Kimi Maeda is a Japanese American theatre artist based in Japan's Shimane Prefecture. Trained as a scenic and costume designer, as well as a puppeteer, her intimate visual performances cross disciplines and push boundaries.
Her "ephemera trilogy" is a collection of sand drawing and shadow performances that deal with memory, home, and trans-cultural identity. It was nominated for a Drama Desk Award in 2017 and she has taken the final chapter, Bend, across the U.S. and Japan.
She was selected in 2017 for a Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship from the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. This led to a Creative Capital Award in 2023 and a 2024 Asian Cultural Council fellowship supporting her new project, Ichi Oku House – an immersive documentary performance set in an abandoned house in rural Japan.
While at MacDowell, Maeda made a large-scale physical outline of Ichi Oku House.
