Mimi Lien
Mimi Lien is a Brooklyn-based scenic designer whose practice — informed by an architectural background — explores what happens to an audience when the space they inhabit becomes part of the story. In 2015, she became the first set designer ever named a MacArthur Fellow. Two years later, she won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.
New York, United States. Scenic Design. Immersive theatrical scenic design.
The Great Comet was the show that changed how I think about theatre. Mimi Lien transformed the Imperial into something I had never experienced before — not just a stage, but a lush Russian supper club where the walls were deep red, actors moved through catwalks woven into the audience, and overhead hung a ceiling of sputnik chandeliers that left me in awe. That experience planted something in me. It made me want to produce theatre. Her work is a reminder that sweating the details doesn't just make something beautiful — it creates experiences that stay with people a decade later.
Will
