Artist Bio

(Bio as of May 2008)

Myrna Colley-Lee most recently collaborated with the Goodman on The Ballad of Emmett Till during the 2007/2008 Season. Other Chicago credits include The Wedding Band at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Off-Broadway, Ms. Colley-Lee recently designed the costumes for Becoming Adele at Harold Clurman Theatre. Other recent designs include Gee’s Bend, The Piano Lesson and Forest City at The Cleveland Play House; as well as Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Relativity at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Last fall, the Mississippi Museum of Art presented an exhibit of her costume renderings entitled “GladRags: Sketches, Swatches and Costume Designs by Myrna Colley-Lee,” which is now touring throughout Mississippi. Most recently, she co-founded the SonEdna Foundation, which supports the literary arts in the Mississippi Delta. Among Colley-Lee’s many awards are a DCA, honoris causa, from Mississippi State University; the Honored Artist Award of the Mississippi Chapter of the National Museum of Women in the Arts; the Outstanding Costume Design Award from the National Black Theatre Festival; the Wynona Lee Fletcher Award for Outstanding Achievement as a Designer; and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Lifetime Achievement Award.