The Bread and Puppet Theater — founded in 1962 on the
Lower East Side of New York and based since 1970 in Vermont — is
coming to Cleveland to rally support for the Cleveland Food Co-op.
Bread and Puppets is known for its utopian vision and political street
theater. Performances include live music, dance and giant puppets.
They’re bringing two programs to town. The first — the Dirt
Cheap Money Circus — is the more topical, featuring “the
billionaire bonus celebration dance,” a Bread and Puppets-style
explanation of the logic of the U.S. health-care system, the company’s
“History of Humanity” skit and a re-enactment of mountaintop removal.
In between, there will be appearances by the late Karl Marx, addressing
the 2009 economic crisis. That performance is at 3 p.m. Sunday, October
25, in the parking lot between the Cleveland Institute of Art Factory
Building and the Cleveland Food Coop at 117th Street and Euclid
Avenue.
The company then moves to the Coventry Yard Mall at the corner of
Coventry Road and Euclid Heights Boulevard, to perform the Dirt
Cheap Street Show. The performance will survey Bread and Puppet’s
work — from reflections on war to the sweet notes of the Radical
Vermont Sheep-Note Choir, with music by the Dirt Cheap Band. That
performance is at 7 p.m. Monday, October 26.
Rain date for both performances is at 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 27, at
Dobama Theatre (2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights). Both shows are free.
Go to Clevelandfoodcoop.org or call 216.791.3890 for information.
This is the 12th year for Zygote Press’s Dresden Exchange
artist-swap program. Zygote artists Liz Maugans and Bellamy Printz
recently returned from a stay in Dresden, and now a couple of German
artists are visiting Cleveland to work at Zygote. Karen Koschnick and
Claudia Scheffler are both printmakers, but they employ wildly
different styles and moods. They’ll present their work in Foreign
Affairs XII, opening October 24 in the Zygote gallery. You can
check out during Zygote’s benefit ARToberfest, on Halloween
Eve.
Zygote celebrates ARToberfest with customs similar to those of the
more familiar Oktoberfests: There will be pretzels and bratwurst with a
toppings bar, plus hot cider, warm strudel and beer from Great Lakes
Brewing Company. It’s from 7-10 p.m. Friday, October 30, at Zygote
Press (1410 E. 30th St., zygotepress.com, 216.621.2900). Tickets:
$25-$35.
This article appears in Oct 21-27, 2009.