MAUREEN PAYNE-HAHNER is an international director, script consultant, producer and Climate Change activist who resides between Munich, Germany and The Bronx, NYC. She holds a certificate in Women’s Leadership Studies from the University of Oxford, Said School of Business. Her stage work has appeared in London, NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles, Vienna, Munich, Zagreb, and Bangalore, India. A founding Ensemble member of The Gift Theatre, she has directed select works written by Caryl Churchill, Mona Mansour, Michael Frayn, Sarah Treem, Rory Fellowes, David Mamet, and several others. Additional credits include The School at Steppenwolf and Yale School of Drama, Summer Cabaret (AD).
She currently helms WIN: Writers Innovative Network spearheading and directing new stage, screen, and audio plays. Current works in the pipeline, written by Silvia Peto, BRUME, ZERO, THE GROUNDSKEEPERS and the new musical, TEMPLE-recipient of “Promise of Greatness” award, and remains in collaboration with television/stage writer, David Mulei: audio (Hero & Leander (Ovid), OVERHEARD (Tolstoy), The Fall of Theodore Roosevelt-Recipient of Sheen Center Playwrights Fellowship NYC (2020)). Currently, she is directing the play for audio and radio, Winston and the Duke, with London’s The Raconteurs. Her dream project includes the music of Nick Cave. Next up: She is directing two short films to be shot in various locations throughout Europe and NYC. Representation sits in London.
Maureen lives with her husband, Christoph, their dog, Peaches, stopping over in the Netherlands to visit their daughter, Liv, who is a first-year university student. She highly recommends visiting the city of Utrecht, a truly progressive place full of happy people.
Thank you, Chicago Ensemble locals for keeping The Gift spirit engaged, and thoroughly alive.