Mimi Lien

Personal Information
Mimi Lien is a designer of sets/environments for theater, dance, and opera. Arriving at set design from a background in architecture, her work often focuses on the interaction between audience/environment and object/performer. She hails from New Haven, CT and is based in Brooklyn, NY.

She was recently named a 2015 MacArthur Fellow, and is the first set designer ever to achieve this distinction. Selected work includes Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 (Broadway, Lortel Award, 2013 Hewes Design Award), John (Signature Theatre, 2016 Hewes Design Award), Appropriate (Mark Taper Forum, LA Drama Critics Circle Award), Preludes, The Oldest Boy (Lincoln Center), An Octoroon (Soho Rep/TFANA, Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), Black Mountain Songs (BAM Next Wave). Her stage designs have been exhibited in the Prague Quadrennial in 2011 and 2015, and her sculptures were featured in the exhibition, LANDSCAPES OF QUARANTINE, at the Storefront for Art and Architecture.

Her designs for theater, dance, and opera have been seen around the U.S. at such venues as Lincoln Center Theater, Signature Theatre, Playwright's Horizons, the Public Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Joyce Theater, Goodman Theatre, Soho Rep, and internationally at Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre (Russia), Intradans (Netherlands), National Theatre (Taiwan), among many others. Mimi Lien received a B.A. in Architecture from Yale University (1997) and an M.F.A. in Stage Design from New York University (2003).

She is a company member of Pig Iron Theatre Company and co-founder of the performance space JACK. (Biography dated 10/26/2017 )
 
External Links: Official Website
Credits

Designer
Production Theatre Opened Credit
1 I love you so much I could die New York Theatre Workshop 02/14/2024 Set Designer
2 Suffs Joseph Papp Public Theater/ Newman Theater 04/06/2022 Set Designer
3 The Thin Place Playwrights Horizons/ Peter Jay Sharp Theater 12/12/2019 Set Designer
4 The Secret Life of Bees Linda Gross Theater 06/13/2019 Set Designer
5 War Claire Tow Theater 06/06/2016 Set Designer
6 Signature Plays: Edward Albee's The Sandbox, Maria Irene Fornes' Drowning, and Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro Pershing Square Signature Center/ The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre 05/22/2016 Set Designer
7 Smokefall Lucille Lortel Theatre 02/22/2016 Set Designer
8 John Pershing Square Signature Center/ Irene Diamond Stage 08/11/2015 Set Designer
9 Preludes Claire Tow Theater 06/15/2015 Set Designer
10 The World of Extreme Happiness New York City Center/ Stage I 02/24/2015 Set Designer
11 The Oldest Boy Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater 11/03/2014 Set Designer
12 The Great Immensity Joseph Papp Public Theater/ Martinson Hall 04/24/2014 Set Designer
13 Stop Hitting Yourself Claire Tow Theater 01/27/2014 Set Designer
14 Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 Kazino 05/16/2013 Set Designer
15 The Dance and the Railroad Pershing Square Signature Center/ The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre 02/25/2013 Set Designer
16 Luck of the Irish Claire Tow Theater 02/11/2013 Set Designer
17 The Whale Playwrights Horizons/ Peter Jay Sharp Theater 11/05/2012 Set Designer
18 Milk Like Sugar Playwrights Horizons/ Peter Jay Sharp Theater 11/01/2011 Set Designer
19 The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World Playwrights Horizons 06/07/2011 Set Designer
20 Mahida's Extra Key to Heaven Peter Norton Space 09/26/2009 Set Designer
21 Palace of the End Playwrights Horizons/ Peter Jay Sharp Theater 06/23/2008 Set Designer
22 Queens Boulevard (the musical) Peter Norton Space 11/06/2007 Set Designer
Awards
Award Production Function
1 NOMINATED 2017 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Scenic Design Signature Plays: Edward Albee's The Sandbox, Maria Irene Fornes' Drowning, and Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro Set Designer
2 NOMINATED 2016 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Scenic Design John Set Designer
3 NOMINATED 2016 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Set Design of a Play John Set Designer
4 WON 2016 Hewes Design Award, Scenic Design John Set Designer
5 NOMINATED 2016 Hewes Design Award, Scenic Design Signature Plays: Edward Albee's The Sandbox, Maria Irene Fornes' Drowning, and Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro Set Designer
6 WON 2016 Obie Award, Special Citation John Set Designer
7 WON 2014 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Scenic Design Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 Set Designer
8 NOMINATED 2014 Hewes Design Award, Scenic Design Stop Hitting Yourself Set Designer
9 NOMINATED 2013 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Set Design The Whale Set Designer
10 WON 2013 Hewes Design Award, Scenic Design Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 Set Designer
11 NOMINATED 2008 Hewes Design Award, Scenic Design Queens Boulevard (the musical) Set Designer