Use the links above to see more photos.

Ellen Stewart 1919-2011

If you are lucky in life you meet someone who takes you, twirls you around and points you in a direction you never thought you would go. This is what Ellen did for me back in the early 70s when I first met her on East 4th Street in New York.

Ellen is La Mama. Founder of LaMama ETC - Experimental Theatre Club.

In 1986 she took her MacArthur Foundation grant of $300,000 and bought a neglected convent outside Spoleto and converted it to a place where actors, directors, playwrights, dancers and musicians from the world over could come together for workshops and performances.

It is through Ellen I first got involved in theater. It is through her I met Joanna and found our house in Spoleto. As I told her the last time I saw her, "I can't imagine what my life would have been like had I not met you."

I miss her smile. I miss her vision. I miss her indomitable spirit and energy. She will always be a part of me.