With the world premiere of Maxa: The Maddest Woman in the World looming just a few weeks away, members of UMD’s cast and crew for Maxa flooded the stage at the Marshall Performing Arts Center. 

All pantomimed carrying boxes, bags, hats, anything that could ‘carry the work’ they just did during rehearsal in order to ‘put the work away.’ 

The term ‘carry and put the work away,’ coined by UMD theatre professor Rebecca Katz-Harwood, symbolizes the boundary between rehearsal, where sexual violence is an ever present theme, and home. The ritual, performed after every rehearsal, is part of a practice referred to as ‘Trauma-Informed Theatre.’ 

Trauma-Informed theatre recognizes and responds to the signs, symptoms and risks of trauma to better support the health needs of trauma survivors in a theatrical production for actors, crew and audience. 

Despite the need for trauma-informed theatre, the theatre community doesn’t commonly address the needs of trauma survivors when dealing with distressing themes on stage. New York-based queer theatre-maker Mika Kauffman (They/He) looks to change that. 

Maxa, written by UMD theatre professor Thomas Jacobson and Kauffman, tells the story of Paula Maxa, an actress who worked in an early 20th-century Parisian horror theatre: The Grand Guignol. While the majority of the musical is a fictionalized retelling, Maxa explores Paula’s life through the lens of trauma and sexual violence. 

“I’m so proud of how we’ve been able to reach the goal of creating theatre that’s trauma informed and hopefully affects people in a positive way” Kaufmann said.

Combining horror, camp and a grounded portrayal of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Maxa illustrates the nuances of mental health and healing. 

“As a survivor, we all have that kindred connection of going through the different stages of grief, of trauma, of everything. I just imagined how that would affect Paula and the people around her” Kaufmann said.

With potentially triggering themes woven throughout the musical, Kauffman makes a point to ensure the safety of audience members by clearly stating that patrons are allowed to leave at any given moment during the performance.

Additionally, Maxa uses two-demensional shadow-play when depicting any act of sexual violence to separate the reality of assault from performance on stage. 

“When practicing trauma-informed theatre, it’s important to have a theatrical gesture that represents the trauma itself that takes place. Otherwise, you’re ultimately affecting your audience in negative ways” they said.  

UMD students are handling the graphic content with maturity and respect. During the rehearsal process, Maxa went through lyric and line changes but the cast was never phased. 

“These students have been handling the new work so well…The way the students come together and support each other through such heavy material is incredible” Kaufmann said. 

The cast and crew of Maxa’s goal is to spark conversation and give people the courage to seek help. But more than that, Kauffman wants audience members to extend empathy not just towards others, but towards themselves as well. 

“I hope audiences see a lot of themselves and what it means to be human. We are not only our worst enemy but we are also our most beloved person and we’re stuck with ourselves for the rest of our lives,” they said. 

Maxa premieres on October 14 at 7:30 PM at the Marshall Performing Arts Center. The show will run through the 16th and 20th - 23rd at 7:30PM. On October 17 there will be an ASL interpreted show at 2 PM. Maxa contains themes of sexualassault and graphic violence.