The Theater Art of Ralph Lee. A Pig Beast for Sam Shepard, a Griffin for Brecht, a Monk for Wu Ch’eng-en…

New York Theater: The creatures created by Ralph Lee (July 9, 1935 – May 12, 2023) come alive even when display in an art exhibition rather than moving on stage, as evident in “Myths, Legends, & Spectacle: Masks and Puppets of Ralph Lee,” part of the Third International Puppet Fringe Festival at The Clemente Cultural Center. Below are photographs of some of the art work in the exhibition, with the full text from one of the wall labels, which describes the work he did in New York theater, from Broadway to Off-Off Broadway — such as the masks for Bertolt Brecht’s play “Galileo” at Lincoln Center, and the Pig Beast head for Sam Shepard’s play “Back Bog Beast Bait”