In a world where people need to communicate better, and where they love it when that happens, what could be more fulfilling than making that the theme of a show? Cleffy was made for this! As an American performer living in Japan, and occasionally working in Korea, keen local interest in English prompted efforts to serve. In Korea a local onstage translator would often accompany my shows. The creation of Cleffy provided a puppet that’s easy for any translator to operate from behind, allowing them to become an entertaining puppet character. Back in Japan, Cleffy grew beyond just translation, to become a central character in a show we designed especially to play with languages. This is Lala Oompah.