South Bend Tribune,
April 14, 1992
Arterberry’s style is accessible — and worth seeing
By Judy Bradford,

South Bend — If you’re leery about being out on a weekday night, my advice is to throw caution to the wind. Trent Arterberry will catch, bounce and play around with it tonight — and thoroughly entertain you.

The Boston-based mime finishes up a two-night stint at Washington Hall on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. On Monday, he kept a small audience busy with laughter and wonder over his caricatures, concepts and choreography.
As a veteran mime, he masters the classic movements and illusions, pretending to move walls or climb ladders or press his fingers against glass. But what makes his mime memorable is often the context in which he presents these time-honored tricks. He is not only a “bug collector,” for example. He’s the bug inside the jar, too. Now there’s an uncommon perspective on life.

Arterberry also adds those fine touches (no pun intended) that make his work lean toward the ingenious. Not only does “Mad Jack, the Desperado” swizzle down his whiskey — he burps it up, tool He has a way with the bar maid, but she also has her way with him. “Mad Jack” plays a good hand of poker, but openly cheats for the excitement of it. Sometimes the details are staggering, not to mention the speed in which they are delivered.

Arterberry’s training in dance is evident in the way he isolated parts of his body, and the way he attacks the movement. In fact, he often seems to look out off his own body, with intricate muscle control over his head and face, chest, arms, hips, legs and knees. He’s a dance theorist’s dream. But he also masters the looser, larger movements with imagination. Take “Bubblegum,” for instance. What happens to it after it leaves your mouth? Or “Birth.” Do you remember what it was like to struggle through the birth canal? In “Dinner for Two,” he leaves no detail of the romantic evening unattended.

The show may change for tonight, of course, since his touring repertory includes almost 30 skits. But one thing’s for sure: Arterberry is an accessible entertainer who appeals to all ages. He is a “must-see” for people interested in theater or dance — even if it means staying up past a bedtime.