Ping Chong, Karen Finley, Patti Smith, Julie Taymor et al. Set for La MaMa’s 50th Anniversary Season

La MaMa ETC has announced selections for its 50th anniversary season, which will kick off with a two-day celebration beginning on October 16 with a free “La MaMa World Block Party,” featuring a worldwide bell-ringing and official naming of street “Ellen Stewart Way” after La MaMa’s founder, who died earlier this year.

The World Block Party will feature tours of La MaMa’s Archive and theaters, as well as family friendly performances by Blue Man Group, The Silver Cloud Native American Drummers and Singers, Pua Ali’I ‘llilma o Nuioka Hula Dancers and the Balkan gypsy punk rock band, Bad Buka. The opening celebration will culminate in the “La MaMa 50 Gala” on October 17, featuring readings from the work of La MaMa playwrights such as Jackie Curtis, Harvey Fierstein, Wally Shawn, and Taylor Mac, along with performances by musicians including Patti Smith.

The 50th anniversary season, entitled “Homecomings,” is billed as a tribute to Stewart, and will feature more than 40 productions by a wide array of artists whose work has been performed at La MaMa through the years, along with resident and international companies, and emerging artists who will make La MaMa their ‘home’ for the first time.

Scheduled events for the season include a revival of director/choreographer
Ping Chong’s 1985 seminal work Angels of Swedenborg (October 27-November 13), directed by Chong and featuring the Great Jones Repertory; the Hip-Hop Theater Festival (October 20-30); the world-premiere of an as-yet-untitled oratorio by Elizabeth Swados, comprised solely of Ms. Stewart’s own spoken and written word (November 7); The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre’s Golem (November 17-December 4); Medea (December 15-23), adapted and directed by Dario D’Ambrosi; Lifeline (December 1-8), a solo show by Raina vonWaldenburg; Stopped Bridge of Dreams (January 19-February 5), a world-premiere by John Jesurun; and I Killed My Mother (February 16-March 4), a world premiere play by Karin Conrood.

New to the La MaMa season this year will be MONDAY NIGHTS AT LA MAMA, a series of intimate evenings featuring La MaMa artists in conversation about their work, including such alumnus as Tan Dun, Julie Taymor, Philip Glass, Elizabeth Swados and Meredith Monk.

Among the other artists and events which will be seen during La MaMa’s 2011-2012 season are Karen Finley, Jomama Jones, Julia Atlas Muse, Everett Quinton, Theodora Skiptares, Mink Stole, The Talking Band, Theatre of the 2-Headed Calf, Scott Wittman, and the Under the Radar Festival. There will also be a star-studded Spring Gala evening at the Skirball Center on June 24, 2012.

For tickets and more information, click here.