Meet Maximilian Johnsson | Actor/Theatermaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maximilian Johnsson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maximilian, putting aside the decision to work for yourself, what other decisions were critical to your success?
I think the most life-altering decision I have made is choosing to trust my team. Of course in order to do so you need to pick reliable people to work with, which is a key step of getting something off its feet that I can’t stress the importance of enough, but once you have your people you have to make an active decision to trust them.
It’s magical how much a little trust can pave the way for!

The company I’m a founding member of is called Screwdriver Studio. We are a multimedia production company focusing mainly on horror films for the screen and Shakespeare for the stage. Our core team consists of Jacob de Guzman-Lawson, who founded the company, Jessica Lausell and myself.

It might sound a little cringe, but you know what they say about relationships; If both parts are trying to give 60% all the time there will be enough to go around on a day when someone is only capable of giving 40%. That’s kind of my philosophy of trying to run a company together with other people as well.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think I would describe my art as a marriage between American entertainment theater and German expressionism, infused with a sort of brackish Scandinavian woe. Then what we do at Screwdriver Studio is a little different from that since we’re multiple people, it’s like a brew of all of our styles. We like absurdism, we like caricatures and archetypes. We like darkness and flashing lights!
In our most recent production, Twelfth Night, all the props and the entire set (with the exception of a pair of red curtains) was black while the actors were painted as clowns in insane costumes, and acted accordingly. A sort of Commedia dell’arte. For our upcoming production of Macbeth we have a vastly different concept, but without revealing too much I’ll say, it will be just as recognisable.
My own theatrical pursuit began one day when my friend brought me to her after-school theater program. I wasn’t enrolled but they allowed me to partake anyways. I remember us doing some kind of improv exercise about a doctor’s office, I forget the details but know I was hooked. As soon as I could I enrolled, and later when it was time to choose a High School I chose a performing arts one.
After graduation I spent a year or two trying to get different independent theater troupes going, but it never seemed to work out quite right. So I went back to school , this time at one of Stockholm’s oldest theater schools, Calle Flygare School of Theatre, and after graduating from there things finally seemed to go better.
Especially when Covid hit. Shocker!
Since Sweden had the herd immunity strategy, which meant that we basically acted like covid didn’t exist, a lot of other countries including the US moved production, especially of commercials, to Sweden. During this time I worked more than I had ever done before, I felt like I was on set every day (sometimes two different ones in the same day) and I, while I did have a lot of fun, this was also when I first started discovering how much anxiety I got between the gigs. While shooting or being in pre production I would be on top of the world, but then every time I didn’t have a job lined up I was plunged into an abyss where I stood face to face with existential dread. Book something now! It was pretty dramatic. But then I’d get hired again and forget all about it, and thus the cycle would repeat.
Most likely subconsciously to get away from the discomfort and exhaustion that brought me, I went back to school once more. But this time overseas. I packed my things up, got on the plane in Oslo (Biden still had restrictions in action towards travelers from Sweden because of our loose covid guidelines) and enrolled at Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York. And I think that was just what I needed.
During my time there I reflected a lot on art versus community; how can you have stability and healthy close relationships when you’re in a constant state of stress (not saying that this is how it feels for everybody, but it sure did for me) chasing the next gig?
I found the answer a few months after graduation, and for me it was as simple as running the show myself.
Being the suffering artist isn’t nearly as fun as it’s made out to seem! Jokes aside, I think it is totally possible to create without having to suffer. For me Screwdriver Studio enabled me to create in an environment free from pressure and I think that has helped both my craft and my close relationships to rise to a new level.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Since I spend a lot of my time at The Players Theatre I’m biased towards the West Village. I’d probably take them for a picnic in Washington Square park and people watch, then we might go grab a drink at Shade Bar and end the night with Musical sing-along at Marie’s Crisis Café (don’t forget to bring cash!). For theater though, my number one go to would be Sleep No More. That’s probably one of the coolest performances I’ve ever experienced. For those who don’t know, Sleep No More is a five floor immersive retelling of Macbeth, and it is practically fabulous.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to give a shout out to Elizabeth Shepherd, legendary Scream Queen and wonderfully engaging Shakespeare instructor at Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York. I had the privilege of studying the works of the Great Bard with her for nearly two years. Not only did her class awaken my dormant passion for Shakespeare, but it also gave me the courage I needed to take on the English language. I am originally from Stockholm, Sweden, and though I had studied English for most of my life prior to coming here, suddenly having to communicate in this foreign language of the television was terrifying.

But when Elizabeth assigned me Edmund’s “Thou nature”-speech, or later entrusted me with The Balcony Scene, I didn’t feel scared anymore. Getting the opportunity to speak the timeless words of Romeo or Hotspur converted my fear into excitement and for that I’m ever grateful.

Not to mention! Had I not discovered my passion for Shakespeare in Elizabeth’s class I probably would never have auditioned for the production of Romeo and Juliet in which I met my business partner Jessica Lausell and then Screwdriver Studio wouldn’t have existed. At least not in the same shape as it does today. And our production of Macbeth at The Player’s Theatre would absolutely not be happening in February 2024. But luckily all of those things did happen, so it is!
Shout out to Elizabeth Shepherd for being the catalyst for that.

Website: https://www.instagram.com/screwdriver.studio/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maximilian.johnsson/

Image Credits
Ashley Gage Tilda Assmo Jacob de Guzman-lawson