Meanwhile on East 4th

Our opening program featured six-time Grammy Award-winning bassist John Benitez and the John Benitez Quartet, performing alongside a lineup of solo performers. These performances were an homage to La MaMa’s expansion into a second theater space in the 1970s, which was a hub for the loft jazz movement in the LES and later became the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

Lanford Wilson's Balm in Gilead was the first full-length play written for off-off Broadway. It premiered in January 1965 at La MaMa’s then-home on 2nd Avenue. While it's been embraced by repertory companies like Circle Rep and Steppenwolf, the play has only been staged a handful of times in the nearly 50 years since its premiere — in part because of its massive cast and its unflinching portrayal of urban life. 

On July 15th, 2023, Balm in Gilead returned to La MaMa ETC for the first time in decades.

Cast

Director