Ensemble Member
Since 1993
Mary Zimmerman (she/her) is an Ensemble Member of Lookingglass Theater, an Artistic Associate of the Goodman Theatre, and a professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern University. Her work with Lookingglass includes Metamorphoses (for which she won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Direction), The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Argonautika, The Odyssey, The Arabian Nights, The Secret in the Wings, S/M: A Dream Biography, Treasure Island, and the site-specific Eleven Rooms of Proust. At the Goodman, her work includes directing and adapting The Journey to the West, Silk, Jungle Book, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Candide, Galileo, Galilei and directing Wonderful Town and The Music Man. These and other works have been performed at Berkeley Repertory, Second Stage, The Princeton and McCarter Theaters, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and many other regional theaters; and they have been produced and directed by others nationally and internationally. She also directs opera, including six productions at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and La Scala in Milan. She is a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. This season she is directing Florencia en el Amazonas at the Metropolitan, and her adaptation of Mozart, The Matchbox Magic Flute at the Goodman Theater. Her Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci is touring to The Shakespeare Theater of DC and The Old Globe in San Diego. Among all the shows she has been involved with, The Steadfast Tin Soldier ranks high among her most favorite.
Bio as of 2023
Artist Media
Lookingglass Productions
Credits And Awards
Theatre Credits – Adaptor/Director
Broadway
- Metamorphoses (Circle in the Square Theatre)
Off-Broadway
- Metamorphoses (Second Stage Theatre)
- Galileo Galilei (British Academy of Music)
Chicago
- Galileo Galilei, The White Snake, The Jungle Book, Candide, The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Silk, Journey to the West, Mirror of the Invisible World, The Odyssey (Goodman Theatre)
Regional
- Metamorphoses (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage)
- The Secret in the Wings (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre)
International
- Galileo Galilei (Barbican Theatre)
Theatre Credits – Director
Off-Broadway
- Rusalka, Lucia Di Lammermoor, La Sonnambula, and Rossini’s Armida (Metropolitan Opera)
Chicago
- Wonderful Town, Pericles, The Baltimore Waltz, All’s Well That Ends Well (Goodman Theatre)
Awards
- MacArthur Fellowship (1998)
- Tony Award for Director of a Play for Metamorphoses (Circle in the Square Theatre, 2002)
- Jeff Award for New Adaptation for Candide (Goodman Theatre, 2011)
- Jeff Award for New Adaptation for Argonautika (Lookingglass Theatre Company, 2007)
- Jeff Award for New Adaptation for Metamorphoses (Lookingglass Theatre Company, 1999)
- Jeff Award for New Adaptation for Mirror of the Invisible World (Goodman Theatre, 1997)
- Jeff Award for New Work for Journey to the West (Goodman Theatre, 1995)
- Jeff Award for Director –Play and New Adaptation for The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (Goodman Theatre, 1994)
- Jeff Award for Director – Play and New Adaptation for The Arabian Nights (Lookingglass Theatre Company, 1993)
- Jeff Award for Director – Play and Choreography for The Odyssey (Lookingglass Theatre Company, 1991)
Education
Northwestern University