My name is Maarika Freund.
I’m an award winning writer & producer who works towards making what feels inaccessible accessible.

And this is my biography.

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After silently watching her collect her thoughts for an uncomfortable amount of time, my last therapist said to me:

“An entire writers room couldn’t come up with your life.”

So I took that as my cue and finally launched peaches: the podcast!, a series dedicated to all of the things I learned while dedicating my life to never being r*ped again, and then peaches: the play! , a companion piece to the podcast that was awarded runner-up for “BEST OF THE FEST” during its world premiere at the 2023 Vancouver Fringe Festival.

Regardless of that the log line to my thirty-five rotations around the sun (courtesy of that therapist), this Finnish-Canadian still loves comedy. In fact, I credit my struggles with why I’m obsessed with finding light & humour within the darkest of situations. But really, I’m just doing my best to find ways to talk about tough, real life issues in a way that is relatable and digestible.

Currently, my home base is in Tel Aviv, where I live with my Israeli-Canadian husband. When I’m not working on the podcast or the play, I’m running soft focus choreography workshops, testing material for peaches on the stand-up comedy circuit, changing the law in Canada with My Voice, My Choice, or hiking with my husband.

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Maarika, who has been praised for her ability to create “comedic social critique[s]” by The Stir Vancouver, and who was described by NOW! Magazine as “ultimately formidable”, is an award winning actor, writer, & producer with a Specialist’s Degree in Theatre from the University of Toronto.

She co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in the web series “Millie & Midge” alongside Alaine Hutton, has had her work featured at the L.A. Comedy Festival, and finished a residency at Artscape Daniels in Toronto, Ontario during their 2020/2021 Launchpad bursary program to incubate PEACHES: THE PODCAST and a television pilot that is currently in development. 

Maarika was a founding member of My Voice, My Choice, an initiative that successfully changed the Canadian Criminal Code on October 26th, 2023 in order to secure better rights for victims of sexual assault.

She is also a professionally trained dancer (BATD), has been critically acclaimed for her theatre choreography on both sides of the equator, and is the founder of soft focus, choreography workshops designed to be accessible for all levels and all bodies.