Ellen Stewart is the founder of La Mama Etc., the quintessential off-Broadway house that has nurtured some of theater's most important talents. She herself has staged, composed and directed countless productions.  Stewart created La Mama in 1961 and to this day it continues to be of great importance to world culture.  Its resident theater troupes have performed throughout the world and the La Mama home on East 4th Street in Manhattan has hosted artists from more than seventy countries. Now in her eighties, Stewart's energy is as boundless as ever--she commutes between the theater in New York and the artist residency she founded in Spoleto Italy. Stewart is the recipient of many honorary doctorates and awards, including the MacArthur "Genius" award.

QUOTE:
"I never had self-doubt. I was always taught by my mama that I'm on an island and there's not a soul on the island but me. And so whatever gets done, I have to do it. That's the way I was brought up. So I never thought about self-doubt. But anything that I've wanted to do, I always believed that somehow - I believe in the somehow - that I could find a way to do it