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Ralph Lee


Ralph Lee makes work centered on the mask, both its design and use in theatrical performance. Most of the theater events he creates take place outside traditional performance venues. These include parades, pageants, seasonal celebrations and outdoor theatrical performances. Masks and giant puppets are a key element in these presentations. His concern is to make the artistic experience accessible to all facets of the community by staging events in familiar public locations, free-of-charge whenever possible and creating startlingly vivid images that are immediately resonant.

Ralph Lee first created puppets as a child growing up in Middlebury, Vermont. He graduated from Amherst College in 1957, and studied dance and theater in Europe for two years on a Fulbright Scholarship. Upon returning to the United States, Lee acted on Broadway, off-Broadway, in regional theaters and as a member of the Open Theatre, directed by Joseph Chaikin, from 1967 to 1973. During that period he started creating masks, unusual props, puppets and larger-than-life figures for theater, dance and television.

In 1974, while teaching at Bennington College, Ralph Lee staged his first outdoor production, which took place all over the college campus, and featured giant puppets and masked creatures, with a large cast of performers and musicians.

Also in 1974, organized the first Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, which he directed through 1985. The parade began in the courtyard of the Westbeth Artists Community. During his tenure the parade grew from a small community event built around his masks and giant figures into one of New York City's major festivals, attracting over 250,000 people and media attention from around the world. For his work on the parade Mr. Lee received a 1975 Village Voice OBIE Award and 1985 Citation from the Municipal Arts Society, and in 1993 he was inducted into the CityLore People's Hall of Fame. Under his direction the Village Halloween Parade was funded by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (1974–1985), Con Edison (1980–1985), American Express (1983–1985), the Association for a Better New York (1985), the New York State Council on the Arts (1979–1984), the Public Theater (1983, 1984), the Kaplan Fund (1977, 1978 and 1983), and the National Endowment for the Arts (1977–1982).


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