Larry Reed

Larry Reed (also known as Charles Lawson Reed III) was a puppeteer, designer, director, and producer who was best known for his work with shadow puppets. In fact, he was one of the first Western artists to train in traditional Indonesian shadow theatre during the 1970s when he traveled to Bali. Larry was best known by people for being the founder of ShadowLight Productions, a company that showcases shadow puppetry to wider audiences. Reed's major projects within the company have included Shadow Master, The Wild Party, In Xanadu, Coyote's Journey, and many more. The company even got to provide guest shadow puppets for the Kapiti Plain story during the second season of Between the Lions. In a lot of the productions mentioned above, he was either the designer, director, and/or producer of each show, which consisted of live music and an ensemble of puppeteers, actors, designers, composers, etc. Larry Reed really outdid himself when he introduced shadow puppetry to wider audiences, the same goes with all of the people at ShadowLight Productions. They even did performances at many festivals, including the Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater. It must have been very exciting for him and his crew to perform for such an iconic company within an international puppetry festival. Larry's latest known shows took place in 2020, consisting of Drupadi, Shadows for Carlos Villa, and A (Balinese) Tempest, the former two began after the latter. In January 2026, Reed sadly died at home, leaving his company to continue doing productions without him, hopefully. Nobody will ever forget this person and how he was able to revolutionize shadow puppetry within America and even worldwide. At least he was able to do something Henson related when he was alive. Larry Reed, you were wonderful with shadow puppets, and you totally outdid yourself by founding ShadowLight Productions which ran since 1972. I'm sure the company is still going on today and the crew will always honor you for everything. You have done so much for shadow puppetry and that's incredible I must say. Rest in peace Larry. Farewell Reed!

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