MAXA, The Maddest Woman in the World' is an epic rock horror musical capturing the
life story of Paula Maxa, the famed French tragedienne who died thousands of deaths
for the patrons who haunted the infamously bloody theater known as the Grand Guignol.
In 1940's France, it becomes Paula’s strange destiny to carry the very same horrors
of the Grand Guignol into her private life. Only then does she confront the very night
that changed her existence forever. The story is a heartfelt, shrewd examination of
the timeless struggle between trauma and healing, exemplified by bookwriter and lyricist
Mika Kauffman’s wordplay of levity and macabre, as well as composer Thomas Jacobsen’s
complex, sweeping orchestrations with a contemporary electronic score.
Strange Power features Paula Maxa as she romanticizes and reflects on her morbid curiosities
born from traumatic events that escalated her rise to fame, paying homage to the poor
witches of the middle ages who burned at the stake before her.
This song is about taking the things that have brought you down and dancing on their
graves.” - Daniella Caggiano
Eventive. “2025 San Francisco Transgender Film Festival.” Accessed June 25, 2026.
https://sftff2025.eventive.org/films.
