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Ralph Lee is an Obie award-winning mask and puppet maker living in New York City. In 1973, he staged a wandering neighborhood puppet show in Manhattan's Greenwich Village that would become the inspiration for New York's Village Halloween Parade, which continues to this day, now attracting audiences of two million.

Lee is the Artistic Director of Mettawee River Theatre Company, an experimental theatrical company which uses masks and pageant sized puppets in its productions. The company has won two design awards from the American Theatre Wing for The Popol Vuh Project and Wichikapache Goes Walking.

Each year, his company presents a children's puppet production of The Little Engine That Could at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Lee also produces a Halloween production at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine featuring his puppets.

Part of Lee's original motivation for his first Halloween puppet parade was a decrease in the celebration of the holiday, especially by children. This drop was attributed to the city's high crime rate, and stories spreading about tampered candy. Lee believed a puppet parade would create a sense of safety and attract neighborhood children back into New York's streets on Halloween. The event is now a model for city crime prevention.

[edit] External links

• Mettawee River Theatre Company
• WNYC.org radio feature