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Artist Bio

When he was just seven years old, Trent Arterberry was mesmerized watching legendary mime artist Marcel Marceau (on the Ed Sullivan Show) ascending invisible staircases and battling nonexistent winds. As an adult, he has been on a quest to share that same magic and wonder with as many people as possible.

Armed with a rubbery body, infectious grin and playful sense of humour, Arterberry has trotted the globe with his unique style of physical theatre. He has performed everywhere! On the frozen ice of Walden Pond, posing for a Capitol Records’ album cover. On the water, headlining on the QE2 World Cruise. He’s even performed underwater amongst the sharks and eels at the New England Aquarium, where an overzealous sea turtle bit him on the bottom.

A native of Southern California, Arterberry moved to Boston in 1972 to study at the National Mime Theatre. His early performances as a solo, white-faced mime in Harvard Square earned him hundreds of fans and hats full of change. By spicing up his act with sound, music and special effects, he began to open for rock bands on college campuses. In 1983, after hundreds of college appearances, he was named Performing Artist of the Year by the US National Association of Campus Activities. He went on to tour with major recording stars such as Julio Iglesias, BB King and the Kinks to venues like New York’s Radio City Music Hall and Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens.

In the 1990s, Arterberry both found a new love (relocating to Vancouver Island to start a family) and returned to his first love – performing for children. By mid-decade he was playing at hundreds of schools annually throughout the Atlantic Northeast and Pacific Northwest.

Also in the 1990s, Arterberry had the honour of studying with Marcel Marceau, universally considered the world’s greatest mime. Other teachers with whom he trained extensively include Tony Montanaro and Greg Goldston.

In 1998, interested in reaching adult audiences, Arterberry wrote and performed Mime Out Loud which won a Pick of the Fringe award at the Victoria Fringe Festival. In 2003, he developed Think Bigg, which he has performed over one thousand times for school and family audiences.

The following decade, Arterberry stretched into new territory, blending mime, text, and extended narrative in 2011’s My Impractical Life and 2012’s The Secret Life of Walter Manny. In August 2017, Arterberry premiered The Great Pretender, about the twists and turns of life as a performer.

In 2022 and 2023, Arterberry debuted Tight-Rope, the story of how his career impacted his marriage, at the Vancouver and Orlando Fringe Festivals where it played to standing ovations and critical acclaim.

In addition to performing, Arterberry has been an active director of children’s theatre. He has worked with elementary, middle, and secondary students to create shows performed for student and family audiences. Over the past decade, Arterberry has directed over twenty unique shows, including classics like “Twelfth Night,” “A Christmas Carol,” and “The Odyssey,” as well as contemporary and original plays.

Artist Statement

My artistic approach has evolved over the decades. Years ago, I performed as a silent, white-faced mime. Attempting to expand my repertoire, I began using sound effects in some of my sketches. This led me in 1983 to being the first mime in the world to own a lavalier, radio-microphone (a claim I cannot prove but strongly suspect)!

Once I had a microphone, I couldn’t help but begin to speak. Initially I used it to introduce pieces. Then I created sketches in which I told stories or recited poetry while illustrating them with mime and movement.

Ultimately, I began creating shows in which I play multiple speaking characters in extended narratives. Essentially these are solo mime-plays. In this form, I can create shows that deal with deeper issues than I could in the short-sketch format. My most recent adult show, “Tight-Rope,” tells the story of the first twenty years of my touring career and the effect that it had on my marriage.

I have also evolved as a director. I have adapted and directed large classics from Shakespeare, Dickens, and Homer. I have produced plays by contemporary American and British playwrights. One very successful play was “The Incredible Brightness of Leonard Pelkey” by James Lecesne. It is a detective story about a gay boy who is murdered for who he is. (It is much more uplifting than it sounds, and it won numerous awards in New York.) One highlight of this residency was having the author conduct a Zoom session with the students in which he talked about his life, his process and did a bit of performing himself.

Another recent show involved working with half a dozen high school students in writing and producing a play which we called “Stephen King’s Wilde Ride.” After being urged by his granddaughter, Stephen King goes back in time to interview celebrities including Oscar Wilde, Sigmund Freud, Sappho, and Marilyn Monroe. While I did the story editing, the students improvised and wrote their own scenes. This was a funny and powerful play that addressed issues like persecution and unrequited love. It was tremendous accomplishment for the students.

When I started directing kids eleven years ago, I was overly concerned with putting on a good show. With more maturity, I have come to realize that the students’ experience is more important – that with students, process is more important than product. The best thing that I can give my students is kindness. I try to see and appreciate who they are. I encourage them to stretch a bit beyond their comfort zone. I try to help them to feel good about themselves and to discover their natural talent.

I once directed a student who was terribly shy, yet, in role, she gave an amazing performance. Afterwards, her mother came up to me and said, with tears in her eyes, “Thank you for what you did for my daughter!” Seeing a student who had been struggling achieve such success is what makes this job truly rewarding.