1. Contemporary Western Theater
Week Two
La Mama Etc.
Teaching Website:
Put teacher’s and students’ powerpoint files online in this teaching website
Iris Tuan’s talk with LaMaMa on 9/22/06 Fri.
3:30-5:30 p.m. at NTU (Lumingtan)
Watch Dionysus performed by LaMama on 9/29/06
Time: 20:00 p.m. Place: The New Gym at NTU
Get together at 17:30 p.m. in front of the gym gate

2. About La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club

3. La MaMa Experimental Theatre is a world-renowned cultural organization led by founder Ellen Stewart in 1961.
It began as a tiny basement theatre dedicated to the playwright and all aspects of the theatre.

4. In the past 44 years, La MaMa has grown into an arts complex of national and international celebrity.
La Mama envisions art as a universal language. Cultural pluralism and ethnic diversity have been inherent in the work created at La MaMa.

5. Why called La Mama?
Her friends called Ellen Stewart “Mother Earth” and she called them her “chickies” or “biddies,” so when the inspector asked how to identify the boutique/theater, someone said, “Mama.”

6. La MaMa houses three theatres, "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.

7. La Mama presently upholds Stewart’s ideal theatre and it has been honored with over 55 Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk Awards, Bessie Awards, and Villager Awards.
Over the course of nearly four decades La Mama has developed into a multipurpose art complex serving art, dance, and theatre.

8. Greek canon and La MaMa
So much of the La MaMa repertory comes from the Greek canon is an interesting story. In 1972, Ellen Stewart was adamant that a part must be found for black actresses that did not contain the too-familiar situations of drug addiction, abortion and prostitution that were commonplace in realistic plays of the period.

9. So with Andrei Serban, she began planning a "Medea," using music by Elizabeth Swados, as a vehicle for a black actress named Betty White. Stewart relates, "English sounded terrible with Liz's music. The only language that worked was with the concept was Greek. So everybody learned Greek. I got a tutor and we cast the show."

10. About Ellen Stewart: the founder of La MaMa ETC
Ellen Stewart was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, On October 7th in 1920 of and is considered a “barrier-breaking” artist.

11. Stewart’s career began as an accomplished fashion designer, and Stewart had no theatre experience, however she founded and developed one of the most influential experimental theatres in the world.

12. New Eastern European Theatre was introduced in America in 1967 when Ellen Stewart brought Jerzy Grotowski, Ryszard Cieslak, and Ludwig Flaszen to America.

13. In this endeavor Stewart was aided by Ted Hoffman of New York University. She was instrumental in introducing to America some of the world's most influential artists including Andrei Serban and Tom O'Horgan.

14. About Dionysus Filius Dei
The title means "Dionysus, Son of God." The production traces the story of Dionysus, from the seduction of his mother, Semele, by Zeus, through his childhood, when he was beset by Hera; his love affair with Ampelos; his travels to Attica, Aetolia, Amon and Egypt; and ends with the ascension of Dionysus and his mother to Mount Olympus.

15. Stewart has, quite masterfully, filled in the biographical blanks
Stewart has, quite masterfully, filled in the biographical blanks. She uncovers and dramatizes the evolutionary nature of Dionysus' divinity and history.
Dionysus

16. "Dionysus Filius Dei" was originally mounted in part of a double feature with Ellen Stewart's "Mythos Oedipus."
Dionysus (Tom Lee) arrives in Thebes

17. Stewart’s production traces the story of Dionysus, starting from his birth and his childhood; it elucidates his homosexual love affair with the beautiful Ampelos.
Dionysus dances with the Queen of Egypt

18. Agave (Onni Johnson) weeps for the death of her son, Pentheus, as the people of Thebes and Dionysus, transformed into a bull, look on
It retells Dionysus' globe-trotting travels to Attica, Aetolia, Amon and Egypt. It ends with his ascension to Mount Olympus.

19. "Dionysus Filius Dei" proceeds as a magisterial series of thrill-seeking dance numbers, now violent and pulse-pounding, now slow and elegant, now lusty and sweaty, often encapsulating narrative plots in quick strokes and deft movements.

20. Related Links and resources about La MaMa
Lee, Barbara Horn. Ellen Stewart and La Mama Westport: Greenwood P, 1993.
LaMaMaETC.
An Interview with Ellen Stewart.
Gener, Randy. “Scenes and Heard.” New York Theater Wire