Fall Ritual Apprenticeship APPLICATIONS CLOSED!!
For the last 6 years, we have held Samhain rituals at Bread and Puppet to remember the dead and thank the sleeping fields and forests. This year, we are holding a 5 day apprenticeship preceding the ritual. This gathering will serve two purposes: 1) to create the public participatory ritual performance, held in the field on the last day of the apprenticeship 2) to hold smaller ceremonies within our group to remember the dead. In many cultures, the ritual of remembering the dead was not confined to one night, but rather took place over several days in a row, or even a whole week.
We invite you to join us on our Bread and Puppet farm for a week of song, dance, shared meals, and time spent in the stark and beautiful November fields and woods.
What: A five day workshop. Songs, silence, soup, movement, breath work, walking, bread, fires, masking and costuming will all be elements of our daily life and the final performance. We will spend most of our time outside, weather permitting. Also, the logistics and physical labour of maintaining our temporary community and of putting on a public event will be part of this apprenticeship! This includes everything from cooking meals, to washing dishes, chopping and stacking wood, cleaning outhouses, putting up parking signs and more.
Where: At Bread and Puppet Farm in Glover, Vermont.
When: Tuesday November 4- Saturday November 8 (5 days). The public ritual will take place on Saturday November 8 from 4-8pm.
Cost: $550.
Who can apply: Puppeteers, singers, dancers, folklorists, painters, school teachers, waiters, grandmothers, gardeners, car mechanics, makers and dreamers of all kinds are invited to work with us! No participants under the age of 18 without a parent. Limited to 12 people.
Please note that the focus of this workshop is specific to the show/ritual being made and not a particular syllabus: We are not a school and we do not conduct classes in different styles of puppetry. The apprenticeship program is an intensive and often intense working experience. To be a B&P apprentice is to be “thrown into” the ongoing life and productions of the theater, and to learn by engaging with this sometimes chaotic but also highly structured environment. Apprentices need to be self-motivated and adaptable, and not just in it for “workshops”.
We are committed to making Bread & Puppet a space for people of all ages, ethnicities, gender identities, nationalities and backgrounds. Not having theater experience and/or not being familiar with the work of the theater should not deter you from applying
Fall Workshop Schedule: (subject to change)
Monday 11/3 Arrival (afternoon and evening)
Tuesday 11/4- Friday 11/7 : Create, sing, dance, rehearse,
Friday 11/7 6 pm Silent Supper, in the pine forest weather permitting
Saturday 11/8 4-8 pm Performance/Ritual in the Bread and Puppet field
Sunday 11/9: Depart
Daily Schedule: 9-5, with a break for lunch. Singing will be a big part of this workshop!
Songs: We will start and end each day with songs. Some of the traditions we will draw from:
*Sutartines, an incredibly beautiful pre-Christian tradition of group singing from Lithuania, with the potential to lead to elevated states of consciousness by connecting us with each other and the melodies and dissonance, rhythms and images of nature.
*Shape Note and Appalachian hymns about death * Traditional British seasonal songs * plus more!
Housing: Shared bedrooms in our farmhouse. November is usually cold and our farmhouse is cold and drafty! If you need privacy or more comfortable accommodations, we recommend Labour of Love B&B, just 2 miles down the road. Participants who provide their own off site housing get $125 off of tuition.
Meals: Simple, mostly vegetarian meals provided. We will take turns cooking and cleaning.
Group leaders:
Maria Schumann is a farmer, singer, folklorist and ritual practitioner from Greensboro Vermont. She has been creating seasonal outdoor, song based, community ceremonies for the last 15 years, drawing inspiration from folk traditions and her Bread and Puppet childhood.
Sophia Wright Emigh (she/they) is an interdisciplinary movement artist, visual artist, and somatic facilitator whose work weaves ritual, sound, image, and body into acts of cultural remembering. Rooted in witnessing, grief tending, and community ritual, her practice nurtures connection between people, ancestors, and land.Sophia belongs to the North Branch of the Winooski River, and to the Worcester Range of the Askaskwiwajoak (Green Mountains).
Pavitra Mehta is a poet and artist from India raised in New York City. She received a Fulbright in 2014 to work in India with shadow puppeteers, cantastoria artists and women storytellers. The journey led to her birthplace, Bengal, and to her guru, Parvathy Baul. Pavi is both a student and practitioners of Baul, an ancient oral tradition of music, yoga and living wisdom rooted for centuries in the land of Bengal.
We will also be joined by Bread and Puppet director Peter Schumann and a small staff of puppeteers.
TO APPLY: Please fill out this application form:
We are not online every day, but will get back to you within a few days. Once you have been accepted, please pay the registration fee here
PAYMENT: The cost of the apprenticeship is $550. There is an initial, nonrefundable $200 deposit to hold your spot, payable once you have received a confirmation/acceptance email. The remaining $350 is due on October 13. All fees payable here.
If you have the means, please consider paying forward so that someone who cannot afford the full fee can attend.
This amount is nonrefundable, except in cases where we cancel or that we deem refundable. (ie, if you get sick)
We have a work trade position for providing childcare for one of the workshop leaders. Contact [email protected] for more info and to apply.
