Stella Holt (November 26, 1899 – August 28, 1967) was an American theater producer. She served as managing director of the

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

Greenwich Mews Theater in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

for 15 years.

Early life and education

Beatrice Holtzer was born in 1899 in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. 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." "It's very unimportant to me," she told the ''New York Times''. Holt graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

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."

Career

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. 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. Her preference was for "plays of serious content, poetic quality". Under Holt's leadership, the Greenwich Mews Theater produced plays by

Padraic Colum Padraic Colum (8 December 1881 – 11 January 1972) was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival. Early life Co ...

René Marqués René Marqués (October 4, 1919 – March 22, 1979) was a Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican short story writer and playwright. Early years Marqués was born, raised and educated in the city of Arecibo. He developed an interest in writing at a ...

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, and

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. Playwright

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praised Holt's production of his ''

Orpheus Descending ''Orpheus Descending'' is a three-act play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway on March 17, 1957, with Maureen Stapleton and Cliff Robertson, under the direction of Harold Clurman, but had only a brief run (68 performa ...

'', which he preferred over both the Broadway production and the film adaptation. 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 In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

there. The Greenwich Mews production of ''Monday's Heroes'', by Lester Pine, featured a young

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in her first acting role.

Diana Sands Diana Patricia Sands (August 22, 1934September 21, 1973) was an American actress, perhaps most known for her portrayal of Beneatha Younger, the sister of Sidney Poitier's character, Walter, in the original stage and film versions of Lorraine Han ...

made her New York stage debut at the Greenwich Mews; Vinie Burrows,

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also appeared there. 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." Holt produced the work of many leading Black writers, including

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Loften Mitchell James Loften Mitchell (April 15, 1919 – May 14, 2001) was an American playwright and theatre historian who was part of the black American theatre movement of the 1960s. Life and career Mitchell was born in Columbus, North Carolina, to an Af ...

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, Bill Gunn, and William Branch. The Greenwich Mews Theater, under her leadership, was one of only a few producing shows with integrated or all-Black casts. 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." 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. The play was directed by Childress herself, starring

Clarice Taylor Clarice Taylor (September 20, 1917 – May 30, 2011) was an American stage, film and television actress. She is best known for playing Cousin Emma on '' Sanford and Son''; Anna Huxtable, the mother of Cliff Huxtable, on '' The Cosby Show''; and M ...

; it ran for 91 performances. 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. 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.

Collaboration with Langston Hughes

Stella Holt produced Langston Hughes's musical ''

Simply Heavenly ''Simply Heavenly'' is a musical theatre, musical comedy with book and lyrics by Langston Hughes and music by David Martin, based on Hughes' novel ''Simple Takes A Wife'' and other ''Simple'' stories. The story is concerned with Jess Simple, an ...

'' in May 1957, with a budget of $4,200 and a cast that starred

Mel Stewart Milton "Mel" Stewart (September 19, 1929 – February 24, 2002) was an American character actor, television director and musician who appeared in numerous films and television shows from the 1960s to the 1990s. He is perhaps best known for play ...

and

Claudia McNeil Claudia Mae McNeil (August 13, 1917 – November 25, 1993) was an American actress known for premiering the role of matriarch Lena Younger in both the stage and screen productions of ''A Raisin in the Sun''. She later appeared in a 1981 produ ...

. The production, directed by Joshua Shelley with music by David Martin, began its off-Broadway run at the 85th Street Playhouse. 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. After a successful Broadway run, ''Simply Heavenly'' re-opened off-Broadway in November 1957. It was shut down again in January 1958, after a ruling by

Actors' Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly called Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book or thro ...

. 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. In 1965 Holt produced Hughes's ''Prodigal Son'' at the Greenwich Mews, directed by

Vinnette Carroll Vinnette Justine Carroll (March 11, 1922 – November 5, 2002) was an American playwright, actress, and theatre director. She was the first African-American woman to direct on Broadway, with her 1972 production of the musical ''Don't Bother Me, I ...

. ''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."

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.

Death and legacy

Stella Holt decided to rename the Greenwich Mews Theater in honor of Langston Hughes after his death in May 1967. 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. A memorial service was held at the theater. 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. 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,

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, Loften Mitchell,

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, and

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, Whitney Bolton, Theophilus Lewis, and

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made up the inaugural panel of judges, and the award was given to

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for his play ''

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.'' 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, Stella American theatre directors American women theatre directors American theatre managers and producers 1899 births 1967 deaths Cornell University alumni American blind people