The Persians, by Aeschylus, performed by Bread and Puppet Theater, directed by Peter Schumann, Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival, January 28, 2022.

I can think of no better venue for a company known for breaking bread with its audience than a repurposed church. Bread and Puppet’s adaptation of The Persians was presented at the Epiphany Center for the Arts as part of the 2022 Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival following its staging at New York’s Theater for the New City. Tables bearing the company’s traditional brown bread and aioli were set up in front of the former tabernacle, under the primary colors of their “cheap art” display. Above the rowdy crowd, filling the platforms and spilling over into the floor seats, the peeling paint on the cathedral walls proclaimed “Hallelujah!” and “Peace, Good Will Toward Men” accompanied by the joyful noise of the company’s aptly named Doing-The-Best-We-Can Brass Band....

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