INTERVIEW: Art Grueneberger pt. 2

Photo of Art Grueneberger from PuppetArts website.

"The Impossible Dream" is a song I hold dear to my heart, is there something
in the story of Don Quixote that calls to you personally?

I think the primary message of the musical is in that song.

Though the musical was written in 1965 and the novel it's based on (Don Quixote) was written in 1615, "La Mancha" can easily reflect the world today. For example, we have religious extremism in the form of suicide bombings abroad and hateful legislative agendas at home. Our country is still mired in a war that started under the false assumption of weapons of mass destruction. We have a government who is just now acknowledging, though begrudgingly so, that our energy consumption behavior is dangerously warming the planet. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless in the midst of such huge problems and thus driven to apathy because "what can one person do"?

"Man of La Mancha" is about striving to leave the world a better place no matter the personal sacrifice. It is about seeing the best in all people. It is about global change for the better by personally living a moral, engaged and courageous life.

One of the things I had the cast do to prepare for the show was to daily make the world a better place on an individual level. People gave money to good causes, held doors open for others, made people laugh, drove less, recycled more, etc.,... Every time they did something to make the world better I had them write on a small slip of paper and put it into a box. The box was placed on stage during each performance to remind the cast of the meaning of the show. I love that kind of stuff.

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.

For more information on Art Grueneberger, visit his website.