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How local actor Marion Mayfield is inspiring kids


This season, Marion Bienvenu premiered in two new roles.

The actor got married and became Marion Mayfield, and she accepted a new position as education liaison at Louisiana Art & Science Museum.

Now, Mayfield works alongside LASM’s Sheldon the Sheepdog puppet and channels Ms. Frizzle, Princess Fiona, Lucy van Pelt and a host of other characters in the museum’s educational programming.

Mayfield began her creative career as a teenager, when she debuted in Theatre Baton Rouge’s 2004 summer musical Children of Eden. After graduating St. Joseph’s Academy, and then Northwestern State University in 2012, she auditioned at cattle calls across the country.

She was cast in lead roles ranging from Jo March in Colorado’s Thingamajig Theatre Company’s Little Women to Joanne in Hawaii’s Manoa Valley Theatre’s Rent.

Mayfield hosts Louisiana Art & Science Museum’s online videos engaging kids at home or in the classroom.

Between those gigs, Mayfield came back to the Capital City and landed her dream role in Theatre Baton Rouge’s 2018 production of Cabaret.

“Not only did I get to play Sally Bowles, but my mother was on stage with me as Frau Schneider,” Mayfield says. “She’s my best friend, my biggest fan and [the person] who introduced me to musical theater. So, it was a very special time for us.”

A year later, Mayfield’s strong family ties, new fiancé and sense of responsibility to the local arts community prompted her to settle in Louisiana’s Capital City.

“The only way the arts in Baton Rouge can continue to grow,” says Mayfield, “is for artists to bring back knowledge from outside of our small community and use it to inspire others to find their true passion.”

It wasn’t long before LASM recruited Mayfield to join its education staff—and she brought with her the talent she’d learned acting across the United States.

Mayfield admits that finding herself at the convergence of art and science in the old train station was challenging at first. As a child, she wasn’t as interested in science as she is now.

But thanks to her years at local youth theater company Playmakers of Baton Rouge and a side hustle as a nanny, Mayfield has made fast friends with the thousands of educators and kids who visit LASM on school field trips.

“I love exciting kids about science and inspiring them to consider STEAM-related fields in their future,” she says now.

When COVID-19 caused temporary closures and capacity restrictions at the museum, “Our staff embarked on a year of unprecedented creativity,” Mayfield says.

The team quickly developed “Virtual Voyages.” Hosted by Mayfield, the series of Kids Lab science experiments, Traveling Trunk show story times and other online videos engage kids at home or in the classroom.

Mayfield hopes live theater and in-person learning will return soon. In the meantime, she is determined to find a way to educate and entertain audiences.

Despite any obstacles, the veteran performer knows, the show must go on. lasm.org and marionbienvenu.com


This article was originally published in the April 2021 issue of 225 magazine.