[2] Peter Schumann and his wife Elka co-founded the Bread and Puppet Theater in 1963 in New York City.

[3][4] The theater is named for its combination of puppetry shows with free freshly baked bread, generally served with a dipping sauce.

"[3] Among the notable Bread and Puppet Theater shows directed by Schumann are "Nativity 1992", described by The New York Times as "an exemplar of performance folk art",[5] and "The Divine Reality Comedy".

Blending vaudeville comedy with political commentary, as well as the company's trademark giant puppets, the Circus became a tradition each summer.

[9] The series was inspired by ten days Schumann spent in the Occupied Territories of Palestine, as well as John Hersey's 'The Wall', a graphic account of the birth, development, and destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest of the Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany during the Jewish Holocaust.