Here’s the epic tale of New York City’s water supply presented in the elemental beauty of mask & puppet theatre. This updated version of the company’s original 1999 production continues the story into the 21st century, revealing the ecosystem of the Catskill mountain forest and introducing a new generation of watershed stewards confronting the challenges of climate change and monumental infrastructure repair needed to keep the water clean.

Arm-of-the-Sea is an arts ensemble that fuses visual storytelling with live music in large-scale works of mask and puppet theater. Founded in 1982 by Marlena Marallo and Patrick Wadden, the company’s hybrid performance style channels the evocative power of the arts as a force for joy, insight, and community uplift. Their low-tech devices of theatrical enchantment illuminate relations between humans and the life-support networks of this blue-ocean planet.

Under the direction of Marallo & Wadden, the creative team includes musicians Maclain Maier, Joseph Davis and Helen Houghton; and performers Joanna Grabiarz, Doug Keller, Dee Dee Maucher, Nick Panken, Rakel Stammer, Soyal Smalls and MJ Smythe.

Arm-of-the-Sea tours its original productions to cultural centers, festivals, and community venues throughoutNew York and adjacent states. The organization is transforming the ruins of a 19th century papermill In Saugerties, NY into a waterfront cultural park for bio-regional arts & science.

armofthesea.org