Maggie MacDonald

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Maggie MacDonald is a writer, playwright and musician who lives in Toronto, Ontario.

MacDonald grew up in Cornwall, Ontario where she became active in the local independent rock music scene, putting on shows and creating a fanzine called Saucy which gained attention outside of Cornwall as well. Dubbed the "punk-rock valedictorian," she also grew into politics, serving as a student trustee on her school board at the age of 17.

She left Cornwall to attend the University of Toronto. Returning at age 20, she ran in the 1999 provincial election as the New Democratic Party candidate in the electoral district of Stormont—Dundas—Charlottenburgh. Facing two redistributed incumbents (Liberal John Cleary and Tory Noble Villeneuve) for a single seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, she was given next to no chance to win the election itself, but her innovative campaign strategy, including the use of guerrilla theatre, drew praise and attention.

Her second play, A Clockwork Gorbachev, won the Hart House Playwrighting Award in 2000 and the Robertson Davies Award For Playwrighting in 2001.

She then began to pursue her musical interests, and joined The Hidden Cameras, with whom she has performed since 2001. She has also been a member of several other bands at the same time. The first was Barcelona Pavilion, with whom she recorded a 7" single. After she left this band she formed the The Dating Service and was, for a time, a guest vocalist with Kids on TV, recording "Bitchsy" for the Lesbians on Ecstasy remixes LP Giggles In The Dark, released in 2005. Most recently she has been the lead vocalist with Republic of Safety, whose first EP, Passport, came out in March of 2005. Their second EP, Vacation, was released in the spring of 2006.

At the same time, she has had her comics and writing published in Toronto publications The Globe & Mail, Lola and Broken Pencil.

In 2005 her first book, Kill the Robot, was published by McGilligan Books. A science fiction novel critiquing consumer society, it is also illustrated by MacDonald. Her second play, The Rat King, first previewed as a work in progress in early 2004, received a public reading in the spring of 2005 and finally premiered as a full production in January 2006. The Rat King was mounted a second time in August of 2006 as part of Toronto Harbourfront's "Indie Unlimited" series.