San Francisco: Radical Theatre Festival panel discussion v 2.0

41 years ago in 1968 San Francisco State College hosted a 5-day Radical Theatre Festival which brought together Bread and Puppet Theater, Teatro Campesino and the San Francisco Mime Troupe for a week.  Among the events were a parade, workshops, lectures, many performances and a panel discussion between the founders of those three groups: Peter Schumann, Luis Valdez and R.G. (Ronnie) Davis.

Now on November 1, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, those same panelists -- Schumann, Valdez and Davis -- will reconvene to discuss the state of radical theater now, 41 years later.  That's way cool.  The proceedings from the original event in 1968 were written up in a 48-page booklet, Radical Theatre Festival, published by the San Francisco Mime Troupe, which can occasionally be found via used book dealers.  I hope this anniversary event will be similarly documented.

Additionally there will be several SFMT exhibits in the SFSU library over the span of several months, and screenings of 2 films:  Troupers (1985) and Have You Heard Of The San Francisco Mime Troupe? (1968).  See the very impressive full schedule of events.  Those of us who can't travel to the west coast for the public screenings may have to content ourselves with viewing the DVD of the former (available via the Mime Troupe Boutique) and reading this review of the latter (NY Times, 6/28/68).

Peter Schumann interviews

This entry will be a repository for links to Peter Schumann interviews, updated as I find more...

• "Revisiting the Sixties and Refusing Trash: Preamble to and Interview with Peter Schumann of Bread and Puppet Theater" by Silvia D. Spitta (21 pp, boundary 2, Duke Press, 2009 36(1):105-125)
  
•  Terrific 3-part interview (Aug 2008) by Greg Cook at the New England Journal of Aesthetic Research: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3
•  Briefer 2-part interview (Jan 2008) also by Greg Cook:  Part 1 / Part 2 
• Radio interview on This Week In Palestine, 30 Dec 2007 (MP3, last 30 mins of 40 min program).
• 2001 interview I need to pursue
• "Theater in the Ruined City: Peter Schumann at the Sarajevo Festival," an interview by John Bell, Movement Research Performance Journal #10
  
• "The Radicality of the Puppet Theater," The Drama Review 35, No. 4 (Winter 1991) p. 75
  
• "The Bread and Puppet Theater (interview)," The Drama Review 12, No 2 (Winter 1968), pp. 62-73

Dirt Cheap Opera

Laurie and I were lucky to see a performance (actually two!) of Bread & Puppet's Dirt Cheap Opera this year in Vermont. This show originated in 1998 and a portion of that performance is preserved via Dee Dee Halleck's video "When" (2001).  From those brief excerpts the staging looks cluttered with many cast members, the pacing seems slow and the music not fully realized.  The show was revived in 2002 with the original cardboard puppets and paper cantastoria with a lean 4-person cast comprised of Clare Dolan, Maria Schumann, Jason Norris and Jig Gresser (review 1 (plus some small photos); review 2). Here's the 2002 poster:
We saw the 2009 revival with a 7-performer cast (Rose Friedman, Justin Lander, Lindsay McCaw, Sam Wilson, Maura Gahan, Jason Hicks, and Greg Corbino), still with the original cardboard puppets and ragged newsprint cantastoria. The show pushes Brecht's alienation effects to the wall, as not only is Polly Peachum played by (a) different players, but also (b) different gendered players, and (c) she's a puppet held in front of those actors, except (d) when the actor leans out from behind the puppet to sing or speak, and (e) lest the puppet ever become too real a character, Polly's cardboard arm falls off and (f) this puppet dismemberment is joked about in the show. Seemingly a mishap, we saw two performances and the arm fell off in each, revealing it as a deliberate choice. See also the 1-armed Polly in this photo from the 2009 Baltimore performance.

Evidently there were some rights issues during the January tour with this show, which seems extra ridiculous considering the fact that Brecht was a socialist!

I shot video. Interested collectors feel free to drop me email.  I'm happy to trade footage.

See Flickr photos by pavelkaphoto (Scranton, 41 pics), Comandante_Jose (Baltimore, 11 pics) and dietrich (NYC, 3 pics). 2009 poster:

Seeking:

• 1998 cast info
• more photos
  
• more reviews
  
• video (any year, any performance)