Photo Source: La MaMa ETC
Stewart nurtured the careers of many influential theater figures, often giving them their first exposure, including directors Richard Foreman, Robert Wilson, Tom O'Horgan, and Joseph Chaikin; actor-playwright Harvey Fierstein; playwrights Sam Shepard, Charles Ludlam, Adrienne Kennedy, Taylor Mac, Lanford Wilson, and Israel Horovitz; composers Philip Glass, Elizabeth Swados, Meredith Monk, and Stephen Schwartz; and theater troupes Mabou Mines and the Talking Band. She also introduced American audiences to such European directors as Jerzy Grotowski and Andrei Serban.
Stewart came to New York in the 1950s to become a fashion designer and founded La MaMa in 1961. More than 2,000 productions later, the theater, which is located at 74A E. Fourth St. in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, is still going strong. During the theater's infancy, Stewart funded it with her earnings from dress designing. Among the actors who have appeared at La MaMa are Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss, Nick Nolte, and F. Murray Abraham.
Stewart received many awards, including Obies in 1975 and 1980, a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 1985, and the Stewardship Award from the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation in 2005. In 1993, she was inducted into Broadway's Theatre Hall of Fame, making her the first Off-Off-Broadway producer to be so honored.