Maureen Van Trease
- Actress
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Maureen Frances VanTrease is an American actress, playwright and producer. Born October 10, 1963 in Lancaster, PA to Anne and Thomas Baxter, she got her start on the stage as a mouse in the musical Two By Two, but didn't get bitten by the stage bug until age 17 when she played Grandma in Albee's "The Sandbox". She has been on stage, her first love, ever since, having performed in well over a hundred shows and musicals in regional, London and New York theaters.
With a triple major BA in Theater, English and Education, she taught 7th Grade for a time, while performing in regional shows in the Tampa area, winning the award for Best Actress in the Tampa Bay area for her performances in as Agnes in Agnes of God, Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac and Sonya in Uncle Vanya. She then soon headed to London to study musical theater at Mountview Conservatoire for the Performing Arts in their postgraduate program, and soon after returning, moved to New York City.
She has been involved in the NYC Fringe Festival and Planet Connections Theater Festivity, winning a Best Supporting Actress award for "Hell Is Where the Heart Is" and a Best Actress nomination for "The Closet". Her work as a playwright has garnered her a Best Adaptation nomination at Planet Connections for her play "Those Whistling Lads: The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker" where she also played the lead role of Dorothy.
It was here in NYC that she began working in television and film. She has starred in Leitmotif and 8:46, a film about 9/11 which went to the Cannes Marché du Filme and was subsequently shown on Netflix and available on the shelves at Best Buy. She has worked with Howard Reichman on his TV movie Wired City and co-produced and starred in The Spy Who Scratched Me, a 48-Hour Film Fest entry that has gone on to screenings in numerous film festivals. She shared in the Festival International Cannes Award at the French Independent Film Festival for Best Cast in My Dinner With Schwartzey, and most recently, associate produced Greetings From Sarajevo featuring the magnificent talent of the late Kathryn Kates.
With a triple major BA in Theater, English and Education, she taught 7th Grade for a time, while performing in regional shows in the Tampa area, winning the award for Best Actress in the Tampa Bay area for her performances in as Agnes in Agnes of God, Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac and Sonya in Uncle Vanya. She then soon headed to London to study musical theater at Mountview Conservatoire for the Performing Arts in their postgraduate program, and soon after returning, moved to New York City.
She has been involved in the NYC Fringe Festival and Planet Connections Theater Festivity, winning a Best Supporting Actress award for "Hell Is Where the Heart Is" and a Best Actress nomination for "The Closet". Her work as a playwright has garnered her a Best Adaptation nomination at Planet Connections for her play "Those Whistling Lads: The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker" where she also played the lead role of Dorothy.
It was here in NYC that she began working in television and film. She has starred in Leitmotif and 8:46, a film about 9/11 which went to the Cannes Marché du Filme and was subsequently shown on Netflix and available on the shelves at Best Buy. She has worked with Howard Reichman on his TV movie Wired City and co-produced and starred in The Spy Who Scratched Me, a 48-Hour Film Fest entry that has gone on to screenings in numerous film festivals. She shared in the Festival International Cannes Award at the French Independent Film Festival for Best Cast in My Dinner With Schwartzey, and most recently, associate produced Greetings From Sarajevo featuring the magnificent talent of the late Kathryn Kates.