Profile
Mimi Maxmen is a costume designer and educator. She has designed over 200 productions in theater, film, opera, and dance. NY theater: Uncle Vanya starring Tom Courtenay, Amanda Donohoe and James Fox; Inadmissible Evidence with Nicol Williamson and Philip Bosco; The Norwegians, The Frogs, Becket, A Shayna Maidel, A...My Name Is Alice, Vieux Carré, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Today I am a Fountain Pen, North Shore Fish, Moonchildren. She has designed productions for the Roundabout Theater (5 years resident designer), Manhattan Theatre Club, the Mark Taper Forum, Cleveland Play House, Berkshire Theater Festival, Geva, Santa Fe Opera, the New York City, Joffrey, and Metropolitan Opera Ballet companies, and regional theaters and ballet companies throughout the country. Film: The Lightkeepers with Richard Dreyfuss, Blythe Danner, Mamie Gummer, and Tom Wisdom, Tumbleweeds starring Janet McTeer, Corporate Affairs with Breckin Meyer, Luster, Lucky Bastard (production and costume designer), The Mesmerist with Neil Patrick Harris and Jessica Capshaw.
Opera and ballet: Ariadne auf Naxos, with Susan Graham and Ben Heppner (Santa Fe), Lord Byron and The Mother of Us All by Virgin Thomson (NYC), The Sleeping Beauty (scenery and costumes), La Dame aux Camélias (Ballet Santiago, Chile), Swan Lake, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Degrees Held
University of Michigan, BA with honors
Lester Polakov Studio of Stage Design (non-degree)
Professional Affiliation
United Scenic Artists, IATSE #829
Costume Designers’ Guild, IATSE #892
Theatre Development Fund, Costume Collection Advisory Committee, 2007-present. Fundraising Chair, Irene Sharaff Awards, 2006-2010.
ACT-UAW, Local 7902, Member of Joint Council for the New School.
Recent Publications
LECTURES and PANELS:
“Costume Design for Dance”: Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, University of Michigan, Brooklyn College (BCUNY), USITT (United States
Institute for Theatre Technology), Wright State University, Boston University
“Introduction to Costume Design”, Parsons School of Design/Paris 2016
University of Connecticut, Department of Theater, student reviews 2011
“Theatre Design and Collaboration”, USITT, Conference, panel member 2004
“Women in Design”, Mount Holyoke College, weekend symposium, presenter 1994
University of Michigan: Visiting Lecturer, Costume Design for the Dance (a series of master classes for MFA candidates), 1983
EXHIBITIONS AND PUBLICATIONS:
“Costume Design at the Turn of the Century” (catalogue and museum), Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow; Beijing 2016; touring
North America, 2015-ongoing.
“Une approche des residences d’artistes dans les universités ameriaines”, La Résidence d’Artiste, Presses universitaires François Rabelais, Tours, France, pp. 171-177. 2016
“L’Autorité de l’Artiste en Résidence”, Conference at Université François Rabelais, Tours, France, Presenter. 2014
Costume Colloquium II: Dress for Dance, Florence, Italy, “See the Music, Hear the Dance”, Presenter 2010
Prague Quadrennial Design Exhibition: U.S. exhibit participant, The Dybbuk. 2003
Research Interests
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
The New School/Parsons School of Design, Part-time Assistant Professor 2005-present
Brooklyn College BCUNY, Adjunct Lecturer, Costume Design, 2020
Brooklyn College BCUNY, Adjunct Lecturer, 2011
Parsons School of Design, Part time faculty, 1993-2000
Mount Holyoke College, Visiting Lecturer, 1992
State University of New York at Geneseo, Visiting Instructor, 1975
SKILLS: French, pattern drafting, fabric painting and dying
Awards And Honors
The New School, Part-time Faculty Professional Development Fund Grant, 2014
The New School, Part-time Faculty Professional Development Fund Grant, 2010
Goldie Award, The Rise of David Levinsky (Off-Broadway)
Village Voice Obie, The Play’s the Thing
Portfolio
http://MimiMaxmen.com/