Today we’d like to introduce you to Maxi Witrak.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m from Seattle, WA, where I grew up competing heavily on horseback. I had always wanted to try theater and school plays and such, but didn’t have the time with training. Ironically, showing horses gave me my first taste of putting on a show, and wanting to give a great performance. Years later when I had moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting, a teacher suggested I try standup. I still remember her asking me, “do you have anything to say?” And in my head, I thought– honestly…no? But soon, with the way standup requires you to slow down and examine everything critically, I realized oh wow… I have a TON to say.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of my most recent challenges has been taking myself seriously professionally. Whether it was music or acting or filmmaking or standup, the desire to be hired and paid amongst a field of direct competitors adds an entirely new pressure to your performance. I’ve only in the last couple of years transitioned from the joy of simply practicing standup to relying on it to achieve my career goals, and it’s been difficult to balance my personal creative flow with the demands of deadlines (and my own expectations). It’s kind of like when a relationship changes from casual to “serious”– nothing has really changed, except the mindset.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am proud to identify primarily as a standup. I arrived in LA as an actor, dabbled in music for several years, and eventually just realized my favorite art form is the one in which I can write things for myself that only I could come up with. It lets me be proud of my unique brain fingerprint rather than hoping to fit into an established mold that thousands of others could fill. I enjoy the fact that colleagues can look to me as someone capable of writing my own stuff. It’s a skill I take for granted until I meet others who have never tried writing original pieces, and I envy those in other fields who make work I could never dream of coming up with. Standup lets me be a versatile part of the bigger picture and stand to collaborate with nearly everyone in some way.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Every person who has ever put me on a show has shown faith in me when I often didn’t have any in myself. There is a lot at stake when running a show and when someone gives me one of few precious spots, it affirms so many areas where one can have doubt– whether I’m professional enough, talented enough, likeable enough, the list goes on. I could not be here without the countless peers who have picked me up and encouraged me that I belong here.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.maxiwitrak.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maddmaxi/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaxiWitrak/
- Twitter: https://x.com/MaxiWG
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@maxiwitrak
Image Credits
Lee Jameson
Troy Conrads
