Maria Björnson

Maria Björnson (16 February 1949, Paris – 13 December 2002, London) was an acclaimed theatre stage designer, born in Paris to Norwegian and Romanian parents.

Björnson worked for many theatres around the world, designing sets and costumes both for straight drama and for opera. Some of her more notable commissions were for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, which won her the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design, and the Trevor Nunn production of Aspects of Love.

Björnson also worked as a tutor at Central St Martins College Of Art & Design. She was course director for "Theatre Design".

In 2006, the refurbished Young Vic opened a new theatre named The Maria in recognition of the designers achievements and remarkable commitment to developing and enhancing the careers of younger theatre practitioners. The first performance in The Maria was Love and Money by Dennis Kelly, directed by Matthew Dunster and designed by Anna Fleischle.

Her great-grandfather was the Nobel prize-winning Norwegian playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.

References

External links

Maria Björnson at the Internet Broadway Database

Boris Aronson (1976) · David Mitchell (1977) · Robin Wagner (1978) · Eugene Lee (1979) · John Lee Beatty (1980) · John Bury (1981) · John Napier / Dermot Hayes (1982) · Ming Cho Lee (1983) · Tony Straiges (1984) · Heidi Landesman (1985) · Tony Walton (1986) · John Napier (1987) · Maria Björnson (1988) · Santo Loquasto (1989) · Robin Wagner (1990) · Heidi Landesman (1991) · Richard Walton (1992) · John Arnone (1993) · Bob Crowley (1994) · John Napier (1995) · Brian Thomson (1996) · Stewart Laing (1997) · Richard Hudson (1998) · Richard Hoover (1999) · Bob Crowley (2000)
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