“Even though it’s more than 20 years ago that I was at Macquarie University, it still feels like yesterday,” says Camilla Maxwell, who has “gone down a bit of a rabbit hole” reliving her student days since reconnecting with her alma mater.

Graduating with a Bachelor of Media (Print Production) in 2002, her degree was the perfect fit, with classes 'more a creative outlet than work' – like when she wrote a documentary script on unconventional funerals. “I was so into it,” she says.

“I interviewed a reverend in Ireland, whose motorbike was modified to carry a casket, and the narrator was a slightly eccentric cemetery caretaker. The final product was a quirky mix of theatre and realism – I’ll never forget it.”

Other enduring memories were forged through the university’s clubs, including the Macquarie Softball Team, in which she competed in the University Games each year as catcher. Most especially, it was her time with Dramac – the Macquarie Drama Society – that stands out.

"Without a doubt, it was pivotal,” she says. “We formed such deep friendships and practically lived in the Lighthouse Theatre. I vividly remember tech days when we’d all show up with sleeping bags, crashing on the theatre floor late at night and waking up with our nostrils black from the paint.”

For these young students and performers, many of whom have become professional actors, comedians and writers, it was a defining period. “A space of non-judgemental creativity and freedom, Dramac was where all of us theatre nerds found our people – and often ourselves.”

After her first year, she didn’t make the cut for the Visual Production course and was placed in Print Production instead. “It soon became a positive though, as it was incredibly broad and hands-on. I learned more than I ever anticipated and still use those skills today.”

After graduating, Ms Maxwell acted and modelled while working at Tiny Green Gorilla (TGG), a film and intellectual property management company she co-founded with fellow Macquarie alumni. She also freelanced at Channel 10, Channel V and Foxtel, doing script editing and running autocue for the news and sports.

“They paid $30 an hour, which was huge at the time!” she recalls. Yet, though she enjoyed this stint in television, she soon realised she “missed the creative camaraderie of theatre” and boldly sold her share in TGG before flying to New York to audition for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

“I auditioned with a scene from the Scottish play and a character from the very Australian Don’s Party. I don’t think they had any idea what I was saying with my accent, but somehow, I got in and was even given a scholarship.”

In 2005, Ms Maxwell returned to New York in the middle of a giant blizzard, with only two suitcases. “I instantly thought, I’ve made a huge mistake. But I hadn’t. I went on to have the three most magical years of my life, studying under some of the most accomplished Broadway teachers. ”Waiting tables at the famous Chumley’s, a speakeasy featured in Mad Men, to offset the high cost of living in New York", she says, "My dad generously paid for my first year at the academy, but my last two were on me, so even with a scholarship, I needed the money. I often made $600 a night and would pay my school fees in $1 and $5 bills.”

After graduation, Ms Maxwell worked professionally on stage and screen, booking theatre gigs and commercials – including for Wendy’s and First Response. But writing soon became her true outlet.

“It was something I loved and could do alone in my tiny one-window New York City apartment after long shifts. I’d get home at 2am and spend the next five hours at my computer – I couldn’t afford a TV, so I was always productive!”

Writing led to a role as resident playwright at the Mind The Gap Theatre in Manhattan, where Dame Helen Mirren and Judi Dench sit on the advisory board. “It was such a cool theatre, producing British-inspired works – including some written by me!”

Her plays have since been performed in Canada, New Zealand, India, Dubai and the United States, as well as at festivals such as the Melbourne Fringe Festival. She has also recently starred in Home for the Holidays with Cindy Busby, to be released on December 2025.

Now, her path has brought her back to where it all began – to Dramac – where her play Sick, a deeply personal dark comedy filled with wit and heart, opens on 9 October 2025. “It’s a completely absurd, yet realistic, story of how one family deals with cancer,” she says, explaining that the play was inspired by her late aunt.

She emphasises that Sick is about much more than cancer: “It’s about family. About how we come together in dark times. And finding humour in those moments.”

Her dad – an Elvis impersonator whose suit was made by Elvis’s original tailor – will even perform on opening night.

“Having my play debut at Macquarie University, which for three years was my home, by students who are performing just like I was over 20 years ago, is more valuable to me than any big-budget production."

“This play is very close to my heart, and I’m so honoured to have it performed in a place that means so much – it feels like coming home.”

Camilla Maxwell’s Sick opens at the Lighthouse Theatre, Macquarie University, on 9 October 2025, and runs for six nights only. Tickets available online now.

Camilla Maxwell's bio

Camilla Maxwell is an Australian playwright, screenwriter, actor and director. She holds a Bachelor of Media (Print Production) from Macquarie University (2002), and trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

A member of the Australian Writers’ Guild, she has been recognised as a two-time finalist for the Samuel French Off-Broadway Theatre Festival and as part of Hollywood’s Australians in Film Untapped Talent program. She recently won Theatre News Buffalo’s Standout Performer of the Year.

Her play Sick, formerly known as Smallbury, was a finalist in the ScreenCraft Film Fund and a quarter-finalist in The Script Lab screenplay contest.

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