Artistic talent runs deep in Lisa Aimee Sturz’s family. The Asheville-based professional puppeteer seeks to honor that creative heritage in My Grandfather’s Prayers, using shadow puppets, scrolling backgrounds, marionettes, digital composites and poetic text to honor her mother’s father, Cantor Izso Glickstein. The fourth-generation Jewish cantor was a child prodigy, operatic tenor and humanitarian. He rose to the ranks of uber-cantor at the Great Synagogue in Budapest and New England’s Mishkan Tefila, where Leonard Bernstein took him in as his first musical mentor. Sturz’s show additionally explores her own Jewish ancestry, artistry, spirituality and social responsibility. Local performances take place at White Horse Black Mountain on Saturday, Sept. 1, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 2, at 7 p.m. $15 advance/$18 day of show. whitehorseblackmountain.com. Image courtesy of Sturz
Smart Bets: My Grandfather’s Prayers
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