- Max Demián (Performance Artist)
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Max Demián (born February 14, 1986) is a performance artist based in Chicago. His recent acting credits include The Mind of Delilah directed by Amir George, Heather directed by Melissa Lawrenz, and Bowser Makes a Movie directed by Toby Ross.
Demián's work has also been seen at Albany Park Theater Project[1], About Face Theatre[2], Chicago Tonight, Art Beat Chicago, Vittum Theater[3], Museum of Contemporary Art[4] and many more.
International credits include Saffron, a co production with [5], American Idol Season 1, and was also one of six local artist chosen as the face for Lambda Legal's [6] 'Out, Safe, and Respected' campaign.
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Early life
Demián was born in Mexico City, the son of Soledad (Aguirre), a writer, designer, and painter; and Max Armendariz Winfield, a computer technician. Demian's mother is Mexican and his father was a Catholic of Irish and Mexican descent. Demián moved to Chicago at the age of one. Demián attended grade school at the Casimir Pulaski Community Academy (a progressive K–8 school in Chicago) and attended high school at Lake Forest Academy (an elite private school on Chicago's North Shore with a strong math and science program).
Career
Max Demián began creating original theater based on the true stories of people in the Albany Park neighborhood. Alongside the Albany Park Theater Project, he was part of the artistic team that directs the ensemble's stage work; he also lead the company's ethnographic work, was co-coordinator of the college counseling program that APTP offers its teen artists, and facilitated workshops in performance skills. Max first arrived at APTP, though, on June 1, 2001, as an ensemble member, when he was a fourteen year-old freshman at Roosevelt High School. Max was part of devising all of the company's original performance works between 2001 and 2009, and as an actor performed the life stories of more than 20 people, including memorable roles in Saffron, After Michael, Leaves Growing Trees, A Little Thing, and Huy Time (a lead role Max learned overnight to replace another actor 24 hours before opening). Max saw his own life portrayed on the APTP stage, first in the 2004 piece, Aqui Estoy, and then again in the 2006 piece, 9 diggits. Max's work on God's Work made him the first ensemble member to assistant direct an APTP piece.
Max Demián also became Music Director in 2008 since his first show in 2001. In that time, he has facilitated the creation of original music for all of APTP's work, including Huy Time, in which Micah Bezold (an alumnus of both the ensemble and staff) played a score composed on more than 20 percussion instruments; The Love Is Strong, for which APTP actors re-created a 60's Mexican pop band; and Saffron, which featured a Persian-inspired score performed by Mareva Lindo on oud and Ana Ovando on tonbak and daf, and an original corrido that told the story of a restaurant busboy played by Max Demián. With Micah,Demián composed the score of God's Work, named one of the best theater productions of 2006 by Hedy Weiss in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Awards
- Recognized by the Chicago Free Press for Performance at the First Latina/o Pride Parade—7/8/06
- Awarded along with the APTP the 2004 Coming Up Taller Award from former First Lady Laura Bush
- Recognized by the New York Times along with the APTP 2003
- Recognized by the Chicago Sun-times along with the APTP 2003
Personal life
Demián lives in Chicago and is openly homosexual. [7]
References
Categories:- 1986 births
- Living people
- People from Chicago, Illinois
- American performance artists
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