Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau, the first comic strip artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, will appear at the Frauenthal Theater in downtown Muskegon on Monday, Oct. 22. The event, which is organized by the Muskegon Writers’ Series as part of the 2018 ahFest theme of “Truth,” begins at 7 p.m. in the Frauenthal Center.
Tickets, which are $15 for the general public and $10 for students with ID, may be purchased online at https://www.startickets.com/. For more information, contact the Frauenthal Box Office at (231) 727-8001. There will be book sales, wine and beer sales in the lobby, and live music by “Pillow Talk” before and after event.
Doonesbury was launched by Trudeau in 1970 and currently appears in nearly 1,200 daily and Sunday newspaper clients in the U.S. and abroad. His work has been collected in 62 hardcover, trade paperback, and mass-market editions, which have cumulatively sold over 7 million copies worldwide.
Just prior to the 2016 Presidential election, Trudeau published an anthology Yuge! 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump and in September released #Sad!: Doonesbury in the Time of Trump.
“When historians look back on America in this era, Doonesbury will be as good a record of as any of the national zeitgeist,” wrote Sean Woods in Rolling Stone magazine in September. “Trudeau’s menagerie of stoners, disc jockeys, wounded vets, politicians, right-wing operatives and gonzo lunatics turns 50 this month. In that time, he has chronicled nine presidencies, at least three major wars and uncountable scandals and national brouhahas. Through it all, his sharp eye for detail, irreverent humor and genuine appreciation for humanity have kept the strip chugging along with the times, even as the characters have aged, lost their ideals, limbs and loves, and the nation has undergone massive upheavals.”
In recognition of his work on wounded warriors, Trudeau has been presented with the Commander’s Award for Public Service by the Department of Army, the Commander’s Award from Disabled American Veterans, the President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts from Vietnam Veterans of America, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and a special citation from the Vet Centers. From 2005 to 2014 his website hosted The Sandbox, a military blog posting over 800 essays by deployed soldiers, returned vets, caregivers and spouses.
Working with John and Faith Hubley, Trudeau wrote and co-directed the animated film, “A Doonesbury Special,” for NBC-TV in 1977. The film was nominated for an Academy Award and received the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Collaborating with composer Elizabeth Swados in 1983, Trudeau wrote the book and lyrics for the Broadway musical, “Doonesbury,” for which he was nominated for two Drama Desk Awards. A cast album of the show, recorded for MCA, received a Grammy nomination.
Trudeau again collaborated with Swados in 1984, this time on “Rap Master Ronnie,” a satirical revue about the Reagan Administration that opened off-Broadway at the Village Gate. Over the next four years the show was continuously updated for numerous productions around the country. A filmed version of “Rap Master Ronnie,” featuring Jim Morris, the Smothers Brothers, and Jon Cryer was broadcast on Cinemax in 1988.
In 1988, Trudeau wrote and co-produced, along with director Robert Altman, HBO’s critically acclaimed “Tanner ’88,” a satiric look at that year’s presidential election campaign. The show won several awards both in the U.S. and abroad, including the gold medal for Best Television Series at the Cannes Television Festival, and Best Imported Program from the British Broadcasting Press Guild.
In February 2000, Trudeau, working with Dotcomix, launched Duke2000, a presidential campaign and website featuring a real-time 3-D streaming-animation character. Nearly 30 campaign videos were created for the site, and Ambassador Duke was interviewed live by satellite on “Larry King Live,” “Today,” “The Charlie Rose Show” and 60 other local TV news programs.
In 2013 he created, produced and wrote, “Alpha House,” a political sitcom about four Republican senators sharing a house in Washington, D.C. The first streaming-only production of Amazon Studios, it starred John Goodman, Mark Consuelos, Clark Johnson, Matt Malloy, Wanda Sykes and Cynthia Nixon.
Trudeau has contributed articles to publications such as Harper’s, Rolling Stone, The New Republic, The New Yorker, New York, and The Washington Post. For five years he was an occasional columnist for The New York Times op-ed page, and was later a contributing essayist for Time Magazine. He has received honorary degrees from Yale, Colgate, Williams, Duke and 27 other universities and colleges, and has been inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Born in New York City and raised in the Adirondacks in Saranac Lake, N.Y., Trudeau attended Yale University, where he received his B.A. and an M.F.A. in graphic design. He resides in New York City with his wife, Jane Pauley. They have three grown children.
The Muskegon Writer’s Series is made possible by a grant from the George & Betty Hilt Fund held at the Community Foundation for Muskegon County.