Jennifer von Mayrhauser | |
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| Occupation | Costume designer |
Jennifer von Mayrhauser is an Americancostume designer who has designed costumes for more than thirty Broadway productions, and is notable for her significant contributions in film, television, and theatre.[1][2]
von Mayrhauser was born inIthaca, New York.[3][4] Her father,Thomas G. Bergin, a noted author and a translator of Dante, Petrarch and Vico, was also a professor and Master of Timothy Dwight College at Yale University.[5] She attendedEmma Willard School in Troy, New York, founded by the women's rights advocateEmma Willard in 1814.[6] She also studied atFrancis Holland School in London.[7] She then earned a theatre degree fromNorthwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In New York City she studied costume design at Lester Polakov'sNew York Studio and Forum of Stage Design, a significant training program for theatre designers, founded in 1958 in Greenwich Village.[3][8] She was Adjunct Professor of Costume Design at Brandeis University from 1991 to 2012. She is married to Richard Cottrell, with whom she has two daughters: Julia Dennison, who is an editor and journalist in New York, and Lucy Cottrell, a therapist in New York.[4]
She began her career in New York assistingSanto Loquasto and Carrie Robbins, and she began designing costumes herself in 1973. She then joinedCircle Repertory Company as resident designer, designing over thirty shows there including her first Broadway show,Knock Knock, in 1976.[3]
Jennifer von Mayrhauser's Broadway costume designs include:Disgraced, written byAyad Akhtar and directed by Kimberly Senior;Wit;Come Back Little Sheba, written byWilliam Inge, directed byMichael Pressman, and starringS. Epatha Merkerson,Kevin Anderson, andZoe Kazan;[9]Rabbit Hole, written byDavid Lindsay-Abaire, directed byDaniel Sullivan, and starringCynthia Nixon andTyne Daly;A Thousand Clowns, written byHerb Gardner, directed byScott Ellis, starringJudd Hirsch andMarin Hinkle;The Heidi Chronicles, written byWendy Wasserstein, directed byDaniel J. Sullivan, starringJoan Allen andBoyd Gaines;Execution of Justice,Hay Fever, written byNoël Coward, directed byBrian Murray, and starringRosemary Harris; the musicalBaby, directed byRichard Maltby, Jr., book bySybille Pearson, music byDavid Shire, lyrics byRichard Maltby, Jr., and starringLiz Callaway,Beth Fowler,Todd Graff,Catherine Cox andMartin Vidnovic;Passion,Angels Fall, written byLanford Wilson, directed byMarshall W. Mason, and starringFritz Weaver,Nancy Snyder,Tanya Berezin andBarnard Hughes;Steaming;The Wake of Jamey Foster;Beyond Therapy;The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940;Special Occasions;Talley's Folly;[10]The Night of the Iguana;The Boys in Autumn; directed byTheodore Mann, and starringGeorge C. Scott andJohn Cullum as Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer;Awake and Sing;The Father; andJohn Gabriel Borkman, written byHenrik Ibsen, directed byAustin Pendleton, and starringE.G. Marshall,Rosemary Murphy andIrene Worth.[2]
She has designed costumes Off-Broadway, including the American premiere ofPenelope Skinner’s play,Linda, directed byLynne Meadow;Prodigal Son, written and directed byJohn Patrick Shanley;Dada Woof Papa Hot byPeter Parnell and directed byScott Ellis;Ripcord, byDavid Lindsay-Abaire and directed byDavid Hyde Pierce;Domesticated, byBruce Norris atLincoln Center;[11]Me Myself and I byEdward Albee, atPlaywrights Horizons in New York,[12]Have You Seen Us byAthol Fugard at theLong Wharf Theatre;Third byWendy Wasserstein atLincoln Center;Pain and the Itch by Bruce Norris atPlaywrights Horizons in New York;All Over byEdward Albee at theRoundabout Theatre;The Miss Firecracker Contest atManhattan Theatre Club;The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 at Circle Rep;Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at theSecond Stage Theatre; andUncommon Women & Others, at thePhoenix Theatre.[13]
In the fall of 2025, von Mayrhauser designed the costumes forThe Hills of California, written byJez Butterworth and directed by Loretta Greco, at the Huntington Theater in Boston and at Berkely Rep in California.[14][15]
She designedThe Glass Menagerie, written byTennessee Williams at theGuthrie Theater and at theMcCarter Theater. It was directed byEmily Mann, and starredShirley Knight as Amanda.[16]
She has designed costumes for more than twelve films, including:The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, directed byRebecca Miller, and starringRobin Wright,Blake Lively,Alan Arkin,Keanu Reeves,Maria Bello,Zoe Kazan,Winona Ryder,Monica Bellucci,Julianne Moore andShirley Knight;[17]The Ballad of Jack and Rose, starringDaniel Day-Lewis,Camilla Belle,Catherine Keener andPaul Dano;First Born,Double Whammy;The Real Blonde;I'm Not Rappaport, written and directed byHerb Gardner and starringWalter Matthau;[18]Captain Ron;Bed & Breakfast;Passed Away, starringBlair Brown,Tim Curry,Frances McDormand,Maureen Stapleton andDylan Baker;The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, directed byCurtis Hanson, and starringAnnabella Sciorra,Julianne Moore andRebecca De Mornay;Lean on Me andMystic Pizza, starringJulia Roberts,Lili Taylor andMatt Damon.[1]
She has designed costumes for television including: The pilot episode for the CBS drama seriesFBI: Most Wanted, the CBS seriesFBI, theUSA seriesThe Sinner, starringJessica Biel andBill Pullman; and the pilot forSEAL Team a dramatic series starringDavid Boreanaz that premiered on CBS in September 2017;The Tap (pilot);Game of Silence (pilot);The Slap;Under the Dome;Unforgettable;In Treatment (Debra Winger's costumes);Law & Order (eighteen seasons);Conviction;Carry Me Home;The Dreamer of Oz;Women & Wallace;Perfect Witness;Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, starringLillian Gish,Sada Thompson,Butterfly McQueen andGeraldine Page;New York Undercover;Feds;The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd;For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf; andKiss Kiss, Darlings, written by Wendy Wasserstein, and starringBlythe Danner.[1]
von Mayrhauser was nominated for theAmerican Theatre Wing Hewes Design Award forThe Pain and the Itch.[19] She received anObie Award for "Sustained Excellence in Costume Design",[20] anEmmy Award Nomination for "Outstanding Costume Design for a Series" forLaw & Order,[21] and she was honored by theNew York Women in Film and Television programDesigning Hollywood.[22]
She is a member of theTony Award Nominating Committee for the 2015–2018 Broadway seasons.[23]
