Americans in particular are myopic. They're not traveling as much. When you were a college student, the next thing you would do on graduation was to take a year off and travel. That's what I did. I went to Indonesia.

I've never been a puppeteer, I conceive and I write and I design and I direct. And not just puppets. I direct actors, I direct dancers, I direct singers, I direct films. I also direct puppeteers. I'm really a theatre maker, but there's not a word for that.

You program music with an image and then people are desensitized.

When I was growing up, there were a lot more arts in the public schools. Politically, America has screwed up on that.

A performance can have amazing visuals and special effects, but it has to tell a good story, even if that story isn't original.

Some people become dullards, but as children we are all creative. It's in the programming, the socialization, that we lose our sense of play.

When you break into song, it's not about dialogue, it's not about how you would speak in a naturalistic sense-it's about expressing your inner torment or your inner joy.