Directing Reel
S. Maxwell Brown is a director, composer, actor, and DJ from New York. Driven by his love for music and community, he is passionate about developing new work and representing the complex authenticity of marginalized people through storytelling. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater & Performance Studies from Yale University.
Maxwell's journey as a director began with a lively black box production of The Wiz during his sophomore year, building a team of over 50 student artists for his debut project. Throughout his college career, he's developed several staged readings of original works (Black Boy Therapy!), and assistant-directed Dreamgirls (dir. Robert Clater) and In the Heights (dir. William Carlos Angulo) at The Muny in St. Louis. For his senior thesis in directing, he mounted the mixed-media hip-hop play PYG, or the Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle, for which he additionally composed the entire score.
Maxwell’s love for music is evident in his work as a composer, sound designer, and musical director. He has composed for several plays and films, ranging from satirical mockumentaries (CCC: Conflicted Cuties of Color) to nostalgic dramas (After Life). In 2024, he musically directed Shades of Yale, Yale's mission-based a cappella group dedicated to the Black tradition. Maxwell has acted with MFA candidates of the David Geffen School of Drama and studied under influential professors James Bundy, Gregory Wallace, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
When not in the theater, Maxwell performs as a DJ under the moniker SMACKS. His Instagram and TikTok accounts have garnered over 5 million views across platforms, and he has been featured on the viral event series Club 1BD. He treats his craft as sacred and transformative, mixing an eclectic catalog of hip-hop, house, R&B, and global sounds.
Check out his work below!