Bakersfield.com: Kern County news, events, classifieds, shopping, & search

Californian Conversations with ... Don Kruszka

BY STEFANI DIAS, Californian Assistant Lifestyles Editor
sdias@bakersfield.com | Friday, Jul 09 2010 07:03 PM

Last Updated Friday, Jul 09 2010 07:38 PM

You haven't lived till you've heard 400 children singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"at the top of their lungs, at least according to Don Kruszka. As artistic director and lead puppeteer of the Omnipresent Puppet Theater, he's faced a lot of enthusiastic young audiences. Currently he's performing at libraries around the county with his show "The Fisherman's Wife," a variation on a Grimm fairy tale of a wish-granting fish, a hard-working man and his greedy wife. Luckily, home life is more idyllic for the 44-year-old Buffalo, N.Y., native: He and his wife, Kamala, who he started dating in 1998, have lived in town for 41/2 years and have a 9-month-old son, Andy. The actor and former stand-up comedian has a lot to say about his new hometown, our overreliance on technology and his puppet alter ego.

Finish this sentence: On the weekends, you're likely to find me ...

At a theater somewhere. Either working or watching someone else's work. There are many talented performers in Bakersfield, and I try to support them when I can. Also, I'm a huge movie freak.

You've performed in a variety of shows, including "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" Have you ever directed other actors or do you prefer directing those who can't talk back?

Eventually, I'd like to direct a stage play, but I've mostly directed other puppeteers. I will say that directing puppets is easier, because they're never late, they don't have scheduling conflicts or excuses for not knowing their lines and they follow directions very well ... for the most part.

Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise even the people closest to you:

I rock out on air guitar. You should see my Pete Townsend "airplane" move.

One of your rules during shows is the audience shouldn't touch the puppets. So what happens if someone does touch one?

Well, if they touch the puppets during the show, it could get distracting. There was an instance in Arizona at a preschool where I had to stop a show because the children were so out of control, they were running up to the stage and literally punching the puppets, while the teachers just sat back and did nothing.

There was another, much funnier incident, where I was performing a Christmas show that had a toy train in it. During the final scene, two little hands slowly reached up and took the train away while I was performing. There was this huge response from the audience, and I had to ad lib with the puppets for a minute while the child's mom got the train back, but I still laugh thinking about it.

Children can come up after a show and meet the puppets and shake their hand or hug them and pose for pictures, but they have to be gentle. The puppets aren't as tough as they look, and I've had times where a child will come up start hitting or getting rough with them. I don't let them play with any of the puppets from a show, because of the possibility of breakage. I break them myself sometimes, and I'd rather be the one responsible for that.

If you were in charge of promoting Bakersfield, what slogan would you write for the city?

Based on the more annoying disparaging remarks I hear from some other places about us, how about "Bakersfield: Not As Bad As You Think It Is!" or "Bakersfield: If You Build It, They Might Come."

What are outsiders' perceptions of Bakersfield, and are those perceptions right or wrong?

When Kam and I first announced that we were moving here, the most frequently asked question was "Have you been to Bakersfield?" I must admit that made me a bit nervous, and I'm happy to report that the nervousness was unfounded. We have found Bakersfield to be filled with an incredibly rich history that people don't always appreciate. There are many good, generous people here. They give their time and money and resources to help charitable causes. The community has been very accepting of us and what we do, and I am deeply grateful for. The cost of living is good, we're near beautiful mountains within driving distance that I can see from my house (on a good air day), and the traffic isn't too bad.

Best gift you ever got:

The birth of my son, Andy, last October. Our first son, Peter, was stillborn, and it was devastating. So we consider Andy our little miracle. And we thank God every day for him.

What inspired you to start working with puppets?

A tiny ad in a job finder book. I had spent three years working as a reporter and entertainment editor, and left my job on a creative difference with my boss. During my job search, I went back to my old college's job referral office, and for giggles' sake, I opened up the binder listing "Entertainment Jobs." There I found a little one-inch paragraph looking for a puppeteer in Westfield, New York -- within driving distance, 60 miles from Buffalo -- at a place called Das Puppenspiel Puppet Theater. I'd always been a fan of "Sesame Street" and "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" and "The Muppet Show," but I never thought of "puppeteer" as a job that people actually got paid to do. I could do voices, and I thought, "This sounds like fun." So I auditioned, got the job, and I couldn't stop after that. I was smitten.

What do you do if you're feeling depressed?

Head for Subway. Twelve-inch Buffalo Chicken Sandwich on jalapeno cheddar bread. Good for the soul.

How long have you been creating puppets? What was your first one?

I've been performing with puppets for 17 years, but I've only really been building them for seven. I never considered myself a builder, and generally left it to other people. I was always afraid to do it myself, but I always admire the talent of people who could do it well.

The first puppet I tried to make was a clay head for a snake for a production of "A Tale Of Two Sisters" in 1997 in Buffalo. Just the head. Then, working in Phoenix with the Great Arizona Puppet Theater, I got into helping more -- papier mache, painting, gluing. The first whole puppet I made was for Great Arizona in 2003. I made a rattlesnake for "Hotel Saguaro," a very popular show about the Sonoran desert, where Phoenix is located. The original snake was in pretty bad shape, so I took it upon myself to replace it. It came out alright. Looks good. The mouth is a little stiff.

What is your favorite puppet that you've created?

A giant, viking-helmeted muppet-style monster named Blaster The Red. I didn't make him, per se, but I created him on paper and in my head, and my business partner at the time made him. We had founded a company called Hands-Down Puppet Theater, and Blaster played a 10-year-old boy's conscience in a show called "Eddie's Problem," which was about dealing with peer pressure. Blaster's job was comedy relief, and he told some really awful jokes in the show. As the years went by, though, I started using him outside the puppet stage to do a routine in another show, "King Richard's Feast," which featured live actors in the Middle Ages. I would walk around the audience with him above my head, doing jokes, and the audiences loved it. After Hands-Down broke up in 2000, I got custody of Blaster. Now, I use him to host Puppet Slams, which are performances of short works for adults. Blaster's job is to keep the audience entertained while shows breakdown and set up, and "numb them to offense" by telling crasser and crasser jokes. He was a popular character in Phoenix, hosting more than just puppet shows, and I will perform with him at a festival in Seattle at the end of July. I've had him 14 years, and he feels like putting on a pair of comfy shoes. He's kind of my freer alter ego.

How did you get started with library shows? What's the biggest library crowd for which you have performed?

I've been performing shows in libraries almost as long as I've been a puppeteer. My first Kern County shows were in 2007 as part of the "It's A Mystery" reading theme. I performed a show called "Gumshoe McMonocle and the Strange Case of Rumpelsomething," a slapstick version of "Rumpelstiltskin" done as a 1940s detective story. The audiences responded well, and I was booked for non-reading series shows in some libraries as a result. I've been making a new show every year for the reading series since then.

I get big crowds in a number of local libraries: Southwest, Northeast and Tehachapi come to mind. But the largest local crowds are usually at Beale. They used to have me in the children's section, but the crowds would overflow the area, so they put me in the auditorium now. I usually draw well over 200 people a show there. It's fun.

What is it that you like about performing for children?

There's something infectious about the laughter of children. It never gets old. When I started performing, I was a stand-up comedian, and child audiences weren't on my radar ... until I started working as a puppeteer. I used to head school assembly programs for a drug prevention agency in Buffalo, and there was a show we booked to the younger grades called "The Buster and Mr. B Show" that had a baseball theme. I'll never forget -- I think it was early 1997 -- I went to an inner-city elementary school to catch the show, and there were 400 students -- kindergarten through second grade -- singing along to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at the top of their lungs. You haven't lived till you've heard 400 young kids singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

Many of your shows are based on fairy tales. Is that easier for your younger audiences to follow along with?

I think fairy tales are more accessible for them, because those are the stories children start out with. The titles are familiar to adults, as well. Omnipresent performs at the Gaslight Melodrama Theatre & Music Hall every other month, and our best-attended shows are always the recognizable names -- "Little Red Riding Hood," "The Three Little Pigs," "Hansel and Gretel," like that.

But I've been finding, too, that less and less children know some of these stories. I'm hoping to inspire them to look them up and get acquainted with the classics.

I am also hoping to branch out a bit. I want to do a show for schools about the Gold Rush eventually, and am working on some ideas for a show that deals with good nutrition. Those are still in development.

How does performing with puppets compare to a basic stage show? Do you prefer being front and center or behind the scenes? Or do you enjoy both equally?

I enjoy both equally. I started out doing stand-up comedy, so the need for attention has always been there. Then I went into stage acting and puppetry at about the same time. They are different disciplines that seek to do the same thing, and that's to create characters that the audience can connect to and enjoy watching. With stage acting, you have to use your whole body. With puppets, you take what you would do with your whole body and focus those actions through an inanimate object and make it come to life.

I think puppetry has made me better as an actor. You get to work many different types of characters, regardless of age, gender or even species. There are times when you get to perform several characters in the same show. That's an actor's dream! To show your range. I have puppet shows where I have to be 13 characters, sometimes two and three at a time. That teaches focus and motivation, and allows the performer to really see the big picture of a play, other than if he is just one character who says a line every other scene, or so.

Puppetry also teaches improvisational skills, because things go wrong. I've had every conceivable thing go wrong in 25 years as a performer, from blown lines to props and puppets dropping and breaking to stages falling down... you learn to cover... hopefully in an inconspicuous or at least entertaining way.

Whenever I talk to young actors, I always encourage them to explore puppetry. It's a great hands-on way to learn every aspect of what makes a stage production work.

How do you think puppetry is generally perceived?

I think it is sorely underappreciated, especially in the United States. In other countries and cultures, puppetry is considered serious theater. Here, it gets relegated to being "just for kids" a lot. But there are some really good puppet shows out there intended only for adults ---"Avenue Q" and "Puppet Up -- Uncensored!" are just the bigger names -- and Kamala and I have made our own productions for adult audiences. People don't realize how much puppetry there is, even in the movies. The Gremlins and Star Wars movies? Those are puppets. The shark from "Jaws" and the killer whales in "Free Willy"? Puppets. All those old stop-motion animation movies like "King Kong" and "Clash of the Titans"? Puppets. Even a lot of the cgi characters that get created are considered to be graphic puppets.

If you could go for a beer with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

Clint Eastwood. The man is a genius, and he's probably got a million incredible stories. I might not say much, though. I would be too busy stammering and groveling.

If you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?

I think I'd start by having that beer with Clint Eastwood. Then I'd go home and spend the rest of it with my wife and son. It wouldn't matter what we did, but we'd do it together and have as much fun as we could. And none of us would be allowed to go to sleep until it was time for me to go.

If your life were made into a movie, who would you like to play you?

Probably Christian Bale. He's got my serious side. But he'd have to gain some weight and soften himself up first. Patrick Warburton is just dour and sarcastic enough to pull it off, but he's way too tall.

Who do you prefer: Merle, Buck or Korn?

I grew up watching Buck on "Hee Haw," and I've always liked him, but I'm a long-time fan of Merle, too. So I lean that way. But I did get a big kick out of Korn doing the "Scooby-Doo" spoof episode on "South Park."

What's your favorite Bakersfield restaurant? What do you order?

I can't pick a favorite. Kam and I try to eat at different places as often as we can. We have a pretty varied palate, and there's a ton of good places to eat here. Eventually we'll have eaten at all of them, and we'll pick our faves then.

What was the last book you read?

I just recently finished "Dawn of the Dreadfuls," the third book in the series that starts with "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." Really funny stuff. I also recommend "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" by the same author. Currently, I'm reading "1776" by David McCullough. No undead monsters in that one ... yet.

If you had a motto, what would it be:

I like to use the words of Rocky Balboa: "It's not about how hard you can punch. It's about how hard you can take a punch, and keep moving forward."

What profession besides your own do you think you would have liked?

There were times when I really enjoyed being a reporter. I liked chasing down real news and leads and exploring sources. I also liked writing articles that would help people or accomplish some public good. It was very rewarding. I still submit articles to publications from time to time.

If you could say anything to President Obama, what would it be?

Whenever you're feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated, just remember: you wanted this job!

Two things always in your refrigerator:

Milk and ketchup. What else does the human body need?

Favorite vacation spot:

I would go back to London in a heartbeat. Honorable mention to Boston, Seattle and Toronto.

Dumbest thing you ever did:

Jeez, where to start. There are so many. Let's go with betting on the Buffalo Bills to win each of those four Super Bowls in the early 1990s. Never let your personal feelings get in the way of good business.

What do you eat for breakfast?

It varies. Normally, I reach for whatever isn't meowing at me when I walk through the kitchen door.

Do you think people are too enamored of technology?

We have become so married to our machines that we may as well be cyborgs. People glue little phones onto their ears, and I've had friends who never stop talking on them. I've known others who can't stop playing the games on their iPods. Just can't put them down. And the technology has fostered this huge narcissism. People tweet and put all this personal information and intimate thought on Facebook and MySpace pages. Every minute of their day has to be logged, as if someone else really cares. They'll even film themselves committing crimes or beating someone up and then post it on YouTube, all in the name of achieving some twisted celebrity. We live and breathe our computers. Everything on my car is computer-driven. I pray it doesn't break down.

And all this texting is making people forget that the English language actually has vowels and real words. I've read essays by students where they think "thru" and "omg" are acceptable in English composition papers. I often wonder what would happen if all the computers crashed tomorrow. It would probably turn into a "28 Days Later" situation where everything was violence and chaos.

I do like my high-speed Internet, though. And I get very cranky when it doesn't fire up in what I consider a timely manner.

Name something drivers do that makes you mad:

Cell phone talkers and texters. I've lost track of how many times I've almost been hit.

Tattoos: Cool or major turn-off?

No preference. Although, they look better on some people than others.

What's America's biggest problem?

People who are more interested in pushing their own political agendas than in working together to solve problems for the common good. Instead of actually working as a team to fix things, it's all about petty differences, and how to alienate people who disagree with you. It's destructive, and it's eating us up like a cancer.

The fictional character most like you?

Telly Monster from "Sesame Street." Nice guy. Likes to have fun. Just a little too tightly wound.

The creative masterpiece you wish bore your signature?

"One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest." Both the book and the movie. A truer metaphor about the state of the world than you realize.

The best piece of advice you actually followed?

Son, you should marry that woman.

Time travel: where, when and why?

Early 1980s. Hamburg, New York. I'd find the teenage version of myself, slap me upside the head and change a few things for the better.

Or the Roaring Twenties. I hear they rocked.

What's your next project?

Frankenstein everywhere! I'm creating an original Halloween puppet spoof titled "Frankenstein's Baby," that will premiere at the Gaslight Melodrama in November. I will also be acting in the Melodrama's Halloween show, "My Funny Frankenstein."

If you know of someone who would make a good subject for Conversations With, send an e-mail to Assistant Lifestyles Editor Stefani Dias: sdias@bakersfield.com.