Directing Reel
S. Maxwell Brown is a director, composer, and theater-maker from New York. His past productions, including satire and afro-surrealist plays, are eccentric and technically innovative. He strives to uplift on stage the complexities of marginalized groups beyond one-dimensional caricatures. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater & Performance Studies from Yale University.
Maxwell has directed five uniquely unconventional productions, mounting a lively black box production of The Wiz in his sophomore year and staged-readings of original student work (Pancho and the Brain & Black Boy Therapy!). Maxwell’s love for music, evident in his work as a composer and musical director, heavily influences his work as a director. He has composed music for a wide variety of undergraduate plays and films, ranging from nostalgic dramas (After Life), horror (Hot and Cold Showers…), and satirical mockumentaries (CCC: Conflicted Cuties of Color). He musically directed Shades of Yale, Yale's mission-based a cappella group dedicated to the Black tradition. Maxwell continued to practice his acting and playwriting at Yale, performing with MFA candidates of the David Geffen School of Drama and studying under influential professors, including James Bundy, Gregory Wallace, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. When not in the theater, he is a freelance DJ under the moniker SMACKS, mixing an extensive catalog of hip-hop, house, afro beats, and more.
Most recently, he worked as a directing intern for The Muny’s 106th season, assisting in their productions of Dreamgirls (dir. Robert Clater) and In the Heights (dir. William Carlos Angulo). Last November, he mounted the mixed-media hip-hop play PYG, or the Mis-Edumacation of Dorian Belle (by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm) for his senior thesis in directing.
Check out his work below!
