Larry Reed

Charles Lawson Reed III (June 21, 1944 – January 30, 2026) was an American shadow puppeteer and one of the first Western artists to train in traditional Balinese shadow theatre.

Early life and education Reed was born in Los Angeles, California, on June 21, 1944. He studied French theatre at Yale University in 1965. In 1966, Reed joined a Peace Corps theater program, through which he worked at the National Theatre of Costa Rica through 1968. Reed earned his Master of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. He later returned to San Francisco and joined the American Association for Eastern Arts, now known as the Center for World Music.

Career In 1972, Reed founded ShadowLight Productions. He began expanding his work by integrating traditional shadow theatre techniques with a modern theatre style. In the 1990s, Reed developed a method of casting shadows that integrated techniques from cinema, modern theatre, and dance. Reed's shows used three-dimensional shadow masks and handheld puppets projected by point-source lighting onto a 30-foot screen, a method ShadowLight Productions describes as "live animation". ShadowLight Productions had a crew of actors and featured live music played by musicians.

Personal life Reed met Jane Levy while they were students at the San Francisco Art Institute. They married in 1977 and had two sons.

Death Reed died from a heart attack at his home in San Francisco, California, on January 30, 2026, at the age of 81.

Major works

Shadow Master (1979) Shadow Master is a documentary directed by Reed that has been shown on both PBS and the Discovery Channel. It is about a family of performers in Bali, showing an inside view of Balinese life, as well as the cultural context of the island's theatre, music, and dance. The film takes place over two years, with Reed living and studying with a dalang, I Wayan Wija, and his extended family.

In Xanadu (1993–1997) In Xanadu is a Mongolian fantasy written by Zara Houshmand and Reed. The fantasy follows Kublai Khan and his wife, Chabui. The film includes Tibetan, Chinese, and Indonesian theatre techniques. In Xanadu was featured at the 1997 Henson International Festival of Puppetry in New York City and the Spoleto/USA Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. The film was awarded a UNIMA-USA Citation for Excellence.

Filmography