Founded by Betty Burstall in 1967, La Mama theatre was established as a crucible for independent cutting-edge, contemporary theatre in Australia. After experiencing the intimate and supportive performance culture of the La MaMa coffee house in New York, Burstall returned to Australia and found the little brick building in Faraday Street, Carlton. She started renting the building at $28 a week and set up shop.
Since 1976, La Mama has flourished under the courageous leadership of Artistic Director, Liz Jones, and continues to support large numbers of diverse theatre makers and companies on the basis of its unique high-artistic-risk / low-financial-risk model. In 2008 the La Mama community bought the Farady Street building, securing the future of the much-loved artistic hub.
Fast forward to 2016, La Mama welcomed 1700 independent artists, over 30,000 audience members and presented 175 different productions and events: that’s a total of an extraordinary 905 performance events across the year.
“La Mama is thriving. Treasured for its advocacy of those seeking to explore beyond the mainstream it continues to produce and present work by theatremakers of all backgrounds. We foster the exploration and deconstruction of form, content, and social issues. The team at La Mama are extremely excited to be turning 50 and looking forward to celebrating with a book, Mini-Fest, birthday party, and book launch. Do join us!” says La Mama’s Artistic Director, Liz Jones.
“The Mini-Fest is as much a snapshot of our history as a celebration of our future. It forms an essential part of our year-long celebration.”
To celebrate the landmark’s 50 years, the artistic director has invited an eclectic mob of La Mama artists to present short seasons of work, including acclaimed playwright Tess Lyssiotis whose work has been read at La Mama Theatre from 1982 to this day.
Lyssiotis was born in Australia of Greek parents. She trained as a drama/media teacher at Rusden State College, and taught drama in secondary schools for eight years including a post as drama consultant for the Knox region, before becoming a full-time writer and director, serving on the boards of La Mama Theatre and the Drama Panel of the Victorian Ministry for the Arts.
Her first professionally toured work was I’ll Go to Australia and Wear a Hat in 1982. Much of Lyssiotis’s early writing is bilingual or multilingual. In 1984 she founded Filiki Players with actors Nikos Zarkadas and Lu Beranek.
Drawing on her Greek immigrant heritage, Lyssiotis’ plays have brought a vital new voice to Australian theatre.
Other artists presenting works in the La Mama 50th Mini-Fest (10 July – 11 August) are: Maude Davey, Anni Davey, James Clayden, Susie Dee, Patricia Cornelius, Barry Dickins, Mary Helen Sassman, Daniel Schlusser, Lloyd Jones, and Laurence Strangio.
For details visit lamama.com.au/50 or phone 03 9347 6142