Staff Bios

Art Grueneberger

Artistic Director

Art Grueneberger began his puppet career working under 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. In 2010 Puppet Art Theater Co. completed over 600 live performances across the State.

Art’s 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. He recently performed “Goldilocks and the Three Sharks” at the 75th National Puppetry Conference in Atlanta where he opened for Kermit the Frog (and puppeteer Steve Whitmire.)

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,” “Technology Street” a parody of Sesame Street for Adobe MAX 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 shadow production that toured to the International Shadow Theatre Festival in Schwaebish Gmund, Germany. Grueneberger was thrilled to be part of the first Shadow Troupe from the United States to perform at the International Shadow Theatre Festival.

Art has been featured as Guest Director at University of California, Davis directing a production of “Man of La Mancha” featuring life-sized puppets. The production was nominated for four regional Elly Awards. He has also traveled to China where he lead Puppetry Workshops at Shainghai Theater Academy. He is one of the staff teachers for Puppet Fest Midwest where he teaches Multi-Person Puppetry Manipulation and Puppetry Technique for Video Production.

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

Grueneberger currently serves as Vice President for the National Organization Puppeteers of America and as President of the San Francisco Bay Area Puppetry Guild. He is also a proud Member of the Sacramento Friends of the Library.

Grueneberger earned a BA in Liberal Studies and Drama at CSU, Sacramento and an MFA in Theater Arts at University of California, Davis.

Rachel Malin

Puppeteer

Rachel Malin received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from CSU Sacramento where she studied with Master Puppeteer Richard Bay. She first met Art and performed under his direction in a summer stock program at the Old Eagle Theater in Old Sacramento. She began puppeteering for Puppet Art Theater Co. in 1996 and has performed at schools, libraries, and various festivals throughout California, as well as performing at the International Puppet Festival in South Korea. She moved to LA for several years where she ran Puppet Art Theater Co.’s Southern California office. She has assisted in constructing puppets for several projects, including the Sacramento Symphony’s Music Education Program. She has also puppeteered and done voice-over work for several of Puppet Art’s projects.

In addition to her work for Puppet Art Theater Co., Rachel co-directs and designs the productions at Emerson Junior High in Davis, CA. She’s worked as the puppet designer and lead puppeteer on several short film projects including one that was part of the Sacramento Film and Music Festival at the Crest Theater. She also enjoys working as costume designer for Jesuit High School’s Theater Productions.

Rachel’s work can be seen in the new “Puppet Art Theater Co.” iPhone Apps featuring several of Puppet Art’s Productions.