INTERVIEW: Art Grueneberger pt. 1

(Photo by Kristen Phillips)

Art Grueneberger was kind enough to take some time to answer a few of my questions regarding "Man of La Mancha" and his work with puppets in general.

How did you get involved with UC Davis?

I went there to get my MFA in Theater Arts and due to my thesis project they invited me back as guest faculty and guest director to do "Man of La Mancha."

What made you select "Man of La Mancha" and HOW did you decide to use puppets in the production?

I did "La Mancha" in high school and I remember liking the show. A few years ago I was kicking around ideas for grown-up shows (since the majority of my work is for kids) and I began to think about "La Mancha."

In the original musical Don Miguel de Cervantes (the author of the novel "Don Quixote") and his Manservant get thrown in to a 17^th century Seville prison to a wait being tried by The Spanish Inquisition. The prisoners, common thieves and cut-throats, hold a trial of their own to determine if Cervantes' possessions, a trunk of costumes and theater props, will be confiscated and distributed amongst themselves. Cervantes presents his defense in the form of a play similar to that of the traveling performers of the time. Cervantes plays the role of Don Quixote, Knight Errant and enlists the prisoners to help tell the story. He assigns each of them a character by handing them an appropriate costume from his trunk. I thought it would be interesting for him to pull out puppets instead of costumes. That's where the idea began. When I began at UC Davis I was given the resources to do a workshop production. No sets, no costumes, minimal music (just a piano, guitar and drums). It was really an experiment to see if my idea of integrating puppets would work. I think it did.

Art Grueneberger began his puppet career working with Master Puppeteer Richard Bay. His puppet performance premiere was as lead puppeteer in “A Thousand Cranes,” a UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence winner.

Grueneberger formed Puppet Art Theater Co. in 1994 and began producing outstanding children’s productions that have been seen by thousands of audiences across the United States. His shows have also toured internationally. He has directed productions for adults that have been seen at Here Theater in New York City, Zeum Theater in San Francisco and the Mondavi Center in Davis California.

Grueneberger has puppeteered for many film, television and video projects including the award winning film “Ola’s Box of Clovers,” the “Emmy” nominated video “We’re Gonna Be OK” and the WB’s national children’s series “Phantom Investigators.” He has worked with Shadowlight Theater on the award winning productions “Coyote Stories” and “The Wild Party” and has collaborated with talented shadow puppeteer Wendy Morton on several projects including “The Little Dragon,” a nationally distributed DVD produced for the Bose^© Speaker Company.

In addition to writing and consulting for theater and video productions, Grueneberger has also co-authored the book The Actor's Lab Book: A Practical Supplement for the Beginning Actor.

He recently returned from China where he led puppet workshops at The Shanghai Theater Academy.