A Tribute to La Mama...
A very exciting and active theater company, here in Spoleto, that we've come to know and thoroughly appreciate, is La Mama. Tonight, we had the opportunity to meet the Mama of La Mama, Ellen Stewart, as we attended a tribute to her (November 7, 1919 — January 13, 2011).
Through incredibly diverse and entertaining (and at times thought provoking) performances, archival film footage and emotionally moving speeches, we met this amazing woman and regretted the fact that we never had the opportunity to do so when she was still here.
A tireless traveler, Ellen was closely linked to the Festival of 2 Worlds, where she presented performances on several occasions. Due to her love of Spoleto, in 1990 she bought a home and founded the Residence La MaMa Umbria International Art, an active Center of study and residency in the field of theater arts here in Umbria.
Through incredibly diverse and entertaining (and at times thought provoking) performances, archival film footage and emotionally moving speeches, we met this amazing woman and regretted the fact that we never had the opportunity to do so when she was still here.
A tireless traveler, Ellen was closely linked to the Festival of 2 Worlds, where she presented performances on several occasions. Due to her love of Spoleto, in 1990 she bought a home and founded the Residence La MaMa Umbria International Art, an active Center of study and residency in the field of theater arts here in Umbria.
Ellen Stewart founded La MaMa in 1961 in a tiny basement theater so that her brother and his friends would have a place to create and perform their theater works. Ellen dedicated La MaMa to the playwright and all aspects of the theater. It was Ellen who welcomed artists who were underrepresented, underfunded, and often misunderstood, at a time when the perception of what theater could be was changing rapidly. For artists such as Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Tom Eyen, Tom O'Horgan, and Philip Glass, La MaMa was their first artistic home. As Ellen toured internationally with her band of artists, she encountered the work of many world artists. She succeeded in bringing these artists to America to present their work at La MaMa.
Even though she is no longer here, tonight she succeeded in bringing a theater full of people together in art and obvious love. It was the proper final bow and we were happy to be a part of it.
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