Ellen Stewart
In the 1950's she began her career in New York as a fashion designer and started La MaMa in 1961, an experimental theatre specializing in total integration of music, dance, and drama. She rented a tiny basement in lower Manhattan for $55 a month to provide her brother and his playwright friends with a space to showcase their plays. Already nicknamed "Mama," one of her actors suggested La MaMa as the name for her theater. La MaMa moved several more times and took up residence in its original and current space on East 4th Street in 1969. In 1974, the company acquired a second space, The Annex, down the street. In November 2009, on the occasion of Stewart's 90th birthday, The Annex was officially renamed the Ellen Stewart Theatre. Theater spokesman Sam Rudy said Stewart was instrumental in introducing to American audiences some of the world's most influential artists, including Bette Midler, Andrei Serban, Tom O'Horgan, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Harvey Fierstein, Maria Irene Fornes, Tom Eyen, Jean Claude van Itallie and countless others.
Stewart became known as the mother of Off-Off-Broadway theatre.
"She had a profound impact on the lives of countless artists, and she left a mark on the city of New York that will never be erased," Oskar Eustis, artistic director of The Public Theater, said in a statement.
The company's resident theater troupes have performed throughout the world including Columbia, Venezuela, Lebanon, Iran, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Scotland, England, Sweden, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Croatia, Korea, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Australia, Greece, Ukraine, Siberia, The Netherlands and Macedonia. In 2006 she did 5 different plays in 5 different countries, in 5 different languages in 5 months....whew!
Stewart received the Human Rights Award of the Philippines from President Corazon Aquino and awards from the Emperor of Japan and from France. In the late 1980's, Stewart established La MaMa Umbria International, an artist residence in Spoleto, Italy. Her theater's frequently distinguished productions have made La Mama a venerated institution and have won more than 50 Obie Awards.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
"I can see Ms. Stewart quite vividly still. (Once seen, she was not forgotten.) That vision will remain for me as an emblem of the importance of staying raw, open and engaged in an increasingly synthetic city. "
Ben Brantley, NY Times
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