Background
In its earliest days, La MaMa was a theatre dedicated to the playwright, encouraging young playwrights and primarily producing new plays, including works by Paul Foster, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Lanford Wilson, Sam Shepard, Adrienne Kennedy, Harvey Fierstein, and Rochelle Owens. La MaMa also acted as an international ambassador for off-off Broadway playwriting by touring downtown playwriting abroad during the 1960s.
La MaMa is the only theatre of the 1960s off-off Broadway movement's four core theatres that continues to thrive today. The other three off-off Broadway theatres that composed this core included Joe Cino's Caffe Cino, Al Carmines' Judson Poets Theatre, and Ralph Cook's Theatre Genesis. More than any other off-off Broadway programmer, Stewart reached out beyond the East Village location, forcing new trends rather than following.
Today, La MaMa's mission is dedicated to the artist as opposed to the playwright. La MaMa's website declares its mission:
La MaMa is dedicated to the artist. Ever since Ellen Stewart founded La MaMa in 1961, our interest has been in the people who make art, and it is to them that we give our support with free theater and rehearsal space, lights, sound, props, platforms, and whatever else we have that they can use to create their work. We want them to feel free to explore their ideas, and translate them into a theatrical language that can communicate to any person in any part of the world.
Read more about this topic: La Ma Ma Experimental Theatre Club
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