Stella Holt
Born
Beatrice Holtzer

November 26, 1899[1][2]
Poland
DiedAugust 28, 1967
New York, New York
Alma materCornell University
OccupationOff-Broadway Producer
Years active1952-1967

Stella Holt (November 26, 1899 – August 28, 1967) was an American theater producer. She served as managing director of the off-Broadway Greenwich Mews Theater in New York City for 15 years.

Early life and education

Beatrice Holtzer was born in 1899 in Poland. Her last name was changed from Holtzer to Holt upon immigrating to entering the United States. She changed her first name to Stella, meaning “Star”.

She lost her sight at age 17, but said that she found her blindness "no real handicap."[3] "It's very unimportant to me," she told the New York Times.[4]

Holt graduated from Cornell University and initially found employment as a social worker before becoming frustrated by her inability to create meaningful change on behalf of her clients. She shifted her focus to putting on art exhibitions, and said "I found, if any, that my talent lay in organizing."[3]

Career

The Village Presbyterian Church, home of Stella Holt's Greenwich Mews Theatre

Greenwich Mews Theater

Holt became managing director of the Greenwich Mews Theater in 1952. She went on to produce 38 plays over her 15 years at the 200-seat theater, located in the Village Presbyterian Church.[5] She would select which plays to produce by going through submissions with her partner Frances Drucker, a former high school teacher with whom she had a 20-year relationship.[6] Her preference was for "plays of serious content, poetic quality".[3]

Under Holt's leadership, the Greenwich Mews Theater produced plays by Padraic Colum, René Marqués, Sean O'Casey, and Jules Romains.[7] Playwright Tennessee Williams praised Holt's production of his Orpheus Descending, which he preferred over both the Broadway production and the film adaptation.[3]

Director Adrian Hall got his first job in New York City theater as a janitor at the Greenwich Mews. Holt quickly began encouraging his directorial work, including a production of Sean O'Casey's Red Roses for Me. Hall traveled with Holt to Hawaii in 1962, with the help of a Ford Foundation grant, to study the possibility of opening a regional theater there.[8]

The Greenwich Mews production of Monday's Heroes, by Lester Pine, featured a young Zina Bethune in her first acting role.[9] Diana Sands made her New York stage debut at the Greenwich Mews; Vinie Burrows, Paulene Myers, and Gilbert Price also appeared there.[10][11][12] Holt preferred to be closely involved with the casting process in her productions, and said that her vision impairment caused no difficulty: "I listen carefully," she told the Boston Globe, "I can 'feel' it if an actor is right for a role."[13]

Holt produced the work of many leading Black writers, including Langston Hughes, Loften Mitchell, Alice Childress, Bill Gunn, and William Branch.[14][15] The Greenwich Mews Theater, under her leadership, was one of only a few producing shows with integrated or all-Black casts.[3][16] In a remembrance after Holt's death, Loften Mitchell wrote that "she produced more plays by black writers than any other white producer that I know."[17]

In 1955 Greenwich Mews presented Alice Childress's first full-length play, Trouble In Mind, about the experiences of Black artists in the white-dominated theater industry.[18] The play was directed by Childress herself, starring Clarice Taylor; it ran for 91 performances.[19] During the production process, there was a dispute between Childress and the producers (a group that included Holt) over the ending of the play. The producers pushed for a more optimistic conclusion, asking for a "scene of unity" between Black and white characters – the ending as originally written provided no such redemption. Childress argued that this outcome was "wishful thinking," and would be unrealistic, but was forced to make the change. When the play was published, the text was restored to its original form.[20]

In 1965, the Cuban-born director Gilberto Zaldívar joined Holt as an associate producer at the Greenwich Mews, becoming co-producer with Frances Drucker after Holt's death.[21]

Collaboration with Langston Hughes

Stella Holt produced Langston Hughes's musical Simply Heavenly in May 1957, with a budget of $4,200 and a cast that starred Mel Stewart and Claudia McNeil.[22] The production, directed by Joshua Shelley with music by David Martin, began its off-Broadway run at the 85th Street Playhouse.[23] The fire department closed the theater after 49 performances because of a failed building inspection, so Holt and Hughes decided to move the production to Broadway. Simply Heavenly began performances again in August at the Playhouse Theater.[24]

After a successful Broadway run, Simply Heavenly re-opened off-Broadway in November 1957. It was shut down again in January of 1958, after a ruling by Actors' Equity. The show's union cast alleged that Stella Holt was making prohibited and underhanded budget maneuvers to update the building and meet inspection requirements.

Despite these difficulties, Langston Hughes brought Holt on again as a co-producer on his Jerico-Jim Crow in 1964.[14] In 1965 Holt produced Hughes's Prodigal Son at the Greenwich Mews, directed by Vinnette Carroll.[25] Prodigal Son drew large crowds in New York, and buoyed by this success Holt put together a European tour. The touring production was plagued by financial issues, including late payment of the touring company. Holt was blamed for these problems, and according to playwright Isaiah Sheffer, "some of her business practices were, to put it mildly, highly questionable ... I saw enough hanky-panky and cutting of corners to wonder about her ethics."[14]

Activism

Holt served as the executive secretary of the Citizens' Committee of the Upper West Side. In collaboration with that group, she advocated for integration in the armed forces.[26][27]

Death and legacy

Stella Holt decided to rename the Greenwich Mews Theater in honor of Langston Hughes after his death in May 1967.[28]

Holt herself died shortly thereafter. On August 28, 1967, at age 50, she died of a heart attack at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City.[3] A memorial service was held at the theater.[17] Paul Robeson, one of the singers she had introduced to the public in her theater, sang “To Dream The Impossible Dream at her memorial service . In the wake of the deaths, it was decided that the name Greenwich Mews would be retained, and that instead of the planned renaming, the theater would be dedicated to the memory of both Langston Hughes and Stella Holt.[29]

In 1969 Holt's widowed partner Frances Drucker created a memorial fund in her name, with an annual award to be given to each season's best off-Broadway play. The fund committee was chaired by Diana Sands and Adrian Hall, and committee members included Miriam Colón, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Jack Gilford, Louis Gossett, Martyn Green, Lucille Lortel, Loften Mitchell, Joseph Papp, Lloyd Richards, Hilda Simms, Beatrice Straight, and Tennessee Williams.[10] Clive Barnes, Whitney Bolton, Theophilus Lewis, and Frederick O'Neal made up the inaugural panel of judges, and the award was given to Lonne Elder III for his play Ceremonies in Dark Old Men.[30][31]

Stella’s Legacy continues on in her one living relative, Jami Delia McCluskey-Filiault, who is writing about her and promoting her legacy with theater groups, colleges and more. Ms. Filiault is involved in theater, music, and performance and resides in Western Massachusetts.

References

  1. ↑ U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
  2. ↑ New York State, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1917-1967
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "STELLA HOLT DIES; BLIND PRODUCER; Greenwich Mews Managing Director for 15 Years". The New York Times. 29 August 1967.
  4. ↑ "GRANT MAY BRING HAWAII A THEATER; Producer to Weigh Chances of Off Broadway There". The New York Times. 25 January 1964. ProQuest 115660202.
  5. ↑ Rodriguez, Joey (2021-01-22). "The Village Presbyterian Church Helps Gives Birth to an Off-Broadway Spanish Revolution". Village Preservation. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  6. ↑ "FRANCES DRUCKER, THEATER PRODUCER". The New York Times. 1970-03-07. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-02.
  7. ↑ Pauley, Gay (22 September 1960). "Woman's View: Stella Holt Proves Handicap No Hindrance to Ability in N.Y. Plays". Desert Dispatch (Barstow, California).
  8. ↑ Zeigler, Joseph Wesley; Schneider, Alan (1973). Regional Theatre: The Revolutionary Stage. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-6498-6. Project MUSE book 32341.
  9. ↑ Hevesi, Dennis (2012-02-17). "Zina Bethune, Actress and Dancer, Dies at 67". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-02.
  10. 1 2 "Diana Sands, Ossie, Ruby On Stella Holt Memorial". New York Amsterdam News. 16 December 1967. p. 20. ProQuest 226731227.
  11. ↑ "Stella Holt Award to be presented to Lonne Elder III Oct 18". Back Stage. 17 October 1969.
  12. ↑ "Myers Stars At Greenwich Mews Sept. 26". New York Amsterdam News. 10 September 1966. p. 22. ProQuest 226728137.
  13. ↑ Brower, Millicent (15 November 1959). "Stella Holt A Producer--Sightless". Daily Boston Globe. p. A_43. ProQuest 504703648.
  14. 1 2 3 Rampersad, Arnold (2002-01-10). The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume II: 1914-1967, I Dream a World. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 9780195146431.
  15. ↑ Calta, Louis (27 October 1960). "PLAY BY GUNN SET TO OPEN ON NOV. 21; 'Marcus in the High Grass' Due at Greenwich Mews -- Remain Work Is Delayed". The New York Times. ProQuest 115136921.
  16. ↑ "Negro Authors, Negro Plays On Off-Broadway". New York Amsterdam News. 1 June 1957. p. 16. ProQuest 225568520.
  17. 1 2 Mitchell, Loften (2 September 1967). "Theatrical Producer Stella Holt Dies". New York Amsterdam News. p. 21. ProQuest 226664776.
  18. ↑ Smith, Judith E. (2004). Visions of Belonging: Family Stories, Popular Culture, and Postwar Democracy, 1940-1960. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-50926-8.
  19. ↑ "Alice Childress' Plays Offer Indispensable Insight into Black Lives". MacDowell. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  20. ↑ ""Alice Childress Papers"" (PDF). New York Public Library.
  21. ↑ Roche, Elisa De la (1995). Teatro Hispano! (in Spanish). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780815319863.
  22. ↑ Hill, Errol G.; Hatch, James V. (2003-07-17). A History of African American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521624435.
  23. ↑ D’Emilio, John; de la Croix, St. Sukie (2012). Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-28693-4. Project MUSE book 19012.
  24. ↑ Harper, Donna Akiba Sullivan (1996). Not So Simple: The 'Simple' Stories by Langston Hughes. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-6068-0. Project MUSE book 46255.
  25. ↑ Dietz, Dan (2012-11-21). Off Broadway Musicals, 1910–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows. McFarland. ISBN 9780786457311.
  26. ↑ ""Stella Holt Papers"". New York Public Library.
  27. ↑ "Fight for Full Integration Continues for Negro Nurses in U. S. Armed Forces". New York Amsterdam News. 27 January 1945. p. 1.
  28. ↑ Associated Press (14 September 1967). "Theater Named for Playwright". The Amarillo Globe-Times – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ↑ Mitchell, Loften (April 1968). "An Informal Memoir: for Langston Hughes and Stella Holt". Negro Digest. 17 (6): 41–43, 74–77 – via Google Books.
  30. ↑ "Judges Chosen for Stella Holt Award". Backstage. 8 November 1968.
  31. ↑ Associated Press (17 October 1969). "Award to Elder". The Daily Telegram (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) – via Newspapers.com.


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