Today we’d like to introduce you to Maeve Press.
Maeve, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My story starts with my unnatural desire to make people laugh from an early age, and my lack of interest in age appropriate activities. When I was 11 years old my mother signed me up for a one week summer camp that advertised itself as the camp for kids who hated the outdoors, swimming, hiking, campfires and arts and crafts. It turned out that it was a “comedy” camp and, along with a fairly uninspiring snack of veggie chips and water we spent the day doing free writes about our most embarrassing moments. I liked it. At the end of the week, we did a little stand-up show at a comedy club. I killed! Much to my parent’s surprise I asked to do the next week of camp too. For the first time in my life, I was a PARTICIPANT.
The next week was much the same, I wrote new material, did another show, and bombed. With a slightly bruised ego, I suddenly found a new part of myself… the part that said, “Mom, I must redeem myself! Bring me to an open mic immediately!” And she did. We went down to a “Ladies Night” open mic in a basement in the East Village of NYC. I learned things that night that I will not repeat, but, miraculously, I killed. This was the beginning of my stand-up comedy career, a beautiful artistic, circular journey I describe as “I kill I want more, I bomb, I need to redeem myself.”
As an actress I was lucky enough to be cast in an amazing play called “Before Your Very Eyes” at the Public Theater in NYC, in which I went through puberty, suffered through a mid-life crisis and died eight times a week. My current project, “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay,” a half hour comedy that will air in early 2020 on the Freeform network was created by the amazing, and let’s face it… lovable, Josh Thomas, the creator of “Please Like Me.” “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay,” is produced by Avalon Television and Freeform and introduces Nicholas (Josh Thomas), a neurotic 25-year-old visiting his single dad and two teenage half-sisters, one of which has autism.
He is not particularly helpful in raising his siblings, but when their dad becomes terminally ill, the girls have to cope with not only a devastating loss but also the realization that Nicholas is the one who will have to hold it all together. I won’t reveal much about season one, but I will tell you, as far as I know, my character, Genevieve, does not die.
Having the opportunity to play Genevieve and to work with the usually adorable and always incredible cast has been a thrilling experience, allowing me to grow as an actress and help bring a deeply real, original story to life.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Stand up comedy is full of constant mishaps and missteps. That’s the process to finding your voice and finding what’s funny in your voice. I have definitely weathered some strange and unwelcoming open mics while working on material. Growing up with learning disabilities, there have been numerous obstacles and challenges in my everyday life, but I find that those challenges, the things people see wrong in me, make me more empathetic as an actress and become the fodder for my material as a stand up comedian, so they become something really positive.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a stand up comedian and a writer and an actress. I like to think of myself as a creator, building worlds of characters and ideas that I can invite people in to. I am proud that as a comedian I am able to speak my truth, as a young female at a very critical time. I am also extremely proud of “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” and the fact that I am able to portray a teenage girl who is multi-layered, complicated, and real.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I can hardly imagine starting over because I feel like I am just getting started. Maybe if I started over, I would have avoided that one open mic I did with the man who called himself ‘The Naked Devil.” Actually, no, I take that back. I would definitely still go to that open mic.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://maevepress.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/maevepress/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/maevepress
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqXmmZjsbCQ
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