Maggie Smith is an award-winning playwright, actor and comedian located in Chicago, IL. As a performer, she has acted in numerous plays in the Chicagoland area such as “Everybody” (Eta Arts), “Lakeview Girls” (The Annoyance Theatre), and “Virtue and Grace” (Steppenwolf Theatre LookOut Series). In addition to theatre, she is experienced in voiceover work, performing in such podcasts as “Art is Prison” (Loyola Theatre Podcasts), “Sh*t, It’s Wednesday” (Loyola Theatre Podcasts, and narrating Sofia Whitman’s self-help book, “The Mindful Minimalist.” She has trained with The Second City as a part of their Conservatory and Writing programs, performing in “Video Killed Shrödinger’s Cat” (The Second City Training Center), and writing for “Clown Thesis” (The Second City Training Center).
Maggie was recently named the Best Playwright of 2024 by the Chicago Reader as a part of their annual “Best of Chicago” list. Recent credits include “The Courtship of Winifred Edwards” (Two Chairs Theatre Company), “Couch Tomb” (Fox and Spade Ensemble), “Calvaria: A Play for Feral Girls” (Babes with Blades Theatre Company), and many more.
Along with her love for comedy, she takes her own life experiences to create casual representation of the queer experience. In order to depict an experience that she and others are familiar with, she prefers to write characters in stories where their identities are not the driving force of the piece. Because of this, she finds herself called to place queer characters at the forefront of comedies. After all, that’s what her life is.
More of her work can be found at Website not available. Sign in: https://www.twine.net/signup
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Based on true events, Laura, Elmer, Nellie, Alice, Ida, and Edgar embark on an all-night journey in order to protect the city they love from vampires. Despite their young ages and constant adult supervision, the six Chicago children are determined to prove their neighbor’s disappearance is related to the supernatural, though their excursion may prove to reveal a more sinister reason.
On October 27th, 2023, COUCH TOMB received its first staged reading with the Municipal Hole Company at Wilson Abbey, as a part of their one-night-only event, WAMPYRRE. The event featured both COUCH TOMB and Grey Smith’s THE CONSUMPTION OF MERCY BROWN. COUCH TOMB was directed by Grey Smith. It featured Jenn Hessel (Laura), Simon Stringer (Phoebe), Sophie Duque (Alice), Rose Ley Hayek (Nellie), Levi Welch (Edgar), Elsa Roeber (Ida), and Will Colley (Frank).
In 2025, COUCH TOMB was adapted as a part of Fox and Spade Ensemble’s “Where There’s Smoke,” a double-bill performance at the Chicago Dramatists, which also featured Gwen Docter’s ABEONA The play was performed from April 3rd to April 5th, 2025.
It was directed by Kyle Drexler and Scout Cloud. It was performed by Emma Parsons (Laura), Can Lam (Elmer), Daria Koon (Alice), Elizabeth Avery (Nellie), Zoe Maxwell (Edgar), Rocky Nguyen (Ida) and Peyton Hooks (Frank).
God watched the sinners. God got mad. God turned them into human-rat hybrids. How unfortunate.
Told entirely through iambic pentameter, BOHEMIAN RAT CITY focuses on the driving force behind religion, exploring what makes a person choose to believe in any form of deity. This piece came out of a playwriting course in the spring of 2019, focusing on spectacle, diction, and rhythm. This concept was further developed in late 2019, with the devised piece RATS: THE MUSICAL, produced by Loyola University Chicago’s Second Stage Program.
BOHEMIAN RAT CITY received a reading with the Fox and Spade Ensemble as a part of its Lonely Arts Club event in February, 2025. It featured performances by Liz Freeman, Tom Cannon, Bri Murray, and Elizabeth Johnson, and was directed by Scout Cloud.
Set in 1890s America, THE COURTSHIP OF WINIFRED EDWARDS tells the story of two families in the process of becoming one. When Winifred leaves her handkerchief at a dinner party, Anthony Tailor becomes convinced she did so as a means of gaining his attention. He enlists his cousin, Georgia, to help him return the handkerchief and scout out Winifred’s feelings for him. But it’s never that simple, is it?
THE COURTSHIP OF WINIFRED EDWARDS explores the customs of America’s Victorian Era, especially focusing on the rules surrounding courtship for younger couples. This play also has a specific interest in social differences between generations, particularly in the ever-changing idea of what is “proper” and “improper.” Most importantly, this play was written to explore themes of queer relationships in period pieces. As a queer writer, I’m tired of all historical representation I see of myself have sad endings. This play was made to fix that.
THE COURTSHIP OF WINIFRED EDWARDS received its world premiere production as a part of Two Chairs Theatre Co.'s 2024-2025 Season.
It featured Peri Griffiths (Winifred), Zoe Sinton-Covens (Ottilie), Gretchen Greear (Eleanora), Grant Batdorff (Granville), Elizabeth Avery (Georgia), John Francis Klingle (Anthony), Andrew Dardena (Clarence), Timothy Sullivan (Victor), Kimberly Florian (Charlotte), and Lauren Reece (Swing), and was stage managed by Anthony Doyle.
The Fall of 1814, Kingston upon Thames. As four best friends ready themselves to court this season, Lady Grace Quimby schemes to attend events dressed as a man in order to court other women. With the help of her friends, she dons a disguise and navigates a convoluted web of lies. It is a farcical tale of love, gender, and societal pressure.
As a part of Virtue and Grace, I performed in an internal workshop, a public reading at Chicago’s Understudy Cafe, and a public performance with Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s LookOut Series.
VIDEO KILLED SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT was a the final result of my year with the Second City Training Center’s Conservatory Program. As a part of this program, our ensemble pitched, developed, and performed a series of sketches, ending with a four-week run of our final show.
“This is a concise yet all-encompassing guide to streamlining and simplifying your life. This guidebook presents a rejuvenating perspective on intentional living, mindfulness, and holistic wellness. With actionable steps, practical tips, and motivational insights, you will learn to shed the unnecessary and concentrate on what truly enriches your life. Explore this guide and find the inspiration to embrace a purposeful and mindful approach to minimalism.”
I acted as a narrator for “The Mindful Minimalist” audiobook, available on audible.com and Apple Audiobooks. I not only provided voice narration for this project, but I also edited the audio myself, allowing the project to have the exact tone and pacing needed for listeners of this project.
The creative writing class of Mary Magdalene’s Preparatory School for Girls have less than three hours to finish editing their school’s literary magazine. Too bad they don’t have any poems to edit. In a last-ditch effort to complete their task, the girls lock themselves in their classroom in order to have a long and hard conversation that even the smartest among us can’t answer: What makes good poetry?
EXQUISITE CORPSE received its first production at Samford University. It featured Kirsten Erickson (Darcy), Ross (Hester), Addie O’Brien (Madeline), Emily Acosta (Sara), Anna Sularin (Carrie), Catherine Boyd (Dorothy), and Lizzie McDonald (Jo). The play was directed by Jordan Rehm, and stage managed by Katie Suchman.
In the wake of their youngest sister’s death, two young women take the logical next step in deciding to canonize her as a saint. In diving into the details of her life, however, the two learn much more about her than they bargained for.
SAINT LOUISE, PRAY FOR US received its first reading with the Loyola University Chicago Second Stage Program, and was performed in the Loyola University Chicago Underground Theatre. The performance featured Rose Ley Hayek (Gen), Maegan Pate (Toni), Elaine Peterson (Louise), Mia Maccarella (Mary), Levi Welch (Riley/Tyler), Drew Clemens (Fr. Thompson), Claire Peters-Seymour (Emma), and Elise Mitchell (Stage Directions). The piece was stage managed by Megan Crane, and mentored by Dr. Kelly Howe.
“Sh*t! It’s Wednesday” is an absurdist, science-fiction podcast that explores a world in which humans begin to remember their past lives.
As a part of this project, I played the role of Chelsea, described as a “fiery, somewhat stubborn podcast host” who follows the web of people remembering their past lives down to its source.
Episode 1: https://www.twine.net/signin
Episode 2: https://www.twine.net/signin
Episode 3: https://www.twine.net/signin
“Art Is Prison” was an immersive audio tour created for Loyola University Chicago as a part of their immersive theatre course, following Space and Time as they search for various gods trapped in campus statues in order to choose one to free back into the universe.
As a part of this project, I played the role of Space, channeling a chaotically organized nature through each episode of the podcast while interacting with each character on the podcast’s immersive journey.
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