Fun Greetings
Lisa Sturz of Red Herring Puppets holds Rowby, an alien puppet she has worked with for 30 years. (Photo by Theo Livingston Sturz)
Red Herring Puppets offers e-cards for many occasions BY LAURA LATZKO
she is able to reach audiences in a differContinuing to work and reach audienc- ent way than if she tried to communicate es has been difficult for many performing with them as herself. “Puppets somehow can communiarts organizations, including puppetry organizations. Tucson-based Red Herring cate in a way that people can’t. It would Puppets has been engaging audiences in be offensive if I was to say something to different ways, including e-cards featur- people, but when Rowby says it and it’s innocent and disarming, he can do it with ing alien puppet Rowby. The e-cards can be personalized with kindness and curiosity,” Sturz says. Through Rowby, Sturz has been able to special pictures and messages. Red Herring offers greetings for birth- introduce her troupe to new audiences in days, anniversaries, baby showers and Tucson. Sturz, who moved to Tucson a little births, weddings and get-well wishes. The e-cards vary in price from $15 to over a year ago, was building an audience $150 and offer options like personalized locally before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She started Red Herring in Los Angeles songs or poems. Viewers receive files they are able to download and view as and later moved the troupe to Asheville, North Carolina, where they developed a many times as they wish. Rowby is a longtime staple of Red Her- following. ring. Founder, artistic director and puppeteer Lisa Sturz has been working with him for 30 years. There have been three versions of Rowby over the years. Sturz built the first Rowby for her good friend Rowby Goren while working with Comedy Central. She decided to name the puppet after the writer. She modeled her puppet’s sense of humor after Goren’s. “When we worked together on set, we were always joking Red Herring Puppets puts on local shows and tours of productions such as “Aesop’s Fables.” (Photo by Barbara Browning) with each other,” Sturz says. Red Herring started doing shows in She says that Rowby has always been Tucson before the pandemic and has special to her. “Rowby is my favorite. Don’t let the done a few virtual and socially distanced others know that,” Sturz says. “He’s real- performances over the last few months. Her troupe recently took part in a virly bonded with my personality. He’s my alter ego. I’ve certainly performed many tual tree-lighting ceremony in Oro Valley, performing a series of vignettes, with other characters, but he’s my go-to.” The idea for the e-cards developed af- Rowby serving as the host. Sturz says Rowby is an easy puppet to ter Sturz worked with the Arizona Simulation Technology and Education Center fit into different environments and situaat UA on broadcasts educating children tions. “He can be curious,” Sturz says. “It gives about COVID-19. “Rowby started creating a bunch of it a nice outsider way to ask questions. It’s little episodes that were based on ques- also fun when I interact with kids in live tions that kids asked about COVID-19,” shows. Something I will do is that they know more than I do because they are Sturz says. Red Herring recently worked with the from here. It really empowers them.” The troupe has also staged outdoor Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance, creating special thank-you messag- shows at the Tucson Mall, where their studio is located, and at the Yume Japanese es for Veterans Day. Sturz says with puppets like Rowby, Gardens.
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In December, Red Herring presented the holiday-themed show “The Legend of La Befana” inside the Catalyst Arts and Maker Space for a small crowd. For a time during the start of the pandemic, the troupe used its studio to make masks for the charity organization Mending Souls. Red Herring is known for doing children’s and adult shows for local audiences and for tours. Shows include “Adventures in Folklore,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Aesop’s Fables” and “Chicken and Egg.” The show “My Grandfather’s Prayers” tells the story of Sturz’s grandfather Izso Glickstein, an opera singer and cantor who served as a mentor for Leonard Bernstein. Sturz says it is important for her to bring shows that are entertaining and educational. “I try to do shows that are about something. Content is really important to me,” Sturz says. Most of the shows are designed for two to three puppeteers, including Sturz. She works regularly with two other local puppeteers. Sturz has 40 years of experience working in the puppet industry, building, performing, staging and directing puppet productions for film, TV, opera, theater and the symphony. She creates her own puppets for her troupe, for other puppeteers and for organizations such as museums, aquariums and theme parks. She recently built a giant scorpion and milk bottle puppets for the Children’s Museum Tucson. Sturz has worked with a number of companies, including Jim Henson Productions, Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Imagineering. She also had a chance to build and manipulate a puppet for the Academy Awards. Her expansive repertoire includes work on the films “Howard the Duck,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III,”“RoboCop 2,” “Batman Returns,” “The Flintstones” and
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Sturz says having a background in TV and film has helped her with doing the Rowby e-cards. “Working on camera is very different from working live, especially with puppets,” she says. “When I am on camera, I use a monitor, so I see what the camera sees, so I can play to the camera. I’m using blue screen, so I can put in different backgrounds and have him appear in different places. It’s fun, but it’s definitely a very technical kind of performing. My job as the puppeteer is to make it personable and engaging and stay within frame.” Working to train other puppeteers and build an audience during a pandemic hasn’t been easy. This is why Sturz has tried to reach audiences in different ways, including the e-cards. The virtual cards have not only given her company a way to raise funds, but they have also brought smiles during a hard time. Sturz plans to continue the e-cards, even when she returns to live productions and tours—when it’s safe to do so. She says that kids especially have responded positively to the Rowby messages. “I’ve heard that they watch it hundreds of times. It’s personal messages to them, with their names and pictures of them. They love it,” Sturz says.
Red Herring Puppets and Rowby e-cards redherringpuppets.com www.LovinLife.com