The History of Laughter / Fruit Punch

Overview

An ancient god’s divine laughter creates the universe, then promptly abandons the scene. How will the masses defy their flimsy paper authorities? Laughter reveals the key in this work of radical puppetry populated by clouds, Santa Claus, an Idiot Manifesto, a brass band, and a 100-watt lightbulb.

The History of Laughter is a puppet show created by Peter Schumann of Vermont’s Bread & Puppet Theater and New York’s Boxcutter Collective. Produced at The La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in June 2022, it makes its Philly debut at the Fringe alongside other short works by the Boxcutters.

About the Artist

Boxcutter Collective is a Brooklyn-based puppet theater outfit founded in 2016 by Bread & Puppet company members based in New York. Since their inception, the Boxcutters have been hellbent on making shows to confront the humanity-threatening dilemma of the status quo. Boxcutter Collective performs regularly in NYC at Brooklyn's Jalopy Theater and in Coney Island, and are representing the U.S. at this year's International Puppet Fringe. Their most recent Philadelphia performances were at The Barnes Foundation and various lesser known haunts.

The Bread ​& Puppet Theater was founded in 1963 by ​German-born sculptor-choreographer ​Peter Schumann on New York's​ Lower East Side. The concerns of the first productions were rents, rats, police, and other problems of the neighborhood​, and then shows about U.S. involvement in Vietnam that led the company to tour the world in the late 1960s​. In 197​0​ Bread ​& Puppet moved to​​ Vermont​ and began an annual tradition of hosting giant circuses ​​and pageants amidst a majestic rural landscape. Today​ Bread & Puppet continues to be one of the oldest, nonprofit, political theater companies in the world​ with recent Philadelphia residencies at Icebox Projects Space, Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, ​First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, and The Rotunda.

Credits