September 21, 2007

RALPH LEE'S PUPPETS of PEACE

Ralph Lee ’53 thrilled students and faculty once again with his Mettawee River Theater Company's new production of a classic romp by Aristophanes, the Greek playwright regarded as the father of comedy.

PEACE was written in 421 B.C. to celebrate a brief respite from the war that plagued Greece throughout most of Aristophanes' lifetime. It is about a feisty man who flies to Mount Olympus to complain to the gods about the situation on earth. When he arrives, he learns that the gods have fled, leaving War and Greed in charge and Peace buried under a trash heap. With much hullabaloo and the help of a chorus of farmers, Peace is rescued and an extended celebration begins.

"When Aristophanes wrote PEACE," Lee explains, "Athens was worn out by a war that had dragged on for years and was very unpopular with its citizens. He reacted by creating a madcap world full of outrageous characters, biting satire, bawdy humor and an ultimately positive, cheerful resolution. It seems like a timely play for us to tackle."

The extravagant and zany imagination of Aristophanes provides a springboard for a theatrical world full of the visual elements that are Mettawee's stock in trade. "What could be more inviting," asks Lee, "than a giant stinky dung beetle, a gracious goddess of peace and rampaging personifications of war and greed?"

Under the artistic direction of mask maker, designer and director Ralph Lee, the Mettawee River Theatre Company, founded in 1975, creates original productions that incorporate giant figures, puppets and other visual elements with live music and movement, drawing on myths and legends of the world's many cultures. In addition to his many awards, Lee received a Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors, in 2003. He is currently on the faculty of New York University.