La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club was founded by Ellen Stewart in 1961 in a basement in lower Manhattan and would become the birthplace of Off-Off-Broadway theatre. Stewart nurtured generations of artists and turned La MaMa into a vital New York institution where women, immigrants, people of color, queer people, and other marginalized communities could experiment creatively and communicate their experiences through theater. La MaMa became a springboard for playwrights, directors and actors, and other theater artists who went on to accomplished careers in both mainstream and experimental theater.
