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DocuSign Envelope ID:8COC6AOF-56EE-46F5-A733-01 0A357A1 EFA <br /> THE PUPPETS <br /> There are twelve large tabletop rod puppets in our production. This style is reminiscent of <br /> the Japanese Bunraku tradition in which the puppeteers appear in full view. The lead <br /> puppeteer has one hand inside the back of the figure holding up the body and controlling <br /> the head. The puppet's arms are controlled by rods attached at their elbows. We chose this <br /> style so the puppets could be full-bodied and large enough to play to an audience of three <br /> to five hundred students. <br /> The puppet heads are sculpted in clay and then covered with a two-part plaster mold. <br /> When the plaster hardens, the clay is removed, and the mold is filled with a synthetic latex <br /> called neoprene. After a few hours the neoprene is poured out leaving a thin hollow cast of <br /> the face. We covered the face with a fleece fabric and added hair and facial features. The <br /> bodies are built with wooden boards at the shoulders and waist connected by dowels and <br /> covered with foam. The legs and arms are hollow PVC pipes inserted into measured pieces <br /> of swimming noodles and threaded with rope. The hands are shaped with foam over wire. <br /> We design and sew all our own costumes after careful reserach of the period and style of <br /> each character. <br /> The three-dimensional pigeons appearing in the park scene with Nikola Tesla are <br /> marionettes with strings connected to a wooden control held from above. The animations <br /> projected on the screen were created using two-dimensional jointed paper cut-outs. The <br /> movements were filmed from above as the puppeteers moved the figures horizontally atop a <br /> stiff green board. We attached green tabs for manipulation and were able to use digital <br /> technology to remove the green and replace it with digitalized backgrounds illustrating the <br /> location in which the scene takes place. <br /> THE m gl <br /> Lisa Aimee Sturz, Red Herring's Artistic Director conceived of the show, wrote the script, <br /> and headed up the puppet construction. Scientist and educator, Laura Bochner, served as <br /> our primary consultant and helped write several scenes. Brett Pierce, a professional electrical <br /> engineer and Professor Judith Beck from UNCA reviewed the script for accuracy and clarity. <br /> Randy Kilgore, built electrical effects such as sparks, Faraday's motor, and Franklin's Leyden <br /> jar. Grayson Morris helped create the puppet bodies and Geneva Bierce-Wilson helped <br /> Lisa sew the costumes. Carolyn Raleigh created many of the two dimensional paper puppets <br /> used in the animation. Diane Tower-Jones filmed the puppets while Carolyn and Lisa <br /> manipulated the figures. The scenes were edited together by Theo Livingston Sturz. Our <br /> technical consultant is Mark Blessington. Doug Blessington and Theo Sturz voiced <br /> characters on the animation. The show has thus far been performed by puppeteers Lisa <br /> Sturz, Kathryn O'Shea, Geneva Bierce-Wilson, and Jon Speer. <br /> 3 <br />