Trent Arterberry travels around with a lot of kids' stories in his head.
And, sometimes when he doesn't use them for a while, the 40-year actor from Sooke has to return to the rehearsal studio to run through his lines for it to stay fresh.
Last week, Arterberry was in New York to perform Super Scientific Circus, a show he co-developed in 1996 that mixes his comedic antics with circus skills to teach children about the physics of boomerangs, bubbles and sonic booms.
On Sunday, Arterberry's fast-paced, high-energy, one-man production called The Secret Life of Walter Manny stops by the Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam for a public performance as well as three events for school-aged kids - two of which have already sold-out, he said.
The California native re-imagined the Walter Mitty plot as an eight-year-old boy "with an overactive imagination."
The protagonist lives with his grandmother while his parents work in the oil fields and he "gets into a fair amount of trouble," Arterberry said.
At his new school, the boy escapes his bullies by creating a kind of fantasy world where he takes on different personas: a race car driver, a firefighter, a spy, a pilot; however, he ends up being disciplined by adults and mocked by his fellow classmates who don't understand him.
Arterberry said he based the boy on his young son Nate who, he said, can often "get so engrossed when he's playing his toys" that he slips into an alternate world.
Trained by mime master Marcel Marceau, Arterberry has two other family shows he's currently touring Canada and the U.S. with: My Impractical Life, a semi-autobiographical story made for teens, and Think Bigg, a elementary school favourite for its physical theatre.
The Secret Life of Walter Manny runs on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. at the Evergreen Cultural Centre (1205 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam). Call 604-927-6555 or visit evergreenculturalcentre.ca.
@jwarrenTC
