Bread and Puppet show coming to Des Moines

Linh Ta

Nighttime puppet show featuring oversized paper-mâché heads on a raised platform. A performer in white holds white-faced masks and a pink-toned head, with a painted backdrop and smaller faces below. — Bread and Puppet Show at Lauridsen Amphitheater in 2004. Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Nelson

Bread and Puppet — a political, non-profit theater company — is bringing its touring show of colorful puppets, brass music and pointed current events to Des Moines.

Driving the news: The Vermont-based puppeteering group is performing at Riverview Park on Wednesday at 7pm.

The group was founded in 1963 and is historically known for its avant-garde art style and politically themed shows, including anti-Vietnam War and anti-nuclear power messaging.
The show is sponsored by Woodland Realm.

What to expect: This year's tour features "The Upside Down World Circus," which takes an "absurdist lens" on a world that can feel upside down, and asks the audience what change and possibility can occur.

Plus: Expect local food vendors like Mama Africa Catering, Tarboosh, and The Local Cow Co.

After the show, the company will sell sourdough rye bread and "cheap art."

If you go: Suggested donation is $20, though no one is turned away.

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Bread and Puppet show coming to Des Moines

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