Monday, August 2, 2021
Her death, at North Country Hospital in Newport, was confirmed by Michael Romanyshyn, a family friend and longtime puppeteer. Elka was "everything" to Bread and Puppet, Romanyshyn said. "She was the heart and soul."
Elka was born in Russia in August 1935 to a Russian mother and an American father. Her family left that country, bound for the United States, when she was a young girl.
Elka met Peter, an artist and puppeteer, in his native Germany while she was a college student studying abroad. The Schumanns were married in 1959 and lived in New York City, where Peter founded Bread and Puppet on the Lower East side of Manhattan in 1963. The couple moved with their five children to Plainfield in 1970, before settling at the Bread and Puppet farm in Glover in 1974.
She was the "bedrock" for both the family and the theater, said her son, Max Schumann.
This summer, Bread and Puppet is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Domestic Resurrection Circus. Elka, dressed in white, walked arm in arm with Peter across the natural amphitheater on July 11 at an opening performance of the season to take her seat on the grassy stage. She played recorder during the show. She also participated in last Saturday’s performance, Romanyshyn said.
In recent years, Elka became interested in gatherings to remember and mourn the dead in the pine woods at Bread and Puppet, where a memorial village of sculptures, paintings and installations pay tribute to deceased puppeteers, artists, friends and family. One little house honors Elka's parents, John and Masha Dikareva Scott.
Walking through the memorial village two summers ago, Elka stopped at a site in the grove of trees and listened to Peter as he talked about people dear to them whose names he had carved on a board to mark their deaths.
When he got to the last name, where space had run out on the carving, Elka said: "Peter, you really should make another board."
Tags: Bread and Puppet Theater , Elka Schumann , Peter Schumann , Glover , puppet , artist , Vermont , Web Only , Image
Monday, July 12, 2021
"The significant moment will be marked by a full evening of reunions, tributes, dancing, stories, and incredible music," read a press release on Monday morning.
Friday, May 28, 2021
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Saturday, May 1, 2021
Vermont Pride Theater began a decade ago to bring LGBTQ voices to the stage in Randolph and has since presented more than 50 events. According to Chandler executive director Karen Dillon, 10-year lifespan was always the plan; that milestone gave the Chandler board a chance to deliberate on what would come next.
Using Vermont Pride Theater as a springboard, they decided to go bigger.
Tags: Vermont Pride Theater , Chandler Center for the Arts , Vermont Social Justice Festival , Karen Dillon , Sharon Rives , Randolph , LGBTQ , Web Only , Image
Monday, December 21, 2020
Tags: Jay Wahl , Charlie Smith , Staige Davis , Web Only , Image
Sunday, September 20, 2020
But founder and producing artistic director Jarvis Antonio Green got much happier news a few months later when he learned that the Bay & Paul Foundations was granting $100,000 to JAG Productions. The New York-based nonprofit's heady mission is "to foster and accelerate initiatives that prepare agents of change working to strengthen our social compact and develop authentic solutions to the challenges of this pivotal century."
Tags: JAG Productions , Black theater , Black Lives Matter , Stevie Walker-Webb , Marie Cisco , White River Junction , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Applications opened Monday on the ACCD website for all the agency’s Economic Recovery Grants. Arts and culture nonprofits are eligible for up to $50,000 in funding. The arts council will partner with ACCD to review the applications.
“It’s an incredible boost for the nonprofit cultural sector,” said Karen Mittelman, executive director of the arts council. “It’s important as a recognition of the economic stress our sector is experiencing … And we also know it will not be enough. That’s true across the board [in every sector].”
Tags: arts , culture , coronavirus , Vermont Arts Council , Vermont Humanities , Vermont Legislature , grants , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 3, 2020
The NEA awarded $50,000 grants to Kingdom County Productions, Dorset Theatre Festival, the Vermont Folklife Center, the Community Engagement Lab, the Yellow Barn and the Weston Playhouse Theatre.
The NEH awarded $133,512 to the Vermont Historical Society, $69,263 to the University of Vermont, $29,362 to the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History, $53,036 to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and an additional $97,017 to the Folklife Center.
Tags: coronavirus , Vermont Arts Council , arts and culture , theater , performing arts , NEA , NEH , Vermont Humanities , Weston Playhouse , Web Only , Image
Thursday, June 25, 2020
"This was not a decision made lightly, and we explored many possible alternatives before concluding that we cannot safely host performances in the theater for the remainder of this year," said interim executive director Charlie Smith in a press release. "Right now, we are unable to open to normal operations, but we’re eager to resume activity and will do so as soon as possible."
Monday, June 1, 2020
Barre Opera House director Dan Casey announced the extended closure in a press release on June 1, citing "uncertainty regarding COVID-19, restrictions on the assembly of large groups, and the ability and willingness of touring artists to perform on scheduled dates."
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