MAGGIE ROWE
I’m a writer/performer living in Los Angeles with my husband and dog. I started out as an actress (My IMDB profile) and then shifted my focus to writing. I’ve written screenplays for several films including (Bright Day! and Out West,) for television shows (Flaked and Arrested Development,) created stage productions (Hollywood Hell House, Hollywood Purity Ball, Lawyer Cop Doctors, and Pretty Good Show), edited a book of personal essays (Dirty Laundry,) and founded a religion (Pyrasphere.)
I’ve produced and regularly performed in the spoken word show sitnspin (created by Jill Soloway) at the Comedy Central stage for the last fourteen years. My memoir Sin Bravely: A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience is being published by Softskull Press in January 2017.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wait, what? You founded a religion? Back up.
Yes, it’s called Pyrasphere. It’s the perfect religion for anybody who has ever wanted something that they did not have.
Is it for real? Do you have followers? What do you mean by a religion?
There’s more about Pyrasphere on the Pyrasphere page of this site. Let’s move on.
There’s a lot about religion in that under 200 word bio. What’s up with that?
I grew as an Evangelical Christian and struggled for years with the literalism of my childhood faith and fear of the afterlife. Then, at nineteen, I had a rather dramatic breakdown while watching a screening of Akiro Kurosawa’s films Dreams. After that I began a journey to find spirituality outside the confines of traditional religion.
What do you mean by spirituality?
Yeah, it’s a pretty soppy word. I should have come up with a better one. Basically I’m interested in the transformation of consciousness and experiencing the metaphors of religion. My favorite quote is “The mind makes a hell of a heaven and heaven of a hell.”
Did Joseph Campbell say that?
No, Milton. The Joseph Campbell one is, “The gods, the heavens, the hells, they’re all inside us.” I like that one too.
You said you live with your dog and your husband. What kind of dog?
She’s half Dachshund – half Labrador. I have fun imagining the logistics of her conception.
What kind of husband?
A nice, funny one. Half German. Half Irish. I have less fun imagining the logistics of his beginning.