Author: Bread & Puppet Theater

Tholpavakoothu Ramayana Performance

This ancient, ritually rooted performance is based on verses from the Kamba Ramayana, the Tamil version of the Hindu epic the Ramayana. The performance includes 71 different characters, and over 160 different shadow figures. While traditional Tholpavakoothu shadow theater takes in temples as ritual performance, Ramachandra Pulavar and his family have popularized the form by performing a variety of stories of contemporary social relevance, about Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, and the empowerment of women, as well as performances based on traditional tales from the Mahabharata and the Panchatantra. Tholpavakoothu shadow figures follow four main design categories: sitting, standing, walking, and fighting puppets, as well as puppets depicting nature, battle scenes, and ceremonial processions.

About the Company: Krishnan Kutty Pulavar Memorial Tholpavakoothu & Puppet Centre

Krishnan Kutty Pulavar Memorial Tholpavakoothu & Puppet Centre was founded in memory of the legendary great guru K.L.Krishnan Kutty Pulavar who took the initiative with Shri.G.Venu to promote this temple ritualistic art form from the temple premises to secondary performance spaces. The Pulavar family has continued the age-old tradition of shadow puppetry for the past 12 generations with all the traditional ritualistic performances while simultaneously incorporating contemporary narratives. We perform yearly in around 85 temples in Kerala from January to May as part of our tradition in the permanent shadow puppet theatres erected in temples. The centre focuses on promoting the tholpavakoothu performances and offering traditional training sessions to the upcoming generation in which we focus on teaching all its traditional aspects of puppet making, manipulation, designing, and narration. We have a puppet theatre in which we have exhibited all our different puppets, books and manuscript styles. Now the centre aims to safeguard indigenous knowledge traditions of puppetry in Kerala.

Come spend your summer in rural Vermont, performing shows on a working farm with a 60-year-old political puppet theater!!

Location: Glover, Vermont, USA

Duration: 2 weeks, from May 24 – June 4. Apprentices are expected to be able to participate for the full two weeks.

Cost: $150 per week, for a total of $300.

Printers, artists, dreamers, painters, makers of all kinds are invited to make work with us!

Graphic images chiseled into masonite, printed and painted on cloth, and paper have been an integral part of Bread & Puppet Theater’s shows since the very beginning in the early sixties. Peter Schumann, Bread & Puppet’s founder, director and artist, created and continues to create, the contents, both pictures and texts of nearly all our publications and posters. Our emphasis is on utilitarian uses of art, for such vital activities as celebration, decoration, information, argumentation, rumination and puppetry!

We are committed to making Bread & Puppet a space of thriving and belonging for people of all ages, ethnicities, gender identities, nationalities and backgrounds. Not having printing or theater experience and/or not being familiar with the work of Bread and Puppet should not deter you from applying.

ALL applicants will be considered regardless of their ability to pay. We understand that our fees are too high for many people who might want to apply. Therefore, if you are selected for the apprenticeship program, we will work with your financial situation to enable you to attend this program. If you can afford to pay the full price, or have access to outside funding, your support helps us offer fee reductions for those who need it.

Please note that the focus of the apprenticeship program is specific to the work being made and not a particular syllabus: We are not a school and we do not conduct classes in printmaking, but provide a learning experience based on the work that the Bread and Puppet Press produces: relief printing woodcuts, letterpress, painting posters and banners.

The apprenticeship program is an intensive and often intense communal living and working experience. To be a B&P apprentice is to be “thrown into” the ongoing life and productions of the community and to learn by engaging with this often chaotic but also highly structured environment. Apprentices need to be self-motivated and adaptable. There will be opportunities to work on your personal projects outside of the working day. Please bring any of your own materials for this.

For More info on what to expect and how to apply follow the link Below!

Printshop Apprenticeship