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By Sally Pollack, Free Press Staff Writer
Emily Anderson, a pupeteer and dramatist, had worked at Bread and Puppet Theater for seven years when she decided it was time to branch out.
Aderson did a little it of everything for Bread and Puppet, the internationally recognized company that champions a visually rich, street-theater brand of political theater. She drove the bus, made puppets and played music, performed at festivals, and developed material.
"We all hang out together," said Joel Bertelson, 25, of Colchester, a member of the company. "I look forward to it every week. It’s a joy."
Joining the troupe in 1989 after a theater major from Antioch College, she learned under founder Peter Schumann the importance of achieving a creative and theatrical standard, or dramatizing a political message.
But Anderson was ready to move on. "I needed to get my life together."
She also wanted to present theater in a different context, in a new way.
She thought of seniors and presenting oral histories in theatrical form. And then she focused on "different people," as she put it.