MAGGIE SMITH
(NOT THE DAME)
Hi! I'm Maggie Smith (she/her) and I'm an actor, playwright, and comedian based in Chicago, Illinois. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, I began studying theatre at a young age, taking any performance class that was offered to me. Upon graduating high school, I moved to Chicago to pursue a BA in Theatre, along with two minors in English and Shakespeare Studies, at Loyola University Chicago. In my time at Loyola, I led two projects with their Second Stage Program, Rats: The Musical and Saint Louise, Pray for Us, the former a devised absurdist musical and the latter a staged reading of a two-act play I wrote. Along with leading theatrical projects, I performed in many MainStage Productions in the Newhart Family Theatre, and participated in student-led projects as a performer, deviser, and writer.
I began my professional career soon after graduating, starting with
Eta Creative Arts' 51st Season in their remounted production of
Everybody as the Usher, God, and Understanding. In August of 2022, I was accepted into the Second City Conservatory Training Program, where I graduated from in 2023. In June 2024, my play Calvaria won Babes with Blades Theatre Company's Joining Sword & Pen Competition,
and will spend the next year continuing to develop this piece as a part of their Fighting Words festival.
In January, 2025, I was listed as the Best Playwright of 2024 as a part of The Chicago Reader's annual "Best of Chicago" list, and I can't wait to see what the rest of this year will bring! You can keep up to date with my work here, or on my Instagram account, @maggiesmithwritesandwrongs.
As a writer, I challenge myself and my audiences to process difficult topics through comedic lenses, focusing on grief, longing, "goodness," coping, and unconditional love in an engaging manner. Along with my love for comedy, I take my own life experiences to create casual representation of the queer experience. In order to depict an experience that I and others are familiar with, I prefer to write characters in stories where their identities are not the driving force of the piece. Because of this, I find myself called to place queer characters at the forefront of comedies.
After all, that's what my life is.
RÉSUMÉS
Photo by Joe Mazza, bravelux