Lisa Sturz
Lisa Aimee Sturz is an American puppeteer and arts educator who is the founder of Red Herring Puppets, a national touring company established in 1988. Sturz's puppeteering career has spanned more than five decades. She appeared in Howard the Duck, RoboCop 2, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. She also played the role of the puppet master in The Ring Cycle for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, in The Magic Flute for a co-production by Jacobs School of Music, and the Atlanta Opera. Her production My Grandfather's Prayers received a Telly award while her touring show Aesop's Fables received an UNIMA Citation.
Early life and education
Sturz was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, the youngest of two daughters. Her parents were Helaine, a teacher, and Melvin Sturz, an insurance broker. They were both of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Sturz's maternal grandfather was Izso Glickstein and the subject of Sturz's TV show My Grandfather's Prayers.Sturz attended Bayonne High School where she graduated in 1972. She proceeded to Grinnell College and obtained a BA in Theater and Religious Studies in 1976. After her sophomore year, she had a summer internship in props and scenery at the Guthrie Theater, and later became prop master at Grinnell. For the first semester of her junior year, she was selected for a joint program with the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center for acting, directing, and puppetry. At the Center she apprenticed with puppeteers Rufus Rose and his wife Margo who made and performed many of the puppets on The Howdy Doody Show. Sturz graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1978 with an MA in Experimental Theater. She went to the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received an MFA in Puppetry in 1985.
Early career
After graduating from UConn in 1978, Sturz toured as a puppeteer with Pickwick Puppets, founded by Larry Berthelson. In 1980, Sturz was recommended by Bil Baird and staff at the Guthrie Theatre to serve as director of puppetry at the Haya Cultural Center in Amman, Jordan, which was under the patronage of Queen Noor. During her tenure, Sturz co-directed the production of Uncle Za'rour in 1981.While at UCLA, Sturz worked for Bruce Schwartz as an assistant puppet builder and performer. Schwartz had three UNIMA citations before Sturz started working with him. In 1984, Sturz worked as a Teaching Assistant at UCLA and on The Muppets Take Manhattan as an uncredited additional muppet performer.
Early in her career, Sturz also worked with or was mentored by Jim Gamble, Bil Baird, Burr Tillstrom, and Margo Rose.
Works
Hollywood film and television
After graduating from UCLA in 1985, Sturz worked in Hollywood. Her first project was Captain EO where she puppeteered the characters Hooter and Geex. The film starred Michael Jackson, was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and its executive producer was George Lucas.Lucas recommended Sturz for Howard the Duck. She manipulated Howard's hands in segments where puppets were used rather than a costumed actor. A list of Sturz's film and television credits is provided below.
File:4.Howard.jpg|thumb|Sturz working with Tim Rose on the set of Howard the Duck
| Year | Project | Puppeteer role | Hiring studio |
| 1984 | The Muppets Take Manhattan | Muppet crowd scenes | Jim Henson Productions |
| 1985 | Captain EO | Hooter, Geex | Lucasfilm |
| 1986 | Howard the Duck | Howard's hands | Industrial Light and Magic |
| 1987 | D.C. Follies | Puppeteer, puppet builder | Sid & Marty Krofft |
| 1987 | 59th Annual Academy Awards | Audrey II for Little Shop of Horrors | The Samuel Goldwyn Company |
| 1988 | The Absent-Minded Professor | Food marionettes | Walt Disney Television |
| 1988 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Brooms motion capture | Touchstone, Amblin |
| 1989 | Gremlins 2: The New Batch | Background movement | Rick Baker Effects |
| 1989 | RoboCop 2 | Cain robot monster movement | Phil Tippett Studio |
| 1990 | Muppet*Vision 3D | Background, additional muppet performer | Jim Henson Productions |
| 1990 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III | Splinter's hands animatronics | Golden Harvest, All Effects |
| 1987-1990 | Animal Crack-Ups | Reggie the Hedgie performer | ABC Prod., Vin Di Bona Prod. |
| 1991 | Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge | Stop motion puppet effects | David Allen Productions |
| 1991 | Batman Returns | Penguin puppet performer | Stan Winston Effects |
| 1992 | Land of I | Gabriel puppet performer | TLC is Creative, Images in Motion |
| 1992 | Fire in the Sky | Puppet rigging | Industrial Light and Magic |
| 1993 | Murphy Brown: "It's Not Easy Being Brown". Sutrz performance starts at 15:50 | Murphy Brown Bear puppet voice and movement. 1992 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. | Warner Bros., CBS |
| 1994 | The Flintstones | Puppeteer on brontosaurus | Universal Pictures |
| 1994 | The Puzzle Place | Assistant puppeteer | KCET |
| 1994 | Pigasso's Place | Puppet designer and builder, Snail, Gabby, Tommy puppeteer | The Kushner-Locke Company |
| 1995 | Geo Kids | Principal puppeteer | National Geographic, Lost Kitty |
| 1995 | U to U: On the Road | Shoe puppeteer | Nickelodeon |
| 1996 | Shrek | Motion capture film test puppeteer | DreamWorks Animation |
| 1996 | Wee Singdom: The Land of Music and Fun | Puppet builder, Rose Cello puppeteer | MCA/Universal Home Video |
| 1998 | The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland | Additional Muppet Performer: Oscar's left hand | Jim Henson Productions |
| 1999 | Muppets from Space | Additional Muppet performer | Jim Henson Productions |
| 2007 | Trading Spouses: Cramer/Manavit-Sturz | Reality TV episode where Sturz swaps with wife from a Chicago family for a week. | Rocket Science Laboratories |
Opera
Sturz was puppetmaster for two opera productions: The Ring Cycle and The Magic Flute.''Ring Cycle'' for Lyric Opera of Chicago (1996, 2003, 2005)
The Lyric Opera of Chicago began full performances of The Ring Cycle on March 11, 1996. It was the first time a full Cycle was presented within a year in Chicago since before WWII. All three 1996 Cycles were sold out months in advance.The artistic team included conductor Zubin Mehta, director August Everding, set and costume designer John Conklin, lighting designer Duane Schuler, choreographer Debra Brown, and puppetmaster Sturz. The cast for Das Rheingold included James Morris, Eva Marton/Jane Eaglen, Siegfried Jerusalem, Marjana Lipovšek, and Matti Salminen. The Lyric's Das Rheingold program credited Sturz as puppet master and for building Alberich's Frog. Sturz also built and staged Fafner's Giant, the woodbirds, and Alberich's dragon.
As told by Fred Putz: "Lisa's appointment as Puppetmaster came as a result of her previous association with Debra Brown, who had already created the Rhinemaidens swimming through the air on bungee cords and Valkyries leaping through the clouds with the help of trampolines. Debra recommended that Lisa consult with John Conklin on the mock-up of the dragon for Siegfried. The Lyric was so pleased with her contributions that she was asked to stage the scene and was designated Puppetmaster."
As Ring puppetmaster in 1996, 2003, and 2005, Sturz choreographed all puppet movements and trained puppeteers to perform them. She also introduced the black light approach for the Siegfried dragon in 2003 and 2005. Her Ring contributions were reviewed in nine articles.
- "Fafner the dragon is the most obvious design dilemma in Siegfried. The challenge is the same as the Ride of the Valkyries scene in Die Walküre and the swimming Rhine maidens who open Das Rheingold. Lyric's stage director, August Everding, and set designer John Conklin, along with lighting designer Duane Schuler, have to create visual images to match some of the world's most evocative music. They will be doing it with a puppet, a massive but lightweight aluminum skeleton that will fill Lyric's 50-foot-wide stage. Lisa Aimee Sturz is the puppetmaster in charge of the five-minute scene in which Siegfried slays Fafner and seizes the magic ring the dragon is guarding."
- "Like the anvil scene, Siegfried's battle with Fafner is one of those places in which Wagner's dramatic music can overpower the stage action. Conklin and puppetmaster Lisa Aimee Sturz solved the problem superbly with a massive figure resembling a dinosaur skeleton. Manipulated by 16 black-clad handlers, Fafner was truly terrifying, with claws that loomed over Siegfried like the prehistoric beasts in Jurassic Park. The battle was exciting, with Siegfried being squeezed by the dragon's tail.
- "Small wonder that much of the curiosity about the current production of Siegfried, seen in its fourth performance on Wednesday evening, was focused on the representation of the giant Fafner as dragon. And the contraption devised for the purpose by John Conklin, the set and costume designer, must have satisfied even the wildest expectations: a huge skeletal puppet consisting of segmented skull and tail, manipulated from below by 16 people. If the dragon did not steal the scene entirely, it was only because the dancer appended to the origami Forest Bird took a Peter Pan flight over the stage to close the second act."
- "Lyric's Fafner, the creation of puppetmaster Lisa Aimee Sturz, is a gigantic reptilian skeleton requiring some 16 black-clad acrobats to manipulate its vertebrae and massive fanged jaws and head. The Woodbird is a simple origami bird held by a dancer who flies magically off like Peter Pan with Siegfried in pursuit. In Act 1, the furnishings of Mime's hut include a rocking-horse dragon which Siegfried rides from time to time. The bear episode is handled deftly, economically, and effectively."
- "If the audience remembers anything about the visual design, it will be the bungee-jumping Rhinemaidens and trampoline-bounding Valkyries as choreographed by Debra Brown, also the oversized dragon and giant puppets by Lisa Aimee Sturz, striking creations all".
- "Puppet master Lisa Aimee Sturz brings back her nifty dragon, a large skeletal Fafner with snapping steel jaws and mean-looking claws operated by black-clad supers".
- "The success of Lyric's production of The Ring was due to the combination of Wagner's well-played music, imaginative set design, creative lighting, sophisticated choreography, and the magic of puppetry".
- "One notable visual improvement is the Fafner scene. The Lyric's skeletal dragon created quite a stir when it debuted in the 1993-1994 season. Now, Fafner is more fearsome than ever, thanks to creative 'black' lighting and phosphorescent makeup, which helps to obscure the 15 black-costumed puppeteers that bring the monster to life. It's a wonderful solution to one of the more problematic scenes to pull off convincingly in the Ring cycle."
- "The theatrical puppeteer Lisa Aimee Sturz created the huge skull, the skeletal segmented tail, and giant talons, expertly manipulated in time to Wagner's music by sixteen people hidden underneath. I regret not having seen the actual performance but have studied the photographs and corresponded with Lisa."