Holt, Stella, 1899-1967

Stella Holt was born Beatrice Holtzer in 1899 in Poland. Holt lost her sight at age 17 and changed her name upon immigrating to the United States where she attended Cornell University. After graduation she worked as a social worker but soon changed careers to found and serve as managing director of the Greenwich Mews Theatre in 1952. Holt produced 38 plays over 15 years at the 200-seat theater, located in the Village Presbyterian Church. Holt selected which plays to produce with assistance from her partner Frances Drucker (a former high school teacher with whom she had a 20-year relationship). Under Holt's leadership, the Greenwich Mews Theater produced plays by Padraic Colum, René Marqués, Sean O'Casey, and Jules Romains. Playwright Tennessee Williams praised Holt's production of his Orpheus Descending, which he preferred over both the Broadway production and the film adaptation.

Holt encouraged and supported the careers of aspiring directors like Adrian Hall. Holt was actively involved in casting and actresses Zina Bethune and Diana Sands made their stage debuts at Greenwich Mews. Holt produced the work of many leading Black writers, including Langston Hughes, Loften Mitchell, Alice Childress, 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 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; 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.

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. 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. Hughes worked again with Holt as a co-producer of his Jerico-Jim Crow in 1964. In 1965 Holt produced Hughes's Prodigal Son at the Greenwich Mews, directed by Vinnette Carroll. 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."

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. Holt planned to rename Greenwich Mews in honor of Hughes after his death in May 1967. However, Holt died at age 50 from a heart attach at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City on August 28, 1967. In the wake of the deaths, it was decided to retain the name but dedicate the theater to the memory of both Holt and Hughes. 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 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.

Outside her work at the theater, 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.