Ina Mayhew ’81

Ina Mayhew ’81 (theatre design/tech) is an acclaimed production designer who has designed more than 25 feature films, a dozen television shows, many commercials, music videos, industrial presentations, a movie musical, and permanent studio backlots.

Along the way she has worked with many notable directors and producers such as Spike and Malcolm Lee, Ava DuVernay, and Tyler Perry; and she has designed for Netflix, Warner Brothers, MGM, Lionsgate, New Line, 40 Acres and A Mule, BET, HBO, MTV, Universal, PBS, and Island Pictures.

Recently, Mayhew was production designer on HBO MAX’s The Great Lillian Hall (2024), the award-winning film Origin, written and directed by Ava DuVernay (2023), and Rise (2022).

Before that, she designed Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, directed by Debbie Allen and Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings on Netflix, an 8-episode anthology.

Mayhew was the production designer on Respect, the film on the life of singer Aretha Franklin starring Jennifer Hudson.

Mayhew was production designer on the award-winning series Queen Sugar, executive produced by Ava DuVernay for Oprah Winfrey’s Network.

She designed the Emmy Award-nominated TV movie Christmas of Many Colors for Dolly Parton and NBC; the TV series Second Generation Wayans and two seasons of The Quad on BET; The Renee Fleming Christmas Special for PBS; the dark MTV series Teen Wolf, and the comedy film Barbershop: In the Cut.

She also designed a music video, directed by DuVernay and starring Beyonce and Jay-Z, for their song “Family Feud.”

Mayhew’s first film was Sidewalk Stories with director and Purchase classmate
Charles Lane, a black-and-white silent film that won 12 awards, including the Audience Award at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. 

Mayhew currently sits as a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

She has been teaching an annual class in Production Design at Purchase College since 2005, as her schedule permits.

She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Purchase in 2019.