Falk Lab School apologizes after ‘offensive’ Bread and Puppet performance

If Bread and Puppet Theater hoped to garner attention with its performance in Pittsburgh last month, then its members can consider its mission accomplished. The Pittsburgh community’s reaction, however, may not have been what the performers expected.

Formed in 1963 as a political puppet troupe, Bread and Puppet has performed pieces protesting the Vietnam War and America’s role in it, conflicts in Central America and attempts by refugees to leave the region. It has a strong anti-capitalist bent and has been critical of Israel.

The puppet theater performed “The Beginning After the End of Humanity Circus” on Oct. 3 at the Falk Laboratory School, a K-8 tuition-based school affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh. According to an email sent by the school and signed by school Director Jill Sarada following the event, the performance included a “number of antisemitic phrases and tropes.” The letter described the performance as “highly offensive and unacceptable.”

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In a YouTube video posted by the troupe of an earlier production of the piece, several acts are critical of Israel, holding the Jewish state responsible for the death of medical workers and “hospitals bombed.”

The message is not contextualized by mentioning Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in Israel or explaining that the terrorist organization often hides its bombs, weapons and military leaders near civilian populations and in buildings, including hospitals and schools.

In the Pittsburgh performance of the work, the familiar refrain “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” was chanted.

A concerned Jewish parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because her children attend the school, said that they had conversations with art teacher Cheryl Capezzuti, who coordinated the performance, and Sarada. The Jewish parent also participated in a group discussion at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, facilitated by 10.27 Healing Partnership Director Maggie Feinstein, after the performance.

“I met with her and Dr. Sarada and I said to her, ‘Are you aware that the school was closed for a Jewish holiday on the day this performance was proposed?’”

Capezzuti said she wasn’t initially, according to the parent, but later learned of the conflict. Oct. 3 was the only day Bread and Puppet could come to Pittsburgh, though, because of its schedule.

The art teacher and Sarada later discussed the conflict and decided that since it wasn’t a school event, and since attendance wasn’t mandatory, they didn’t think the date made a difference, according to the parent.

When the parent asked Capezzuti if she was aware of the themes typically presented by Bread and Puppet, the teacher said she knew the troupe was political but believed its message would be less controversial, according to the parent.

“She thought it was going to be pro-peace and pro-love,” the parent said.

The parent said that most of Falk’s Jewish community learned about the anti-Israel nature of the show on Oct. 7 “and were outraged,” especially when stories circulated that the performance included the “From the river to the sea” chant and depictions of an IDF soldier unleashing a dog to attack a disabled Palestinian child.

The parent said a quick examination of Bread and Puppet’s website showed that its content was concerning.

“From an antisemitism standpoint, they use grotesque images,” the parent said. “One of them is this caricature of people with very long noses to represent Jews. Also, if you Google the director of the puppet theater, he has been accused of antisemitism” and engaging in Holocaust denial.

The parent said she asked Capezzuti if the troupe waving Palestinian flags while chanting “From the river to the sea” gave her pause.

“She said no because it was in the context of 22 scenes about many disenfranchised people, including Haitians and mothers and even Texans,” the parent said.

After a letter from concerned parents was received by the school, Falk responded on Oct. 7 with an email that apologized for the performance. Missing from the email, though, was any mention of antisemitism. After several parents voiced their concerns, and following a meeting between the school and administrators from the University of Pittsburgh, which oversees the school, a second email was sent Oct. 21 from Falk that explicitly labeled the performance as antisemitic.

In addition to an apology, the email included several commitments, including improved event vetting, conducting an equity audit, advancing the Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate program, conducting a climate survey and creating parent/caregiver affinity groups.

The school also held a community meeting at the JCC facilitated by Feinstein and included school administrators and Jewish community leaders.

“There was not an empty seat,” the parent said. “It was basically a two-hour session of Jewish parents expressing their frustration about the puppet show itself, as well as other incidents of antisemitism that have occurred at the school.”

The Chronicle reached out to Falk for comment, but was directed by Sarada to University of Pittsburgh spokesperson Jared Stonesifer.

In a prepared statement, the university said that Falk provided no financial support for the performance and that the university understood the need for more thorough vetting of future community events.

“[We] will ensure that Falk staff understand our policies, procedures and protocols and diligently follow them to prevent future oversights,” Pitt’s statement said.

Julie Paris, StandWithUs Mid-Atlantic regional director, attended the JCC meeting and said she was impressed with the parents’ reaction.

“They were very clear, I felt, with the administrators on where they felt that Falk fell short of their own mission in allowing this play on Rosh Hashanah,” Paris said.

The performance, she added, exposed a large audience to a “distorted, one-sided and antisemitic narrative” about what has taken place between Israel and Hamas since Oct. 7.

“This Bread and Puppet Theater has a long history of putting on performances that demonize Israel, that hold Israel to a double standard and delegitimizes Israel’s right to exist and right to defend itself,” Paris said.

The performance at Falk, she said, took situations out of context, was not fact based and didn’t tell the whole story.

Bread and Puppet performer Josh Krugman, who is Jewish, disagrees with Paris and the school’s characterization of the performance as antisemitic.

“To me, that doesn’t sound like it was written by someone who saw the show,” he said.

Krugman said that he extensively researched the phrase “From the river to the sea” and understands it to mean that “the Holy Land, referred to by many as ‘Palestine,’ should be free from oppression, dispossession, apartheid, and a regime of ethnic supremacy that the state of Israel has enacted.”

The actor acknowledged, though, that he wouldn’t have used the phrase in the work, not because of its controversy but because he doesn’t find the use of well-worn slogans effective.

“When you use a slogan, everybody already knows what they think about it,” he said, “so, it’s either going to be galvanizing or it’s going to rile people up the other way.”

If the goal is to change the way people see an issue, he said, there are better techniques to use.

The show, he said, isn’t antisemitic.

“It doesn’t display any animus against Jews, let alone Israel, nor does it attempt to minimize or delegitimize the experience of Jews or Israel,” he said.

Krugman said that by highlighting what the company sees as the plight of the Palestinians, Jews hopefully will be safer.

“We Jews can recognize that actually oppressing and expelling, dispossessing and occupying the Palestinian people have not brought safety to the Jews in Israel or worldwide,” he said.

Krugman said it’s his hope good political theater might have a role in showing that Palestinian freedom and security can help bring the freedom and security “that Jews in the Holy Land and around the world deserve and have yearned for throughout our history.”

The Rev. Canon Natalie Hall has a stepdaughter who is a Falk alum and two other children currently at the school. Hall, who is rector at Church of the Redeemer and pastor of St. Mary Magdalene Lutheran Episcopal Church, didn’t attend the performance — instead she celebrated Rosh Hashanah with Jewish friends — but said the school advertised the event and promoted it among the Falk community.

Hall is concerned, she said, not only with antisemitism but that such a “highly charged political play” had content that was not suitable for children.

While she is committed to freedom of speech, even that with which she disagrees, Hall said she thinks that Falk probably was not the right venue for the performance, especially since children are likely unaware of the complexity of the war between Hamas and Israel.

She’s also afraid that the work will engender fear of religion.

“I’m afraid that people in the audience may not have enough information to engage the content,” Hall said.

Laura Cherner, director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council, attended the discussion at the JCC.

“To Falk’s credit, they were willing to listen about the harm and take positive steps towards repairing it,” she said. “That’s the first step, to acknowledge where they went wrong, which they did, and then hearing from concerned parents.”

Cherner said Falk’s decision to condemn the antisemitism once it was pointed out to school officials “was really important.”

Both Hall and the parent who spoke on condition of anonymity believe that Falk handled the situation appropriately.

“I trust the character of Falk’s leadership,” Hall said. “I trust Jill Sarada. I trust that the apologies are sincere. I trust that they are doing their level best to respond with concern, understanding and an attempt to move forward in a way that will benefit all students and households going forward.” PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.