Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maya Shoham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Maya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I find myself telling this story quite frequently recently, which I’m happy about, it’s always important to remind yourself why is it that you do what you do. Well… if I have to think of one specific moment… I was 5 years old, sitting on my grandparent’s bedroom floor and watching “The Sound of Music”. I have to admit, I haven’t seen this movie in years, and I can’t remember every plot detail or song, but what I can remember is how it made me feel. I was hit with so many emotions, I cried, I laughed and burst into song and dance with Julie Andrews. I couldn’t believe something could make me feel so much, and it became very clear to me that I wanted to do the same. I wanted to be able to make other people feel. I’ll admit that in my childhood the main feeling I wanted others to feel was complete and utter admiration, but when I went to high school (the leading arts high school in Israel ‘Thelma Yellin’), and actually got to learn the craft of acting, especially through theater, where you’re in the room with audience members and can feel and sometimes hear how you’re affecting people… what I was chasing was much bigger than that. I was satisfied with making others feel, truly, anything – happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, fear… I’m realizing now that I’m naming the “Inside Out” characters. It was the idea of just moving people, transporting them to a different reality, or one that rings close to home, causing them to leave the theater slightly changed; for better or for worse. Because all those feelings eventually provoke people into action. When someone is affected, they think, they talk, they imagine, they connect. They connect! What’s more powerful than making people connect? I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world, to be able to make people feel things and then do something about it. I still think it’s the coolest thing in the world.

Maya, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born in Tel Aviv, Israel and grew up in a suburb nearby. I don’t have any artists in my family, but like I mentioned – the passion for acting and performing came very early and I’ve been doing it ever since. I always combined this career with passions for baking, hosting dinner parties and the hospitality business (yes… I’m one of those who working at restaurants is not a survival job, but a passion job).

I moved to NYC five years ago and have been acting here both on screen and on stage. Some dry details, if you will – I participated in film screenings all over the world (“Red Skies”, “I Shoot Pictures”, “Midnight Cannoli” which I also co-wrote and co-produced), and acted on multiple stages. Some Off-Broadway credits include “The Ultimate Manic Pixie Dream Girl Speed-Dating Competition” (Caveat, SoHo Playhouse) which she also co-wrote and co-produced, “Best Friends” (Rattlestick Theater) and “The Holylanders” (14Y Theater).

When the pandemic hit, all artists were faced with the same struggle of learning how to not stay put and still create during this debilitating time. Like – what do you do when no one is hiring? You do it yourself. I never dabbled in writing before, it always scared me, writing is so personal and vulnerable, and I felt like I’d rather stay with acting and ‘being someone else’. But during that time, I was fortunate enough to create relationships (over Zoom, nonetheless) with incredible artists who were in the same position as me, which made creating our own art not only less scary, but more fruitful and fun.

My friend Max Cattana and I, he’s a brilliant Aussie actor, I also think we were married in another life, but that’s besides the point… Anyways, Max and I wanted to write, produce and act in a short film. We sat down and made a list of everything at our disposal so we could make a short film happen. Every person we knew, every location we could possibly film in. I worked at a restaurant at the time and had very close relationships with the managers and I thought “hey – I think I can convince them to film our short here”. And we did. We wanted to create something that speaks our language, something weird, seductive, confusing and charming. “Midnight Cannoli” is a short about three exhausted restaurant workers following their desires or learning when it’s best not to. Most recently, the short had a screening at Kino movie theater in Sydney, Australia.

I got to partner up again with another friend, Miranda Renée, who’s truly one of the most talented artists I ever had a chance to work with. We went to school together and became friends very quickly. One of the things we bonded over, very niche, was that we always get compared to Manic Pixie Dream Girls. Those characters in movies that are mysterious and quirky, but have are presented with no personality of their own besides the way the male protagonist views them. We had this idea of writing a play of two Manic Pixie Dream Girls having a competition to see who’s the ultimate one. Again, it was important for us to find our own language, in this case – talking about a personal subject, something that we both take seriously – like being trapped in the male gaze, not being seen for who we truly are – and talking about it in a completely unserious, satirical way. “The Ultimate Manic Pixie Dream Girl Speed-Dating Competition” had its Off-Broadway premier at the SoHo Playhouse, as part of their Lighthouse Series, and recently had a revival at Caveat, where we expanded the show from a one act to a full-length play. We’re still working on making it even longer, it’s a play we keep wanting to revisit and write more and more about.

There are other projects I’m currently developing and working on that I’m scared to share with you. I feel like I’ll jinx it if I talk about it. I’m not superstitious… but I’m a little-stiotious.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I want my art to become a dialogue. When I’m in a play, especially one that I wrote, I want the audience to be active, not just comfortable observers. I want to get people to connect the dots, to ask questions, to reexamine things they thought they knew… Sometimes theater gets a bad rep for being a one-sided conversation – the actors speaking on stage, and the audience remaining silent in the dark. It doesn’t have to be this way.

When I’m on stage, or behind the camera, my one mission is to share what it’s like to be a human being. I always enjoyed challenging myself with finding roles of those we easily categorize as bad, or stupid, or crazy, or what have you. Like a dual exercise in empathy – for both me and the audience. I once played the role of Myrrha in the play “Metamorphoses” (directed by the incredible Nemuna Ceesay). The Greek tragedy of Myrrha tells the story of a girl who refused to get married, and so was cursed to be in love with her father. I can’t even begin to tell you the audience reactions I got when I played this role. There were some who were completely disgusted, and some who felt sorry for my character. I think facing the humanity in those we deem less human is such an incredible way to create dialogue and conversation.

Another way is keeping the art… mysterious, I guess, is the first word that comes to mind. Through my writing and acting, I like to leave things unanswered for the audience, I like leaving room for interpretation and imagination. I think this is the best way to keep the audience engaged and join the story. Then the show, or the movie, isn’t about those who perform it, but about the connection between the performer and the viewer to understand the story. I think all there is to art (and, life… getting grandiose here) is being able to connect. I saw a play in Playwrights Horizon a few months ago called “Staff Meal” (written by Abe Koogler, directed by Morgan Green), it was an absurdist play about two people meeting at a café, then it was about a restaurant with an endless wine cellar, and then about a beggar looking for a job. I remember sitting on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what the hell am I watching, while also being very affected, constantly, even if I wasn’t following what was going on. When the show ended and the lights turned back on, I forgot there were other audience members involved. I felt like I had just had a private conversation with the playwright. I should probably find a way to reach out to him and let him know how much I loved this play, and how this is exactly the art I also want to spread around.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I’ve been talking about my goals for a while now… I hope I wasn’t too repetitive… but it only makes sense to tie this all up by saying that the biggest reward is when these goals are achieved. There’s a selfish element to this, because at the end, I take a lot of joy in knowing I was able to make someone laugh or cry, but when I put the emphasis on the togetherness of this art form, that’s more rewarding than anything.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mayashoham.com
• Instagram: @mayafeba

Image Credits

Headshot: Nir Arieli
Photo 1 – Photo 3: Kristen Hubby
The Ultimate MPDG Speed-Dating Competition Photo 1 + 2: Mika Halevy
Midnight Cannoli Photo 1 + 2: Olivia Rubin