GREENSBORO – The world premiere screening of “An Artist Responds to War,” a new 45-minute documentary film portrait of Peter Schumann, the founder of the Bread & Puppet Theater, will take place at the Highland Center For The Arts, Sunday, May 3, at 1 p.m.
“An Artist Responds to War” is the first film to be made about Bread & Puppet in 25 years and is directed by Vermont-based independent documentary filmmaker Robbie Leppzer, who lives in Shaftsbury, and is a production of Turning Tide Films.
The film examines how six decades of Bread & Puppet’s performances have been a response to a childhood question for Peter Schumann: how do we as humans respond to the madness of war and violence?
Born in Nazi Germany and shaped by the reality of war via the aerial bombardments he experienced as a child, Schumann channeled this trauma into theater companies. Bread & Puppet came of age in the Vietnam War street protests of 1960s New York, and grew into its full form on a 250-acre Vermont farm in the 1970s, where the landscape itself became a stage that continues to draw tens of thousands to its large-scale spectacles.
Schumann, now 91 and still working, finds his life’s central question more pressing than ever. Drawing on originally shot footage and an archive spanning more than 40 years, the film offers a window into the man, his art and his faith that creativity can stand against power.
Following the screening of the film, there will be a discussion panel with Leppzer, and members of the Bread & Puppet Theater troupe and other guests.
A virtual world premiere online screening of the film will be available Tuesday, May 12, at 8 p.m., on the Kinema.com streaming platform. For more information on the feature-length film go to BreadAndPuppetMovie.com. Watch a trailer of the film at AnArtistRespondsToWar.com
