Abigail McGrath, co-founder of the Off Center Theater and one of the last remaining Warhol Stars, has died. Ms. McGrath was 84 years old.
Ms. McGrath was a child of the Harlem Renaissance. Born in 1940, she was the only child of William Warner Hubbel III, a dockworker and subway conductor; and Helen Johnson Hubbell, the Boston-born poet who wrote under the name Helene Johnson. The cousin of the soon-to-be beloved Harlem Renaissance novelist Dorothy West, Helen and West lived and wrote together for some time, with Helen nearly settling into the literary crowd of Zora Neale Hurston before circumstances would force her to abandon her written poetry to focus on motherhood.
Ms. McGrath was raised in what she called "genteel poverty," with her mother carefully elevating her mind away from the difficult circumstances of her childhood. “Growing up with a poet is fun, because you never know you are poor,” she told Warhol Stars in 2007. “We went to the Broadway theatre, the opera—we took advantage of everything the city had to offer on a salary that was lunch money for the parents of my schoolmates.”
As an adult, Ms. McGrath studied theatre at Bard College, where she briefly married a fellow student, had a son (Jason), and got divorced before graduation. Following graduation, she moved with her son to Paris for a brief time, working as a non-dancing showgirl at the Folies Bergère before returning to New York, where her willingness to do just about anything in the creative sphere became her greatest asset.
At various points, Ms. McGrath was a model, copywriter, security guard, actor, coat check girl, improv comedian, lunch lady, playwright, local columnist, and producer. Considered the woman-to-know at the legendary nightclub Max’s Kansas City, it was there that Ms. McGrath met pop artist Andy Warhol and his coterie of self-proclaimed stars. When asked to procure an unusual tub for one of Warhol's short films, Ms. McGrath talked her way into costarring, appearing with Susan Hoffman (otherwise known as Viva) in Tub Girls.
The appearance made Ms. McGrath a rare star in Warhol's constellation: she was one of only three Black performers in Warhol's filmography (Dorothy Dean and Pat Hartley preceded her), and due to her business acumen, Ms. McGrath was one of the only Warhol Stars to ever be paid for her work: $100.
While Ms. McGrath's film career did not take off following her appearance, his status in the New York creative community continued to rise following her marriage to Anthony McGrath, an influential theatremaker who created the part of Big Eddie Stover in Truman Capote’s The Grass Harp. Their marriage was cemented in literary history by Ms. McGrath's aunt Dorothy West, immortalizing the pair in her novel The Wedding, which explored the implications of their interracial marriage.
Or rather, their perceived marriage. In 2016, the McGraths were legally married after it became apparent that their 1960s coupling had not been formalized. The couple had one son together, Benson McGrath. As far as they were concerned, they were married for more than 50 years.
Together, Mr. and Ms. McGrath would found the Off Center Theater, an alternative to the Off- and Off-Off Broadway scenes. Originally situated in a church on West 66th Street, the company was wide ranging, producing political satire, children's theatre, experimental plays, and Shakespeare. At times a bus-and-truck company, many of their productions were intentionally brought to the city's most impoverished neighborhoods throughout the 1970s, performing first in schools, and then for free in streets and parks, to spread art to the masses.
The company was a fertile foundation for countless New York theatre artists, including F. Murray Abraham, John Leguizamo, Christine Baranski, Verona Barnes, Reathel Bean, Peter Boyle, Chris Burgess, Mary Chase, Dominic Chianese, Dan Clancy, Virginia Daly, Jean Erdman, Allen Garfield, Teiji Ito, Annie Korzen, Ralph Lee, Cleavon Little, Norman Marshall, Kelly Martin, S. Epatha Merkerson, Andy Milligan, Geraldine Page, Mary Thompson, and Nancy Tribush.
Ms. McGrath served as the executive director of the company, which continued active operations into the 1990s, although it was never formally disbanded. Mr. McGrath died in 2018, and as of 2025, the company has been inactive since 2017, although it maintains a robust website to contain its historical record.
In 2000, Ms. McGrath created the venture that was to outlive her: Renaissance House, an artistic residency based out of the family home in Martha's Vineyard. Named in honor of the Harlem Renaissance, the residency has fostered the talents of numerous wordsmiths.
Before her death, Ms. McGrath was working on a project to turn a parcel of land across from Renaissance House into a literary park and a place for poetry readings. She had been writing a grant for funding to help the project through before she died. Her son Jason has announced that her family will be starting a fundraising campaign to make this dream a reality.
Ms. McGrath is survived by both of her sons, and a granddaughter. Information on a public memorial is forthcoming.
