La MaMa's History Through Posters: Panel Discussion

La MaMa's History Through Posters: Panel Discussion 

December 4, 2017 | 6:30pm

MAKE A FREE RESERVATION

Lobby of the Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4th Street

Panelists: Theodora Skipitares, John Jesurun, Alisa Solomon and Susan Haskins

Moderated by Cindy Rosenthal

Join a panel of La MaMa artists for a discussion about the evolution of avant-garde theatre posters over five decades. Moderated by Cindy Rosenthal (author of Ellen Stewart Presents: Fifty Years of La MaMa Experimental Theatre). Free of charge and open to all.

Richard Schechner and Holly Hughes were originally schedule to participate in this event, but can no longer attend.

This program was funded in part by a Humanities New York Action Grant.

David Sedaris Spoke with PBS Newshour in the La MaMa Archive

Humorist David Sedaris plumbs his own diaries for his latest book showcasing life's idiosyncrasies. Jeffrey Brown of PBS sat down with Sedaris at La MaMa, one of the stages where Sedaris first told stories, for a special interview where the 60 year old, hugely successful writer looked back at his younger self. 

The La MaMa Archives contain photographs, videos and more from his many Off Off Broadway plays and performances in the 1990s. Among many other talents, David is a playwright, having written several plays with his sister, actress Amy Sedaris. They have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen original plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. 

These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service. Meryl Vladimer produced and presented their plays at La MaMa when she was the artistic director of The Club. Read Ben Brantley's review of David & Amy Sedaris' 1995 production of 'Stitches' in the New York Times.

Diane Lane Visits La MaMa

Academy Award Nominee Diane Lane came back to La MaMa to film an interview with Anthony Mason for CBS This Morning.  Diane began her career here at La MaMa at the age of six.

Diane Lane in the La MaMa Archive

Archive Director Ozzie Rodriguez and Diane Lane

Diane Lane with Artistic Director Mia Yoo

Archive Director Ozzie Rodriguez and Diane Lane

All Photos by Theo Cote

See the full interview here.

Israel Horowitz Returns to La MaMa

Nearly fifty years after the premiere of Line at La MaMa, playwright Israel Horowitz returns to La MaMa with the New York premiere of Man in Snow.

Back in 1967, when Line premiered, Horowitz was given a budget of $80 for his show and was told he could keep whatever he didn't spend on the production.  According to Jonathan Zeller at www.nycgo.com: “The only piece of scenery in the show is a piece of adhesive tape on the floor,” he says. “I cleared a profit of about 78 dollars.”  

You can see the original program for the La MaMa production of Line at the La MaMa Arichives Digital Collection.

Man is Snow  tells the story of David, who is recently retired and mourning the loss of his young son, as re-visits Mt. McKinley in Alaska, a mountain he summited at age 25. He’s not climbing this visit. Instead, he is guiding a group of Japanese honeymooners who hope to conceive a child under the spell of the Northern Lights. This powerful, passionate drama was originally written by Israel Horovitz 20 years ago for BBC Radio 4 and is now being re-visited and totally re-conceived for the stage.

The cast includes Will Lyman, Ron Nakahara, Paul O'Brien, Sandra Shipley, Ashley Risteen and Francisco Solorzano. Mr. Horowitz also directs.

There will post show discussions with Israel Horowitz and the cast of Man in Show follwing the Sunday matinees on November 13th and November 20th.

La MaMa presents
NY Premiere of Gloucester Stage Company's Production of

MAN 
IN 
SNOW

Written & Directed by Israel Horovitz
Presented in association with Barefoot Theatre Company & Compagnia Horovitz-Paciotto 

November 11 - November 27, 2016 
Thursday to Saturday at 7:30PM; Sunday at 2PM 
- additional perf Monday, Nov. 14th at 7:30PM

The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa
74A East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors; ten tickets priced at $10 each are available, in advance only, for every performance as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 tcketing initiative

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

La MaMa Archive Monthly Open House

NEW for the 55th Season - the La MaMa Archive will be open to the public for monthly viewing hours on the first Thursday of every month, from 5:30 - 7:00.  Come stop by and see all of the amazing posters, puppets, awards and other materials from the 55 years of La MaMa's history.

Timed to for audiences to come early before our Thursday performances, stop in before seeing THE GOD PROJECT,  ET'TEFFEH/APPLES or DENUDED this Thursday and experience 55 years of off-off Broadway history.

Admission is free, donations accepted.

La MaMa presents

La MaMa Archive 

Open House

Thursday, October 6, 2016: 5:30pm - 7:00pm

La MaMa Archive
66 East 4th Street, 1st Floor
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003

Free Admission, donations accepted.

Explore the La MaMa Archives Digital Collection

Nice write-up, in The New York Times, by Joshua Barone about the newly expanded Digital Collection of the La MaMa Archives!

"Their names read like a who’s who of the past half-century’s downtown performance scene. Among them: the playwright Sam Shepard, the composer Meredith Monk and the transgender actress and Warhol superstar Candy Darling. Early works by these artists and dozens more are coming to light Monday when La MaMa, the East Village performance space synonymous with the downtown avant-garde, releases an expanded version of its digital collections website."

Click here to read the full article.

And spend some time browsing the La MaMa Archives: Digital Collection!

88 Years of Theater: Mabou Mines + The Talking Band

This January, La MaMa will present two world premieres.  This really isn't news, many of the shows at La MaMa are world premieres.  But the two world premieres in opening in January are from companies that have worked at La MaMa for years and together, Mabou Mines (founded in 1970) and The Talking Band (founded in 1974) have 88 years for theater making between them.

First up, La MaMa presents Mobou Mines' Imagining the Imaginary Invalid.  This was a piece that was originally conceived by the late Ruth Maleczech (Mabou Mines Artistic Director) in collaboration with Julie Archer, Clove Galilee, and Valeria Vasilevski.  Imagining The Imaginary Invalid is now directed and choreographed by Clove Galilee, Ruth's daughter, and stars OBIE award winning actor Marylouise Burke.

Opening on January 22, 2016, is The Talking Band's production of Burnished By Grief – A Romantic Comedy. Written and Composed by Ellen Maddow, Burnished By Grief: A Romantic Comedy is a love letter to the chaos of cramped New York City living.

We thought we'd look back at some of the Mabou Mines and Talking Band productions over the years:

THE RED HORSE ANIMATION (1971), Mabou Mines 

Joanne Akalaitis, Ruth Maleczech and David Warrilow

photo by Amnon Ben Nomis 

 photo by Amnon Ben Nomis 

 photo by Maria Austria

photo by Maria Austria

BIG MOUTH (1985), Talking Band

 Unknown Photographer

 Photo by Jerry Vezzuso

HOT LUNCH APOSTLES (1983), Talking Band

photo by: Jerry Vezzuso

PLAY (1971), Mabou Mines

Joanne Akalaitis, David Warrilow and Ruth Maleczech

photo by Tony Kent

BETTY AND THE BLENDERS (1986), Talking Band

photo by: Jerry Vezzuso

LIFE SIMULATOR (1987), Talking Band

photo by: Jerry Vezzuso

COME AND GO (1971), Mabou Mines

photo by Amnon Ben Nomis 

Come see the newest works from these two legendary companies!

See both shows for only $20 with a 'January is Hot' 2-Show Package!

La MaMa presents

IMAGINING THE 

IMGANARY INVALID

by Mabou Mines and Trick Saddle

January 21 - February 7, 2016

The Ellen Stewart Theatre

66 East 4th Street

(Between Bowery and Second Avenue)

New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $30 Adults/$25 Students/Seniors

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

La MaMa presents

BURNISHED BY GRIEF: 

A ROMANTIC COMEDY

by Talking Band

January 22 - February 7, 2016

The First Floor Theatre

74A East 4th Street

(Between Bowery and Second Avenue)

New York, NY 10003

Tickets: $25 Adults/$20 Students/Seniors

For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE

Innovative Theater Foundation Interviews Ozzie Rodriguez

Ozzie Rodriguez, Director of The Archives at La MaMa, was interviewed by the Innovative Theater Foundation about his work with The Archives and how it all began.

"We had always been at the frontier of something; legally, illegally or by accident. Ellen was always at the forefront. We weren’t supposed to have an archive. No one had an archive. Theatres, especially of our size didn’t have archives. She did it because she was a visionary and she could see the value of it."

Read the full interview: HERE