Mobility Portal.
Your application must also include:
- A copy of your most recent unofficial Concordia transcript.
- Submit a short letter of intent to Prof. Mark Sussman anytime before Monday, February 17th, 2025 at mark.sussman@concordia.ca, discussing why the Field School interests you and mentioning any special skills: music, dance, public speaking, visual art, political organizing or activism, to name a few. These are not required, but helpful to know as we create a group. You are strongly encouraged to submit this prior to the deadline.
- Concordia admissions decisions will be communicated by email after the application deadline.
- Final admissions decisions will be made by the program director Dr. Mark Sussman
- Students admitted to the program will have to make a non-refundable $500 deposit to the Student Accounts Office by March 19, 2025. Please be aware, however, that any deposit you make will first be applied to any outstanding balances you owe to Concordia.
- Students admitted to the program will have to attend a mandatory pre-departure meeting on May 15,2025 at 11:00 am through the Zoom link: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/j/3654810697
Covid Precautions
All student participating in the class must meet the measures required by the company to ensure safety of all working together. Due to the evolving situation with Covid, this will be determined closer to the start of the class. Rapid tests may be required before departure.
All information on this website is subject to change without notice; the program is subject to a minimum enrollment of 16 students to take place; and it may be cancelled at any time and for any reason.