Meet the Puppeteer: Julia Darden in Manufacturing Mischief!
From putting on shows for elementary schools with the Red Cross to working in comedy sketch groups and television, Julia Darden has had an illustrious career thus far in puppetry. A graduate of the puppetry program in the University of Connecticut, she immediately found a job in New York City as a puppet wrangler and assistant puppeteer for a PBS show called SeeMore’s Playhouse. Afterward, she was the onset puppeteer for an Adult Swim show called Fat Guy Stuck in Internet.
After the show’s run, Darden became involved with theater, first doing shows with Literally Alive Children’s Theater and the Hudson Vagabond Puppets. Then, she became part of a sketch group known as City Hall, which describes itself as “a live action children’s show… For adults!” For 10 years now, she has melded puppetry and comedy in City Hall, working on projects like Point pleasant: Tales of Mothman and Jesus Christ Tator Tot. She is also part of another sketch group, HOT MOMS, and her work can be seen in NYC parks with the PuppetMobile and the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater.
Darden is currently performing in Manufacturing Mischief, a satirical play conceived by Mexican artist Pedro Reyes and produced by The Tank. It tackles issues of technology, ideology, and the current political climate through an all-star cast of puppet characters based on Noam Chomsky, Karl Marx, Ayn Rand, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump. Darden controls the puppets of Steve Jobs and Tiny Trump. Manufacturing Mischief runs through June 24.
Darden with Tiny Trump.
Q: How did you come to work in puppetry and what has your journey been like up until you started working with Pedro Reyes?
I’ve always been involved in theater and the arts, from as far back as I can remember—both performing and on the technical side, building sets and props, and scenic painting. My high school drama program (in Irondequoit, NY) actually had a puppet curriculum included with it. Partnered with the Red Cross, we would put on puppet shows for elementary schools, teaching about disabilities. I found out about the puppetry degree at the University of Connecticut, so I went and auditioned and got in. I graduated from there with a BFA in puppetry as the class of 2007.
I was fortunate enough to book a job right away in NYC. So about month after graduation, I moved to NYC and worked as a puppet wrangler and assistant onset puppeteer for a show. After that, I worked in the art dept and was the onset puppeteer and bounced around. I started building a lot of puppets, freelance, for multiple plays, music videos and film. Still do that too, sporadically, when hired to do so. Currently, alongside Manufacturing Mischief, I spend my day times performing marionettes in parks across the 5 boroughs, with the PuppetMobile and at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park.
Q: It seems like you’ve been a part of City Hall for a long time! Can you tell me about your work with them and what you’ve taken away from the experience?
City Hall is great! I’ve gotten the chance to do a lot of really fun, weird, absurd and crazy comedy shows with these fellas: Josh Wolinsky, Chris Booth, Kevin Laibson and Luis Nunez. I never really thought about pursuing a career in comedy, along with puppets, until I met them. And now, 10 years later, that’s pretty much exclusively what I do—puppets and comedy. Being a member of City Hall has changed my life, for better or worse and I owe it all to those four dudes. I don’t know what I’d do without them.
Q: Among the work you’ve done in those 10 years, what is the piece you are most proud of working on?
Definitely Jesus Christ Tator Tot. It was a 60-minute condensed parody of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar using all potato puppets and cooking puns. We’ve remounted the show a few times. It’s been a big hit.
Also, we had a tradition of writing an epic Christmas sketch show every year. Those were really more like one act plays with sketches peppered in. We had City Hall Hobo Cyborg Jugband Christmas and City Hall Radio Show Spectacular. That annual tradition is one of my favorite things.
Darden with the Steve Jobs puppet on set.
Q: Can you describe the puppet characters you play in Manufacturing Mischief?
Well. I play Steve Jobs and Tiny Trump.
Obviously, two guys I knew, actually like only the two characters I was actually familiar with before being a part of the show, haha, so I lucked out on researching my characters! I enjoy playing Jobs a lot; it’s fun playing the kooky evil villain. Playing Trump is gross, haha. But it is pretty satisfying to portray him the way he is in this production. Just a gross, sad, stupid moron. Every show needs a comic relief character. I am proud to take up that mantle for this one.
Q: Aside from having the chance to play puppet Steve Jobs and Tiny Trump, why did you say “yes” to working on Manufacturing Mischief?
I heard they were auditioning puppeteers from Christine and so I auditioned. I didn’t know anything about the project until we started rehearsals. I honestly thought Chomksy was just an actual gnome because at the audition they kept referring to the puppet as Noam.
Q: Having performed the show now multiple times and knowing that Chomsky wasn't just a gnome, what do you hope audiences will take away from their experience with this project?
I mean, honestly, I just want them to laugh; I hope to act like the spoon of sugar while they’re taking the bitter medicine. This show deals with a lot of heady topics, and scary truths that are happening right now in this country, but it is also a comedy. As long as I can make them laugh while they’re watching, then I’ve done my job. And then hopefully they go home, think and unpack for themselves what they’ve just watched. Then the show has done its job.
TO BUY YOUR TICKETS TO MANUFACTURING MISCHIEF, CLICK HERE: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3393969
By Phillip Kim