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Born November 7, 1919, in Alexandria, LA
Died January 13, 2011, in New York, NY
Ellen Stewart was the founder and artistic director of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, an off-off-Broadway theater in New York City. After it opened in 1961, she presented more than 1400 different productions of theatre, dance, music, video, and multimedia work. La MaMa grew to include three stages, an art gallery, rehearsal studios, and workshop space. Stewart traveled around the world encouraging avant-garde artists in all media. In 1985, she received a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, and in 1992, she was the first off-off-Broadway producer to be inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.