LA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE CLUB, INC
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Mission Statement
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. We remain committed to the values on which the theatre was founded: artistic exploration, cultural pluralism, and community support. La MaMa believes in the power of art to reveal our shared humanity and supports artists of all identities in the creation of new work.
About This Cause
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is an artistic anchor that has influenced the American performing arts landscape for 60 years. The only original Off-Off-Broadway theatre company still in operation, La MaMa is a haven for emerging and established artists to experiment with new work and new storytelling methods. Artists of all backgrounds and identities find a home at La MaMa, where they are encouraged to investigate new forms of expression and interdisciplinary work. Ellen Stewart founded La MaMa in 1961 to give unconventional and marginalized artists a place to create without the pressures of commercial success. La MaMa has remained a female-led organization with a woman of color at the helm. For six decades, La MaMa has supported an alternative artistic ecosystem that embraces anyone who is typically excluded from the American Theatre – queer, disabled, Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, immigrant, and international artists. A diverse and impressive roster of artists have been nurtured here, including Blue Man Group, Ed Bullins, Steve Buscemi, Ping Chong, Jackie Curtis, André DeShields, Olympia Dukakis, Harvey Fierstein, Philip Glass, Harvey Keitel, Adrienne Kennedy, Diane Lane, Taylor Mac, Bette Midler, Meredith Monk, Tom O’Horgan, Estelle Parsons, Max Roach, Sam Shepard, Julie Taymor, Robert Wilson and to name a few. In 2018, The American Theatre Wing presented La MaMa with the Regional Theatre Tony Award recognizing it as “a staple of the New York theatre scene... an exciting space where artists can grow, create, and push boundaries.” La MaMa has also been honored with more than 30 Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk and Bessie and Villager Awards. La MaMa presents 50-70 full productions each season, approximately 60% of which are either world or American premieres. Our multicultural, multi-genre programming includes a puppet series, a dance festival, and a queer performance festival. La MaMa also offers a wide range of community and educational programs that immerse more than 5,000 locals annually, from toddlers to senior citizens, in little-to-no cost shows and workshops. Our community programs include the Indigenous Initiative, promoting Native culture and artists; Coffeehouse Chronicles, a theatre history lecture series; La MaMa Kids, art-making workshops and performances for the whole family; Poetry Electric, a spoken-word series; and Experiments, a play reading series. La MaMa fosters cultural exchange across borders and serves as a gateway for international artists to the United States. La MaMa has presented some of the many the U.S. debuts of artists such as Min Soo Ahn, Peter Brook, Tan Dun, Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, Tadeusz Kantor, Branko Milicevic, Kazuo Ohno, Andrei Serban, Shuji Terayama, Tokyo Kids Brother, Duk-Hyung Yoo and Belarus Free Theatre. With creative partners from around the world, La MaMa has presented more than 5,000 productions and supported more than 150,000 artists. Artistic Director, Mia Yoo and the curatorial staff build seasons by seeking out artists with fresh and seldom-heard perspectives. Each season evolves to support those artists’ needs. Our artist-initiated projects emphasize process over product and are built on trust between La MaMa and the artist. As producer or co-producer, La MaMa gives artists the space and freedom to pursue their vision fully. With our art and technology partner, CultureHub, La MaMa has been experimenting with online programming for more than a decade. When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered out theatres in March 2020, we immediately launched our Online Happenings Series of live virtual programming. We developed four core programs for the series, including two variety shows, a discussion series, and a family program. From March 2020 – June 2021, we provided opportunities to more than 1,000 artists online and reached nearly 200,000 live views from around the world, including from folks in 50 U.S states and territories and 60 countries. Online programming will remain essential to La MaMa into the future. We are also home to the La MaMa Archive. Opened to the public in 1987, the Archive chronicles the evolution of La MaMa from a basement theatre to a world-renowned arts organization. It houses a singular collection containing upwards of 50,000 unique items, including photographs, posters, maps and plans, VHS and reel-to-reel, recordings, costumes, press clippings, original scripts with playwrights’ notes, puppets, masks, musical instruments from around the world, musical scores, and A/V material, as well as institutional correspondence covering the early years (1962-1985) of La MaMa’s six-decade history. The archives staff provide support to researchers, educators, students, and exhibits, and host tours. The archive is a growing record of the history of NYC, the East Village, American culture, and the Off-Off Broadway and experimental theatre movements. Today, La MaMa’s East Village campus encompasses 88,000 square feet of arts space across four buildings. With four theatres, six floors of rehearsal space, an art gallery, an art and technology studio, an artist dormitory, and an archive, La MaMa remains a cornerstone of New York City’s downtown artistic community.