Stewart, Ellen

Stewart, Ellen

(born c. 1920, Alexandria, La., U.S.) U.S. theatre director. In the 1950s she moved to New York City to become a fashion designer. In 1961 she founded Café La Mama, an experimental theatre specializing in total integration of music, dance, and drama. There she gave a start to many young actors and playwrights, including Bette Midler and Sam Shepard. Stewart became known as the mother of Off-Off-Broadway theatre. A European tour in 1965 made La Mama a mecca for European avant-garde directors. Its frequently distinguished productions have made La Mama a venerated institution and have won more than 50 Obie Awards.

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Stewart, Ellen (1931–  ) theater producer, director; born in Alexandria, La. Starting out as an elevator operator and clothing designer, she set up her own little theater in a New York tenement basement in 1962; growing from this, her companies—known variously as La Mama, Cafe La Mama, and La Mama ETC (Experimental Theater Club)—performed countless plays by avant-garde, international, and young American playwrights; toured widely and to great acclaim; and set up branches throughout the world. Self-taught in the drama and theatrical arts, married five times, she is recognized as a major influence in late-20th-century theater.