La MaMa Theater: What Does America’s Littlest Ambassador Have to Do with the Theater World?
Media Provided by Olga Akuyeva
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club was founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart. The theater is located at 66 East 4th Street (between Bowery & 2nd Ave) in New York City’s East Village, amidst the chaos of little restaurants and family-owned businesses. The theater presents experimental art and provides a space for voices overlooked by mainstream theater. La MaMa presents projects that are unlike the norm in terms of society, politics, and storytelling.
Alexander Molochnikov, a Russian director, actor, and screenwriter, recently produced Seagull: A True Story, inspired by Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, which tells the story of Kon, a Russian theater director who stages a bold reimagining of Chekhov’s The Seagull and faces threats of censorship in 2022 Russia, following the invasion of Ukraine. After fleeing to New York, Kon struggles to find a space to continue his project and a receptive audience, while struggling to redefine himself as an artist. No, it’s not as confusing as it sounds! After selling out at La MaMa, Seagull: A True Story has gone on to perform in London at the Marylebone Theater.
Space Bridge brings together 11 Russian refugee children, who fled to the US from Russia due to their families’ anti-war stance and now live in New York City shelters, with eight American counterparts, all between the ages of nine and 15. The project is inspired by the 1983 peace mission of Samantha Smith, who was called “America’s littlest ambassador” and helped overcome the Cold War divide between American and Soviet children. Developed through workshops led and directed by Irina Kruzhilina, a Russian director and scenographer, SpaceBridge shows La MaMa’s commitment to fostering empathy within a community. I had the opportunity to attend one of these workshops, where I saw a group that came together and gave a space for people to express themselves and feel at home.
Even within our own Grace community, La MaMa has made an impression. Dean Woody Loverude visited La MaMa to attend a play for babies (Rose!!!). Dean Colin Todd described La MaMa as “underground” and “revolutionary.” Assistant Head of High School Tom James called the theater “experimental” and “up and coming,” and noted that it attracts “an audience that knows what they’re getting themselves into.”
If you visit La MaMa, be prepared to encounter strangeness and creativity, and to leave inspired!
Seagull: True Story – May 16-June 1 – La MaMa | Experimental Theatre Club in New York
SpaceBridge | La MaMa
Antonia A. ‘27 is a staff writer for The Grace Gazette.