
Marie Anne Chiment has created sets and costumes for hundreds of productions across the nation for opera, theatre and dance. Ms. Chiment’s sets and costumes have graced the stages of
Santa Fe Opera,
Chicago Lyric Opera, Kennedy Center, Wolftrap Opera and
Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre. She has designed national tours of
Grease and
Carousel, as well as the GLAMA award winning world premiere of
Patience & Sarah for the
Lincoln Center Festival.
Ms. Chiment received her Master of Fine Arts in 1981 from New York University’s highly regarded Tisch School of the Arts. As the year’s top graduate she received the coveted J.S. Seidman Award for design excellence. An invitation to join United Scenic Artists was followed by design engagements for the operetta
Land Of Smiles at
Lincoln Center, the film Grease Monkey (winner, “Focus On Film” award) as well as
A Midsummer Night's Dream for
The Arena Stage in Washington DC, starring Kathleen Turner and Avery Brooks.
Ms. Chiment’s early career found her crisscrossing the nation as she designed costumes for theatre companies including
Actors Theatre of Louisville, Philadelphia’s
Walnut Street Theatre,
Cincinnati Playhouse,
Portland Stage Company,
Berkeley Repertory Theatre, NYCs La Mama and Beckett Theatres and
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. While designing for The Rep in St. Louis, she met Colin Graham, the Artistic Director of
Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and was invited to design sets and costumes for the premiere of his production
Beauty And The Beast. The production was a resounding critical and commercial success and was to become the first of many premieres she would design for the acclaimed company.
Classically trained in voice and music, Ms. Chiment has a special affinity for creating sets and costumes for opera and dance. She has designed operas for
Seattle Opera,
Spoleto Festival,
Minnesota Opera,
Pennsylvania Opera Theatre,
Kentucky Opera,
Virginia Opera,
Nashville Opera,
Memphis Opera,
Sarasota Opera and
Opera Pacific.
In the world of dance she has created costumes for numerous pieces for
New York Baroque Dance Company,
Kathryn Posin Dance Company,
Elizabeth Keen Dance Company, and
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.
Ms. Chiment reconnected with her theatre roots when she returned to the West Coast to design
The Winter's Tale and
Rough Crossing for
Oregon Shakespeare Festival. For OSF's 2005 season Ms. Chiment designed the fantasy costumes for Festival's
The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus. On the East Coast Ms. Chiment was busy designing the costumes for the World Premiere of The Wild Women of Planet Wongo for the New York Musical Festival which went on to win the Director's Choice Award. In 2006 Ms. Chiment won the Kevin Kline Award for Oustanding Costume Design for her costumes for the World Premiere of the musical Ace. The musical, which premiered at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, enjoyed subsequent productions at both the Cincinnati Playouse and the Old Globe Theatre.
In the world of academics Ms. Chiment is a tenured, full professor currently serving as Head of Design for the Theater Department in Temple University's Center for the Arts. Previously, Ms. Chiment has served as Associate Professor of Design at Webster University's Leigh Gerdine School of Fine Arts, Guest Artist at Washinton University in St. Louis, Guest Lecturer at Cornell University, Guest Designer at Pennsylvannia State University Festival of American Theatre and Guest Designer for the Santa Rosa Summer Repertory Theatre.
Ms. Chiment’s work has appeared on the covers of Entertainment Design,
Theatre Crafts International and
Stage Directions magazines and her designs have been featured in
Opera News,
The Costume Designer’s Handbook and
Fabric Painting and Dyeing for the Stage.