Maggie Dempsey
Actor, Chicago, IL
Press
Cannonball: Reader Recommended
"With no set, a couple props, bare-bones lighting, and costumes likely pulled from the five performers’ closets, it seems the Public House Theatre spent no more than 12 cents on playwright/director Ryan Burkett’s odd, unassuming 75-minute play. But what a return on investment. Burkett begins with what appear to be quirky comic sketches—tween Neighborhood Watch girls hunting for missing paperboys, former lovers tracking down unaccountable late-night apartment noises, scientists hunting for radio transmissions from “alternate selves”—and gradually weaves them into a coy tale of small-town alienation told through ingeniously manipulated Hollywood sci-fi tropes. It’s heady, confounding, delightful stuff, weakened only by a half dozen too many endings. The cast, all playing multiple roles, handle the stylistically complex material with confidence and panache." —Justin Hayford, The Chicago Reader https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/cannonball/Event?oid=26396162
Crushed
"If you happen not to be interested in the Cubs, just down the street from Wrigley Field you’ll find this show, a series of tales of love and loss. However overdone the premise might be, the work here is lively and smart. Six actors enact a range of characters and scenarios, from a May-December pair to a girl-dog romance to the most excruciating proposal fail ever. My favorite was a younger man hitting on an older woman, assuring her that his sister taught him to stay "woke" because he believes “females should have agency.” “Please don’t say 'females,'” she replies quickly. This is just one of many lines in a script as funny as it is surprising. However fashionable it is to trash millennials these days (um, guilty) there’s wisdom here, and insight into the ways an evolving (or devolving) culture shapes the contemporary experience of finding and losing love." —Suzanne Scanlon, The Chicago Reader
http://m.chicagoreader.com/chicago/crushed/Event?oid=23189886
Crushed. was listed as " listed as one of "5 Chicago comedy shows to see this week" by the Chicago RedEye.
Quote in Elle Magazine, July 2016, "Women in Comedy"
"We're Supposed to be everything: the intersectional feminist voice who never makes anyone uncomfortable, but can bake and change a flat. As female comedians, you're doing this bananas thing and hate that you're worried whether the audience wants to fuck you or not- and not knowing which answer is worse." -Maggie Dempsey, Chicago
"TL;DR It’s a good show. Maybe even a great one. My companion to the show called it “The best show I’ve seen here [the Public House]”. While the first quarter of the show has some air and a few soft spots that could be trimmed, the rest is a smart, different, witty show that especially shines when it’s at its most poignant. Go see Dirtbag. I don’t mean any offense when I say, you’ll probably see yourself in it."
The Sketch Review
http://thesketchreview.com/post/123564197838/dirtbag-review
"When musical improv is done right, it's one of the most fun and exciting theatrical events out there. When done wrong, it's one of the most awkward and excruciating things to sit through, whether performed in a theater or on the moon. A group's success is contingent on its ability to not only improvise well together, but also harmonize well together. It can get complicated—and nailing down a story line and seeing it through till the end helps. Letting the audience have a few drinks doesn't hurt either. Buzzed Broadway has this formula down to a science." -
"I, for one, don’t think the nerds or non-nerds will have trouble finding something to like. The writing is quick and sharp, even charming at times; the cast (Maggie Dempsey, Matthew Sevcik, Robin Dafforn, and Cody Ziler) is all-in. I truly believed they wanted to be no where else than on an underwater spaceship traveling at light speed." - The Sketch Review on "I Don’t Think We're Gonna Make It"
"If you find yourself taking this election season as little too seriously, are sick of self-important talking heads on TV, or if you want a few good-natured laughs, POTUS Among Us by the Washington Improv Theater delivers." - DC Metro Theater Arts
"POTUS Among Us successfully mocks the circus-like antics of politicians during election season — and also the media and corporate schemes behind them. Depressing as the reality is, WIT made it possible to laugh at the absurdity of it all. It gives the citizens of the nation’s capital (and surrounding areas) a chance to see it all brought down a few notches." - ShowBizRadio.com
"Every night, teams head home hanging their heads, voted out of the tournament by the audience. It’s not always pretty. But it’s un-pretty on an epic scale, and the spectacle is hard to resist (the poster for FIST, featuring a wall of fire — and, unsurprisingly, a lot of punching — looks like something Michael Bay would drunkenly assemble in Photoshop). But under all that posturing is a deep, fiery channel of comic creativity, flowing like magma beneath the surface of our suit-and-tie city" on FIST - DC Theatre Scene
"Humorous, relatable, and emotional, this family’s journey to health is an exciting experience to witness" on Lapband, Texas - DC Theatre Scene
"Smart, sharp, funny and heartfelt: for anyone who’s ever felt weighed down in life. Especially the mothers, daughters, wives and sisters of the world" on Lapband Texas -
"With the suggestion of one word, five to six actors spontaneously and skillfully craft the next 25 minutes with dialogue, movements, jazz scat like syllables and even silence. The key is listening for the cue for the next twist in the act. This evolving give-and-take creates a sense of lightness, the unknown and absolute trust. Ultimately, improv actors build a strong connection with one another and the audience" - Borderstan
Perfomer interview for Fighting Improv Smackdown, the largest improv tournament in D.C. -