Sdcf Masters Of The Stage

Ellen Stewart: Off-Off Broadway pioneer Ellen Stewart gave a candid interview to SDCF Executive Director David Diamond for a packed audience of theatre artists at ArtsConnection on June 13, 1994. The central focus of the interview is her founding and continued artistic leadership of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. She begins at the beginning, explaining the origins of the institution and the impetus behind its creation. Ms. Stewart reminisces on her early funding efforts for the company - by selling her fashion designs on Fifth Avenue as the first African American designer to work for Saks. She covers the struggle to produce the work of marginalized artists in the early 60's, her confrontations with city officials and landlords and the emergence of her organization as a "Theatre Club". Ellen then guides the audience through the inspiring history of LaMaMa's international experience, both working abroad and supporting international artists' work in the U.S. She confides that LaMaMa's first international exp