Café La MaMa

➢ Opened by Ellen Stewart in 1961 in the basement of 321 E 9th St.
➢ A theater “for the playwright”, free space for playwrights to feel free to go wild with their ideas, not worry about pleasing a specific clientele
➢ A health inspector advised Stewart to register the place as a café (coffeehouse) because it was easier to get licenses for cafes than theaters
➢ Kept the theater open with “pass the hat” donations and Stewart’s own freelance fashion designs and seamstress work
➢ Opened and closed a lot at first, because of violations of a number of laws (fire code, zoning ordinance)
➢ Moved to a loft on 2nd Ave in 1963- larger space (74 people), had to stop selling coffee and start charging admission because of the Buildings Department, and renamed La Mama Experimental Theater Club – now a private club with membership
➢ Even then, the authorities would try to find any law Stewart & her theater could possibly be violating- Stewart would sit on the steps to ward off any authorities during performances
➢ Stewart created a rule that only new plays could be acted out on her stage, once a week
➢ Relocated in 1964 in the middle of a performance to another location on 2nd Avenue with the audience each carrying the theater’s possessions (chairs, tables, paintings)
➢ Thank you, civic authorities for sealing La Mama’s fame- publicity went up after news of all the violations Stewart and her theater had made
➢ Even though the new location had no sign, La Mama Theater gained about 3,000 members by 1967
➢ La Mama moved to a very temporary space (on St. Marks Place) for three months (Jan. – Mar. 1969) until moving to their final and existing location on East Fourth Street in April of 1969
➢ This location has two theaters, one on each floor (the third floor was used as Stewart’s apartment)
➢ Annex (later “Ellen Stewart Theater”) opened two doors down in 1974
➢ Patti Smith first began to perform at La Mama Theater in 1970, so she would’ve started in the final home of the theater
➢ She was asked by Jackie Curtis (after cutting her hair to look like Keith Richards’s) to perform in her play Femme Fatale
➢ This symbolized the beginning of Patti’s reputation and name in the current pop culture
➢ The show combined familiar religious and movie scenes with “bizarre contemporary situations,” according to the rave review published in the newspaper Show Business by Frank Lee Wilde.
➢ Pretty much Patti Smith’s first performance gig, which probably contributed to her breaking out of her strong wish to not become a performing artist (singer)