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Christopher Massimine

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Massimine and Nia Franklin at the 2019 United Nations Civil Society Conference

Christopher Massimine (born May 1986)[1][2] is an American former theater producer and the former CEO of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. In 2019, he was appointed managing director of the Pioneer Theatre Company at the University of Utah, but he resigned in August 2021, citing mental illness, in response to reports that he fabricated large portions of his résumé.[1][3]

Education

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Massimine was born in New Jersey and grew up in Somerset.[4] He attended New York University, where he received a bachelor's degree, though he falsely claimed to have also received a master's degree from the university.[4]

Career

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In 2016, Massimine was appointed chief executive officer of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.[4] He was the executive producer of the 2015 KulturfestNYC, an international Jewish performing arts festival.[5][6] Later that year, he co-produced a tribute concert for Theodore Bikel.[7] During Massimine's tenure at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, the theatre was an associate producer of the 2017 Broadway production of Indecent,[8] which was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. In 2018, Massimine was executive producer of the theatre's U.S. premiere of Fidler Afn Dakh, a Yiddish-language production of Fiddler on the Roof directed by Joel Grey.[9][10]

In 2019, Massimine was named managing director of the Pioneer Theatre Company at the University of Utah, succeeding Chris Lino, who had retired.[11]

In May 2021, Massimine went on approved personal leave from the university, pending an investigation, after reports by Fox 13 and The Salt Lake Tribune that he falsified numerous credits on his résumé and claimed to have received a medal from an arts organization which did not actually exist.[4][12][13] Additionally, despite claiming to have received Tony Award nominations for his work on American Idiot and Indecent, the Tony Awards confirmed that Massimine was not actually nominated.[13]

In August 2021, shortly before a report by The New York Times was published corroborating the claims against him, he resigned and said he had battled mental illness his entire life.[4] Massimine was diagnosed with a Cluster B personality disorder.[2] The symptoms of this mental illness involve deception, attention-seeking, unpredictable thinking or behavior, a histrionic personality, and a narcissistic personality.[2][14] In a 2022 column for Newsweek, Massimine said about his mental illness, "As part of my diagnosis, when I am in mental distress, I create fabrications to help build myself up, since that self-esteem by itself doesn't exist. I compensated in the only way I knew how to: I created my own reality, and eventually that spilled into my work."[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b Herbets, Adam (August 18, 2021). "University of Utah exec resigns after FOX 13 exposes a series of extravagant lies". Fox13now. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Barry, Ellen (November 29, 2022). "Can He Ever Stop Lying?". The New York Times. p. D1. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  3. ^ Means, Sean P. (August 17, 2021). "Pioneer Theatre's managing director resigns, months after questions about bogus credits on his resumé". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e Ritzel, Rebecca J. (August 16, 2021). "Theater Director With Exaggerated Résumé Quits, Citing Mental Illness". The New York Times. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  5. ^ Cuestas, Gianluca (June 10, 2015). "Jewish performing arts festival, Kulturfest, will highlight importance and vitality of Yiddish culture". NY Daily News. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  6. ^ "KulturfestNYC, the very-inclusive first-ever international Jewish performing arts festival, begins June 11th". Downtown Magazine NYC. July 11, 2015. Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  7. ^ Clement, Olivia (July 28, 2015). "Broadway Will Celebrate Theodore Bikel with Tribute Concert". Playbill. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  8. ^ "Indecent". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  9. ^ Deb, Sopan (December 26, 2017). "Yiddish-Language 'Fiddler on the Roof' Is Coming to New York". The New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  10. ^ Sorokoff, Stephen (July 17, 2018). "Photos: Inside Opening Night of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF in Yiddish". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  11. ^ Means, Sean P. (February 27, 2019). "Tony-nominated producer Christopher Massimine picked as new managing director of Utah's Pioneer Theatre Company". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  12. ^ Means, Sean P. (June 4, 2021). "Claims on Pioneer Theatre managing director's resumé seem to be bogus". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  13. ^ a b Herbets, Adam (August 18, 2021). "High-paid University of Utah executive lied on resume, published fake articles". FOX 13 Investigates. KSTU. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  14. ^ Massimine, Christopher (November 29, 2022). "I'm a Liar, and It Will Follow Me Forever". Medium. Retrieved November 29, 2022. Earlier today, a NY Times article came out detailing and profiling my lifetime of fabrications. And there's a lot to process.
  15. ^ Massimine, Christopher (October 6, 2022). "I Was Canceled, It Turned My Life Upside Down". Newsweek. Retrieved November 29, 2022. I made mistakes, it caught attention, and it spread like wildfire all over the web. It's now there forever.
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