{"id":27319,"date":"2026-03-04T19:45:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T00:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=27319"},"modified":"2026-03-04T20:05:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:05:54","slug":"bread-and-puppet-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2026\/03\/04\/bread-and-puppet-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Bread And Puppet Theater In Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Visiting our friends at Bread and Puppet Theater<\/a> in Glover, Vermont, buried under the snow and fringed with the icicles of mid-winter, with temperatures below zero, it can look like the place is frozen in hibernation. Especially compared to the hive of activity of dozens of performers and support staff coming from all over the world during the lush green days of summer to present shows attended by crowds of hundreds of people each weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the school bus that the company toured the country in during autumn is parked along the highway that runs through the property and is snowed in. Narrow shoveled paths wind through feet of snow to the Puppeteers House and the gray Museum barn. The kitchen, bustling to feed everyone in the summer, is cold and quiet and dormant. The wooden seat of the rope swing in the big old tree beside the Puppeteers\u2019 House is stilled under the snow. Footsteps track through the snow to the unheated, empty Paper-Mach\u00e9 barn theater, under skies of blue and gray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bread
Bread and Puppet Theater performs \u201cLife and Death Precision Dances with Happiness Obligation Prologue,” the last performance of a series of winter shows in the wood-stove-heated upstairs Ballroom at the company\u2019s snowbound Glover, Vermont, farm, Feb. 8, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But performances go on, even as temperatures reach -10 Fahrenheit. In winter, the company shrinks down to a handful of performers (some living in the white-painted Puppeteers\u2019 House fronting the highway, some with homes or housesitting in nearby towns) as well as volunteers. They perform many weekends of the winter up in the \u201cBallroom\u201d above a workshop, surprisingly cozy warm with a wood stove blazing. The home fires become smoke curling out of chimneys. And the company performs around the region, including protests at Vermont\u2019s capital in Montpelier. A small crew keeps the Printshop up the slippery dirt road behind the Puppeteers\u2019 House pumping out woodcuts carved from masonite over many decades by Bread and Puppet co-founder Peter Schumann, a key income stream for the theater year-round. This winter existence of the theater feels like a seed gathering energy as it slowly, patiently prepares to germinate in the coming muddy, brown spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our car immediately got stuck in the snow when we visited during the first weekend in February to see \u201cLife and Death Precision Dances with Happiness Obligation Prologue,\u201d<\/a> the last performance of a series of winter shows. Maybe a couple dozen people arrived, several from Montreal, to see the show performed by about 11 people. After the performance, a gang of folks kindly helped push our vehicle free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9 Greg Cook 2026 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Puppeteers'
Puppeteers’ House, Museum barn and outdoor kitchen in Backyard of Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 8, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bread
Bread and Puppet Theater bus snowed in across from puppeteers’ house, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Throwing
Throwing a log into the blazing wood stove during Bread and Puppet Theater’s performance of \u201cLife and Death Precision Dances with Happiness Obligation Prologue” in the upstairs Ballroom at the company\u2019s snowbound Glover, Vermont, farm, Feb. 8, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bread
Bread and Puppet Theater co-founder Peter Schumann (center) and company conclude a performance of \u201cLife and Death Precision Dances with Happiness Obligation Prologue” in the wood-stove-heated upstairs Ballroom at the company\u2019s snowbound Glover, Vermont, farm, Feb. 8, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\""Don't
“Don’t let chaos win! Please be nice to this closet” and “Choas is our god” graffiti in Ballroom at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 8, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Banner
Banner from “Birdcatcher in Hell,” a 1971 performance created in response to President Richard Nixon’s pardon of Lt. Calley, the only US soldier convicted for the Vietnam War’s My Lai Massacre, in Ballroom at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 8, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bread
Bread and Puppet Theater van, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bread
Bread and Puppet Theater’s garden, Museum barn and Puppeteers’ House, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Inside
Inside unheated Bread and Puppet Theater Museum, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Footpath
Footpath to Paper-Mach\u00e9 Cathedral theater barn at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Cheap
Cheap Art Bus snowed in at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Freshly
Freshly printed banners inside Printshop at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Masonite
Masonite woodcut panels carved by Peter Schumann in Printshop at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Inside
Inside Printshop at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Painting
Painting room inside Printshop at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Inside
Inside Printshop at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Porch
Porch of Puppeteers’ House at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Dormant,
Dormant, unheated kitchen at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Dormant,
Dormant, unheated kitchen at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Puppeteers'
Puppeteers’ House at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Piano
Piano and blazing wood stove in Puppeteer’s House at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Puppeteers'
Puppeteers’ House at Bread and Puppet Theater Museum, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Tree
Tree swing outside Puppeteers’ House at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Road
Road to Museum of Anti-Modern Art at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Sign
Sign advertising winter performances of “Life and Death Precision Dances” at Bread and Puppet Theater, Glover, Vermont, Feb. 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visiting our friends at Bread and Puppet Theater in Glover, Vermont, buried under the snow and fringed with the icicles of mid-winter, with temperatures below zero, it can look like the place is frozen in hibernation. Especially compared to the hive of activity of dozens of performers and support staff coming from all over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,110],"tags":[13,881],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27319"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27331,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27319\/revisions\/27331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}