Maples do soak up the water, but there are plants that will survive. Antennaria would work as would the Heuchera, probably. I even have had luck with Hepatica around the base of trees. You need a list of drought tolerant shade loving plants, too numerous to list here. Please reconsider burning bush as it is invasive in most areas.

Thanks so much. I did some more research last night, and appreciate the comments. Assuming I do determine to go ahead and try some plants near the maple (looked again this morning - there is one huge one, then further from the planting area some smaller, plus a mix of others), should I try to keep the lilies-of-the-valley away from the new plants (when new or even when established)? Will they, too, interfere or overrun what I put in?

I've found lilies of the valley to be rather aggressive in my woodland garden, so I always dig them up (they come from the neighbors).

Maples are indeed thirsty as a group, but many of the things you may have seen about "drought conditions under maples" likely refer more to fast-growing, non-native 'street tree' and 'backyard maples'.... Norways, etc.

Native maples that have seeded in and grown in place in a mixed forest, rather than being planted, tend to be slower growing and less surface-rooted. And in mixed woodlands, I wouldn't worry about them. It will end up being more a matter of shade than drought, I would suspect.

Sounds like you have a fairly natural mixed forest, if there are a couple of large and some small maples, mixed with basswood, ironwood and some oaks. The house was nestled into the woodland, instead of the 'clear the land, build the house, plant some trees' model of landscaping.

Plant what you want, with respect to shade regime. I suspect that pretty much any shade-tolerant thing you plant will do fine.

I agree, I plant any shade tolerant plant that I have under my 4 ancient(50 year old) Silver Maples and they have thrived. I never add fertilizer to any plant, using an annual application of home grown compost instead, covering the entire root system of the trees and when watering becomes necessary, I always water the entire area under the trees. This has prevented the Maple roots from converging into the planting areas.
During the 20+ years that the underplantings have thrived there, have never experienced a problem with the tree roots strangling or interfering with the plants.
When I initially installed the plants, if the Maple roots were at or near the surface, I covered the entire root zone with 4-5 inches of compost, pine bark fines, leaf mould, sand and grit, mixed with a generous portion of my native soil(RED CLAY)!
Those areas produce many of my largest and most robust plants.

BTW, after years of trying to grow Lily-of-the-valley, I conceded. It will not survive in my garden, anywhere!

I have a number of large Red Maples, and it is difficult to grow certain plants under them. In particular, I have an area of sunny bed that is just outside the drip line of a large Red Maple, and the bed is always extremely dry in the summer. Even drought tolerant plants have trouble there. I know this isn't really the same situation as the original post described, but I thought I'd point out that some maples do indeed provide unwanted competition for soil moisture and can make gardening beneath the maples difficult.