Marie Anne Chiment has created sets and costumes for hundreds of productions across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for opera, theatre and dance. Chiment’s sets and costumes have been used on the stages of

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the f ...

, Chicago Lyric Opera,

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

, Wolftrap Opera and Broadway’s

Minskoff Theatre The Minskoff Theatre is a Broadway theater on the third floor of the One Astor Plaza office building in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1973, it is operated by the Nederlander Organizatio ...

. 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 Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

Festival.

Education

Chiment received a Master of Fine Arts in 1981 from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

’s

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

. As the year’s top graduate she received the coveted J.S. Seidman Award for design excellence. An invitation to join

United Scenic Artists United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, formerly known as United Scenic Artists of America (USAA), is an American labor union. It is a nationwide autonomous Local of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. It organizes designers ...

was followed by design engagements for the operetta ''Land Of Smiles'' at

, 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 Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. Known for her distinctive deep husky voice, she is the recipient of two Golden Globes, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy, and two Tony Awards. After debuting ...

and Avery Brooks.

Early career

Chiment designed costumes for theatre companies including

Actors Theatre of Louisville Actors Theatre of Louisville is a non-profit performing arts theater located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Actors Theatre was founded in 1964 following the merging of two local companies, Actors, Inc. and Theatre Louisville, operated by Louis ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

’s

Walnut Street Theatre Walnut Street Theatre, founded in 1808 at 825 Walnut Street, on the corner of S. 9th Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest operating theatre in the United States. The venue is operated by Walnut Str ...

, Cincinnati Playhouse, Portland Stage Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre,

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 ...

s La Mama and Beckett Theatres and Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. While designing for The Rep in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, she met

Colin Graham Colin Graham OBE (22 September 1931 in Hove, England – 6 April 2007 in St. Louis, Missouri) was a stage director of opera, theatre, and television. Graham was educated at Northaw School (Hertfordshire), Stowe School and RADA. Early in his ...

, the Artistic Director of

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) is an American summer opera festival held in St. Louis, Missouri. Typically four operas, all sung in English, are presented each season, which runs from late May to late June. Performances are accompanied by the ...

, and was invited to design sets and costumes for the premiere of his production ''

Beauty And The Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

''. The production was successful.

Design

Chiment was classically trained in voice and music so she liked creating sets and costumes for opera and dance. She has designed operas for

Seattle Opera Seattle Opera is an American opera company based in Seattle, Washington. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of eight to ten performances each, often featuring double casts in major roles to all ...

, Spoleto Festival,

Minnesota Opera Minnesota Opera is a performance organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded as the Center Opera Company in 1963 by the Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill ...

, Pennsylvania Opera Theatre, Kentucky Opera,

Virginia Opera Virginia Opera is an opera company based in the Commonwealth of Virginia which was first organized in 1974 by a group of Norfolk, Virginia community volunteers. In September 1974, Thomas A. Lipton was engaged to produce a fully professional pro ...

, Nashville Opera, Memphis Opera, Sarasota Opera and Opera Pacific. Chimet has also created costumes for the New York Baroque Dance Company, Kathryn Posin Dance Company, Elizabeth Keen Dance Company, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Later career

Chiment went back to the West Coast to design ''The Winter's Tale'' and ''Rough Crossing'' for

Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional Repertory, repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and conte ...

. For the 2005 season Chiment designed the fantasy costumes for Festival's ''The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus''. When OSF’s Associate Artistic Director Fontaine Syer moved east to assume the artistic directorship of Delaware Theatre Company, she invited Chiment to collaborate with her at DTC. Climent was nominated for the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre for her work at DTC. Chiment regularly designs sets and costumes for DTC productions. Climent designed the costumes for the 2015 Mauckingbird Theatre Company's presentation of ''The Cole Porter Celebration 'Hot 'In Cole in Philadelphia.

Academic work and writings

Chiment has served as Associate Professor of Design at Webster University's Leigh Gerdine School of Fine Arts, Guest Lecturer at Cornell University, Guest Designer at Pennsylvania State University Festival of American Theatre and Guest Designer for the Santa Rosa Summer Repertory Theatre. 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 ''Opera News'' was an American classical music magazine. It was published from 1936 to 2023 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild—a non-profit organization, located at Lincoln Center, that was founded to promote opera and support the Metropolitan ...

'', ''The Costume Designer’s Handbook'' and ''Fabric Painting and Dyeing for the Stage''.

Awards

At the second annual Kevin Kline Awards Chiment was awarded Outstanding Costume Design for her designs for the world premiere of the musical '' Ace'' for the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in 2007. Later in 2014 Climent was again nominated for the Barrymore Outstanding Costume Design for ''The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington'', with the Flashpoint Theatre Company. "Her set and costume designs for Repertory Theatre of St. Louis's ''I Am My Own Wife'' won a Kevin Kline Award for outstanding production and were nominated for a

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur (; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Often referred to as the "First Lady of American Theatre", she was the second person and first woman to win EGOT, the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and ...

Award for outstanding design. Her set design for the Black Repertory Theatre's production of ''Macbeth'' won the Judy Award and was a Woodie King Award nominee."

References

External links

Marie Anne Chiment's Portfolio site Costuming for the Long Haul
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070609031952/http://www.kevinklineawards.org/index.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiment, Marie Anne Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American costume designers American women costume designers American scenic designers Women scenic designers Tisch School of the Arts alumni