La MaMa E.T.C. is a world-renowned cultural organization led by founder Ellen Stewart. For over 40 years La MaMa has passionately pursued its original mission to develop, nurture, support, produce and present new and original performance work by artists of all nations and cultures. It has been honored with over thirty Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk Awards, Bessie Awards and Villager Awards. 

La MaMa has an incredible roster of theatre, movie and multi-media luminaries for whom La MaMa was an early artistic home.  La MaMa houses three theaters, "The First Floor Theatre", "The Club" and "The Annex", an art gallery, a 7-story rehearsal/studio building, and a extensive archive documenting the history of off-off Broadway theatre. 

La MaMa Experimental Theatre is a world-renowned cultural organization led by founder Ellen Stewart. For 44 years La MaMa has passionately pursued its original mission to develop, nurture, support, produce and present new and original performance work by artists of all nations and cultures. We believe that in order to flourish, art needs the company of colleagues, the spirit of collaboration, the comfort of continuation, a public forum in which to be evaluated and fiscal support. 

Since La MaMa's doors first opened in 1961, our primary dedication has been to new works. Many of the best plays and playwrights of the 60's and 70's have come from our lower East Side stages and workshops. The face of Theatre as we now know it on Broadway and beyond was influenced by and infused with the spirit and work of La MaMa artists. Not only is the work we do experimental because of new directions in writing, but also because of the exciting collaborations that we foster, especially musical ones. To date we have presented over 1000 original scores on our stages. 

Creative risk-taking, experimentation, and challenging artistic boundaries have always been the focus of the work created and performed at La MaMa. La Mama envisions art as a universal language. Cultural pluralism and ethnic diversity have been inherent in the work created at La MaMa. To sustain this global vision, La Mama has become one of this country's foremost presenters of international performance. We are delighted to call artists from over seventy nations part of the La MaMa family. La MaMa has been honored with over thirty Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk Awards, Bessie Awards and Villager Awards. La MaMa has an incredible roster of theatre, movie and multi-media luminaries for whom La MaMa was an early artistic home.

La MaMa was one of the first "non-mainline" theatres to support full-time resident companies. This list includes: The La MaMa Troupe directed by Tom O'Horgan; Mabou Mines, directed by Lee Breuer; The E.T.C. Company directed by Wilford Leach; La MaMa Plexus directed by Joel Zwick; The Great Jones Repertory directed by Andrei Serban and Elizabeth Swados; The Jarboro Troupe directed by Hugh Gittens; The Third World Theater Institute, T.W.I.T.A.S (Philippines); Theatre of the Eye directed by Tom Eyen; The Play-House of the Ridiculous, directed by John Vaccaro; The American Indian Theatre Ensemble directed by Hanay Geiogamah; La MaMa Chinatown, directed by Wu Jing-jyi and Ching Yeh of Taiwan -- out of which grew The Pan Asian Repertory directed by Tisa Chang; Ping Chong and Company; Laughing Stone directed by Sin Cha Hong; The Trocadero Gloxinia Ballet directed by Larry Ree; The Yara Arts Group (Mongolia) directed by Virlana Tkacz, which introduced the Buryat; Slant (Asia), created by Rick Ebihara, Wayland Quintero and Perry Yung; Otrabanda directed by Roger Babb; and The Shaliko Company directed by Lee Shapiro. These companies have served as ambassadors of experimental culture in all corners of the world. 

La MaMa began as a tiny basement theatre dedicated to the playwright and all aspects of the theatre. In the past 44 years, La MaMa has grown into an arts complex of national and international celebrity. La MaMa houses three theaters, "The First Floor Theatre", "The Club" and "The Annex", an art gallery, a 6-story rehearsal/studio building, and a extensive archive documenting the history of off-off Broadway theatre. The La MaMa facilities are still located on the Lower East Side where they provide dozens of jobs and bring goodwill and health to the neighborhood. 

The First Floor theater is a small, intermediate space in which plays that are in a developmental stage are created. The large theatre, the La MaMa Annex, had it's official opening on October 18, 1974. We showed the complete trilogy of Electra, Trojan Women, and Medea directed by Andrei Serban, with music composed by Elizabeth Swados, performed by the La MaMa Repertory Troupe, now called The Great Jones Repertory Company. The Annex has near perfect acoustics and has become a world-class venue. Because of its flexible design, companies can construct their world within its walls. It is a chameleon space that changes to suit the art that it embraces. The Annex has been a "port of entry" for artists from around the world. It is a spiritual place where artists can work without fear. The Club, La MaMa's cabaret space, gives voice to established and emerging multi-disciplinary performance artists.

Annex Building - 66 East 4th Street (circa 1875) 
We offer exhibition space in our art gallery, La MaMa's La Galleria, to a wide variety of artists at various stages of their careers. It is our aim to give as many artists and art forms as possible an opportunity to exhibit. The gallery, as with our theaters, is a place where artistic experimentation is nurtured. This exhibition space is offered free of charge to the artists and the art-viewing public. In addition to art exhibits, La Galleria hosts a developmental play-reading series called EXPERIMENTS as well as a poetry reading series called POETRY ELECTRIC. This program gives emerging playwrights and other writers the opportunity to hear and see their work read before an audience, and to receive feedback in informal audience response sessions after the readings.  
 
One of La MaMa's most valuable resources is a six-story loft building at 47 Great Jones. Purchased in 1970, this property has served as "no or low cost" rehearsal and workshop space for hundreds of community artists and citywide nonprofit arts groups. This space enables development of projects free of financial pressures or the need for critical approval. Each year, the building provides over 20,000 work hours to over 200 groups, who otherwise might not be able to afford a substantial rehearsal period. 

Ellen Stewart had the exceptional foresight to keep records of all activities taking place on stage and behind the scenes at La MaMa. Without realizing it she created an archive that is one of the premier informational resources for contemporary American theater, especially the Off-Off Broadway movement. Today, the La MaMa Archive is unique in its documentation of the genesis and development of a movement, which changed the face of contemporary art forms in American theater, and affected international cultural movements as well. La MaMa's Archive is extraordinary and unique for: the critical acclaim accorded many artists who began their artistic careers at La MaMa; the cultural role the Off-Off Broadway movement has played in the national and international theatrical arena; and the fact that it is the only comprehensive collection of source material spanning 43 years that is available. 

Ongoing activities at La MaMa include the presentation of new works thereby creating opportunities for new playwrights, directors, designers and performers; an American showcase for the international avant-garde; and a performance venue for composers and choreographers. We offer an educational internship program at both the high school and college level that allows students to gain invaluable experience. A ticket subsidy program enables students, senior citizens, the physically and mentally challenged and those undergoing rehabilitation to attend La MaMa performances at no cost. Each year we distribute 5,000-6,000 free tickets to nonprofit social service organizations.

Still under the directorship and helm of the founder and artistic director, Ellen Stewart, La MaMa continues its original vision and mission of bringing artists, dancers, writers, musicians, actors, puppeteers, choreographers, directors and technicians together in order to gather, to investigate and create. In 1986, with the proceeds from her MacArthur "Genius Award," Ellen Stewart founded La MaMa Umbria, an international artist retreat and residence in the hills of Umbria, Italy in Santa Maria Reggiana. Workshops and mini-festivals are held each summer in a haven of nature, nurture, creativity and community. 

La MaMa is a not-for-profit 501c3 corporation. We are funded by the City of New York (DCA) , the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), private foundations and individual contributors. In its 44-year history, on a shoestring budget, with a small, sturdy staff, La MaMa has created a haven for artists like no other organization in the world.