La MaMa Archive: Here, There, and Everywhere

Here at La MaMa Archive, we believe the materials we safeguard are valuable not just for the ways they shed light on the Off-Off-Broadway and experimental theatre movements, but also in how they relate to broader social and cultural contexts.

Finding ways to connect these stories with the wider community and expanding the reach of the Archive is one of our highest priorities. Archival access, however, is not just about making material discoverable through our digital collections and tours but in reaching out to new audiences; growing our community and boosting awareness about the amazing source materials available at La MaMa Archive and the diverse and exciting narratives they document.

So, of course, we were thrilled when a curator from the New York Historical contacted the Archive with a request to review, and possibly include, some La MaMa materials for an upcoming exhibit!

Women Making Theatre in New York City is a new installation curated by Jeanne Gutierrez, Manager of Scholarly Initiatives at the Jean Margo Reid Center for Women’s History, which explores how women in the 19th and 20th centuries succeeded in the financially precarious world of New York City theatre. The installation is divided into two parts – the first presenting early case studies. The second…

Mise-en-scène jumps to the 1960s and the rise of New York’s downtown theatre scene, examining the overlapping networks, new organizations, intimate partnerships, and creative collaborations formed by women, many of which are still active today