Maxine Bean, Actress, Producer

A producer, actress and costumer, Maxine began her theatrical career as a 1929 child radio star on KMOX in her home town of St. Louis, Missouri. In 1944, she won "Best Actress of the Year" at her Alma Mater, Grinnell College in Iowa:

Maxine Hay as Sister Beatrice in the miracle play,"Sister Beatrice."

Maxine married attorney Lee Bean in 1949 and moved to Arlington, Virginia where they raised their family of three: Rebecca Ann (Otto), Lorenzo Lee (the third), and Meredith (McMath).

When Lee passed away in 1989, Maxine came to live in Hillsboro with Meredith and family. She began performing in Growing Stage productions (Treasures; The Musical Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever) and went on to serve as Costume Director for Very Special Arts.

From 1999-2000, Maxine co-produced WTRI Radio's "Armchair Theatre" in Brunswick, Maryland and from 2000-2002 "Fireside Theatre" for Leesburg, Virginia's WAGE Radio. Maxine and daughter, Meredith Bean McMath, co-produced the 2002-2003 Tally Ho Radio Show in Leesburg, Virginia, a 1940s-style live radio show complete with sound effects (A Christmas Carol - Dec. 02, Arsenic and Old Lace, Feb. 03, and Nickelodeon, May 03).

Her work as costumer for local theatre productions includes The Growing Stage's Music Man and Taming of the Shrew, Not Just Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and serving five years as costume designer for Tom Sweitzer's Hill School 8th Grade theatre productions.

Maxine's costumes for a Roaring Twenties version of Hello, Dolly, fall of 2000, Hill School.

Maxine continues to act in local productions. In 2004, she played Aunt March in Aurora Studio Theatre's Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN. In 2005 she played "Til" in Aurora's The Pajama Game and then reprised the role she originated of "Miss Violet" in PORCHES: An American Musical that fall. She occasionally works as an acting coach for local talent and helps produce theatre programs for senior citizens through the Loudoun Council for the Aging in Leesburg, Virginia.

Maxine Bean with PORCHES Director Tom Sweitzer.

Maxine (far right) in the picnic scene of PORCHES: An American Musical in the fall 2005 production of PORCHES

at The Mishler Theatre in Altoona, Pennsylvania.