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[0:00] Maria Christina-Oliveras: This is Maria Christina-Oliveras, and you're listening to Behind the Awards.

[0:14] Eila Mell: Hello and welcome to Behind the Awards. I'm Eila. As always, I'm here with Bruce, but today we have a special guest with us. Welcome, Amy Poux.

[0:26] Amy Poux: Hello. Hello.

[0:28] Eila Mell: Thank you for joining us, Amy. We are just chomping at the bit to learn about this immersive, interactive... What do you have on the menu down at Nona's?

[0:40] Amy Poux: We are serving up a very delicious evening of musical theatre. This is an original play with 11 original songs that range from pop to big ballads. Nona's Supper Club is taking place at Le Ravage, which is a 40-year-old restaurant on Restaurant Row on West 46th Street.

[0:56] Eila Mell: What I like about this is that you don't have to decide if you're going to eat before the show or after the show. You just eat during the show.

[1:05] Amy Poux: That's right. We say this isn't dinner and a show. It's dinner as the show.

[1:10] Eila Mell: What is the concept of the show?

[1:22] Amy Poux: The concept of the show is that the audience are the specially invited guests to Nona's Supper Club. Of course, the evening that they're coming is this grand reopening where everything is on the line. Nona, who is the matriarch, is ready to retire. She's looking at her family to take it over.

[1:36] Eila Mell: Like Succession?

[1:49] Amy Poux: Yes, as a musical. On this night, Twyla, Nona's grandchild, Cesar, Nona's son, Miranda, Nona's other grandchild, who's a total drama queen, are busy trying to get the restaurant ready for Nona to attend. But of course, everything goes wrong. The chef walks out. Twyla's childhood love shows up. Cesar shows up late and we find out later why. A hostess shows up that they never hired. Steve, who's the bartender, is in a big breakup with Miranda. Everything is going wrong and there are lots of songs that unfold around the audience about that. As this is all taking place, we also have food and we toast and we sing together. It's really a wholesome show, family-friendly, but also very poignant about families, the legacy of family.

What do we keep? What do we let go of? Dysfunction? Tolerate that. And the imperfection of families and still loving our families, even though we are ultimately imperfect. Nona has a decision to make by the end of the night. Does she give this place to this ragtag group of people? And the audience is part of that. It's a very exciting space. There are opportunities for audience members to be given certain badges. They can be the food critic. They can be the uncle who's been let out of jail for a day. The aunt with issues. The age-old customers who've been coming there forever. There are opportunities for people to be included. There are also opportunities for people to sit back and just watch the show if they don't want to be, you know, that included.

[4:06] Eila Mell: So what made you write this? Were you always aspiring? Is this something, a dream to write a musical? Or were you just inspired by your own family?

[4:13] Amy Poux: That's a really good question. I wrote this musical at a time when things were really polarized. Obviously, that's still true. And I think of theater as a way to bring people together. I'm sure people who listen to your show all agree there's no better way to move people. But I was feeling frustrated by the proscenium experience and wanted something that reached out and really grabbed our hearts. And I thought, you know, to bring people together, we need food. And we need music. And to reach people in ways that are not necessarily spoken, but could really move them. So that's where it began. My background is as a theater director and also working on experimental immersive work. This came out of an improvisation, a long form improvisation that I did with a group of actors called The Restaurant.

As it started to evolve, I realized that there was something missing. And that was the heart of this thing. And so I decided that I would make it about my own grandmother. My grandmother was an incredible singer, full of razzmatazz, a great cook. She built my grandfather's tax business. She was a seamstress in the garment center, but also never quite recognized. She never got to perform. It was forbidden. And she had a voice like Ella Fitzgerald. Wow. She was a powerhouse. And I think there was a sadness about her, I think, having never been realized for who she was. And I think, you know, there are a lot of women like that in our lineage who were the bedrocks of their families and who were the anchor that kept things going and the mind behind the machine and weren't really allowed to take any sort of recognition for that.

And so this is my answer to my grandmother. If she had had a different ending, she'd had the guts to go out on her own and create a space for herself. I think she would have been a phenomenal success that way.

[6:46] Amy Poux: For a lot of women from a certain generation. Right. They just didn't have that option.

[6:52] Eila Mell: No. So you must have taken great care in casting that role since it's so dear to your heart. Can you tell us about the actress playing that role?

[6:57] Amy Poux: Yes. So we are lucky enough to have met Emily Nadler. She came to us through an open call and blew us away with her voice and humor. You know, not only is she an incredible singer, she's a really gifted performer and her interpretation of this role, there are things that she does that I could never direct an actor to do. She gets the humor, but also the heart at the same time. You know, Nona was a tough lady. She was from the Lower East Side. She's Jewish and proud of it, but also understands that she's kind of on her own. And so, you know, Emily gets all of those pieces. This show is a roller coaster ride. It does not stop. You come in, you are entering the world of this family owned restaurant. It's like a cross between The Bear and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

[8:03] Eila Mell: And Succession.

[8:11] Amy Poux: And Succession. I'm sticking that in. So let me ask you a question, Amy. Does the audience get a say in who gets to take over the restaurant or is that already decided?

[8:21] Amy Poux: That's decided, but they get to comment throughout the whole night about César's bad behavior. They are engaged in this fun loving group, but not put on the spot.

[8:34] Eila Mell: Okay. Well, it sounds like so much fun. We are on Sunday evenings. We open April 26th and we do have a promo for you guys to share if you want to for that night. We're doing $25 tickets. And we are on May 3rd, 17th, the 31st, June 7th, and June 14th. All shows are at 8pm. And yes, you can get an incredible French dinner as part of your experience.

[9:01] Amy Poux: Well, that's amazing. Yeah.

[9:06] Eila Mell: Well, we'll put the link in the show notes so people can access to buy the tickets easily.

[9:11] Amy Poux: Fantastic.

[9:12] Eila Mell: Well, thank you so much for joining us. We hope to see you and everyone else there at Nona's Supper Club.

[9:18] Amy Poux: Thank you.

[9:23] Laura Bell Bundy: I am Laura Bell Bundy and Behind the Awards will be right back.

[9:29] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, Bruce, you just saw The Balusters.

[9:32] Bruce Gotlieb: I did.

[9:33] Bruce Gotlieb: And we're so excited to welcome one of the stars of the show, Maria Christina-Oliveras. Hello.

[9:40] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Hello. Thank you for having me. It's great to be here.

[9:43] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for joining us. We are thrilled to have you here.

[9:47] Bruce Gotlieb: I'm still trying to recover from your performance in Between Riverside and Crazy. It was so good.

[9:53] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Thank you. One of my all-time faves, working with Stephen McKinley Henderson on that Yerges piece was just, yeah, I mean, literally got to redeem him via Holy Communion. You know, eight shows a week. So thank you.

[10:06] Bruce Gotlieb: The most fun kind of Holy Communion.

[10:08] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Amen. I mean, I think so. I think so.

[10:10] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah, for sure.

[10:13] Bruce Gotlieb: But now you're in The Balusters.

[10:14] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Mm-hmm.

[10:15] Bruce Gotlieb: One of the things that I think is so fun when we're introduced to your character, Luz, is she, you know from the onset that she's obviously been within this community. It's no spoiler there. But is, how fun is it for you as the, of this group, I guess the outsider, so to speak? But you know all the goings-on.

[10:38] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Oh, yeah.

[10:42] Bruce Gotlieb: Even before we start getting the layers peeled back.

[10:46] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Mm-hmm.

[10:47] Bruce Gotlieb: Is that something that you jumped out at you in the script, or?

[10:51] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Oh, absolutely. I delight and revel in her power, which lies in stillness, in observation, in clocking everything, understanding. I mean, she's been in service in that space for 30 years.

[11:04] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[11:05] Maria Christina-Oliveras: She knows how to navigate those spaces more so than others, quite honestly. She knows the nuances of down to, yes, behavioral, what kind of wine they want, but what kind of mood are they in? Oh, can't say this, right? So her power, which I've reveled in, really is in restraint, knowing what to say, what not to say, and the power of observation, and holding steady to your voice until called upon.

[11:33] Bruce Gotlieb: And there is, you know, you think in the beginning that this character is just kind of a throwaway. You know, that's how it feels for the audience. Like, this woman is here, she's not part of the main group, she's, you know, just kind of helping out and doing her thing. And then as the play progresses, and that train just starts really moving, you're like, oh, then we start clocking her and going, oh, she's the one we have to mention.

[12:00] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Oh, yeah. You know, again, her power is revealed throughout. I never saw, it's interesting, of course, she seems like that. She seems like a functional kind of background player initially. Even in reading the script initially, that was never my reaction to her, because she just seems so full, right, in this orchestration of 10 humans. Her instrument is the reverberant, silent kind of holder of all the cacophony, right, until her instrument is called upon to speak at the end. You know, so there's just a fullness to her and a presence to her throughout. But I completely understand, yes, from the audience POV, it's like, oh, she's just kind of there. Yet maybe she's the most powerful, smartest one on that stage. Who knows?

[12:51] Bruce Gotlieb: Right, right. What's it been like to work with, because it is such an ensemble piece, right? The tenets really are just interwoven in so many different ways. You get to share moments with everybody. So that's got to be thrilling.

[13:07] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Oh, yeah. And this ensemble couldn't be better. You know, we're all, what I love about us is we're all just invested in telling the truth, finding the truth of what that is, especially now that we're in previews, also discovering what this beautiful baby wants to be. I mean, no one has heard these words. This play has never been produced. And, you know, it's thrilling as well. It's the only new American play being produced on Broadway this season. You know, I don't know what that says reflective of the landscape itself, but to take such a bold risk and say, here's our baby, let's birth it together, let's discover what this is. The audiences are helping us understand what our rhythms are, where the comedy lies. And I couldn't ask for a better ensemble to discover that with, you know.

[13:54] Maria Christina-Oliveras: The story has the biggest ego in the room, which is always the best.

[13:59] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[13:59] Maria Christina-Oliveras: You know.

[14:00] Bruce Gotlieb: How did this come to you?

[14:02] Maria Christina-Oliveras: They sent me the script in, oh gosh, September, maybe in the fall. And initially, you know, they were like this, it was written much older than I was, than I am. And my agents were like, you know, take a look at this. They know it's older than you and all that, but they're really curious what you do with it. And I read it and I loved it. I love so many aspects of her. You know, as a character actor of color, I'm often offered roles that are somewhat reductive, right? You know, main roles or working class roles, which are just kind of functional. And she wasn't. It's exactly what we were talking about. Her power, right, throughout. I also, I loved that. A, I love David Lindsay-Abaire. Sorry, let me start there.

So when they were like, it's the new David Lindsay-Abaire, I was like, oh, I don't care. What is it? Am I playing a bear? How old? An ancient nomad for great. And I loved him from Good People, actually. I mean, I love Rabbit Hole is fabulous, too. And Fuddy Mears and Kimberly Akimbo. But Good People is one of the ones that I just absolutely fell in love with.

[15:06] Bruce Gotlieb: So let's start there.

[15:08] Maria Christina-Oliveras: That when it was David, so important to me always is who is the team who is involved, right? But then reading the script, I laughed in both discomfort in recognition of these characters, made me question my own kind of complicity in my community, my own biases, microaggressions that I've experienced. It was just messy humans. And he didn't portray any heroes or villains. And then the role specifically, she's also of Filipino descent. And my mom migrated from the Philippines. So that was it really struck me. Immigrant stories. I'm first gen. But portraying characters who are immigrants is really important to me, especially when they're drawn so beautifully and three dimensionally. In fact, when it came, you know, I went in, I had my mom record the lines because I wanted her in my ear.

I wanted my ancestors in the room with me. Yeah, she's not an actor. She's a nurse for 45 years. Those lines, I would never offer sign reading. But it was the role. She felt very special to me in that way. And honestly, it was one of those roles where all I can ask is I offer all that I can in the moment for the audition, whether I book a role or not, as long as I feel like, you know what, that is the best of me. That is the best of what I offer, you know, and that's what I felt with her. And so, yeah, it all worked out. Here we are four months later, five months later.

[16:44] Bruce Gotlieb: I will say now that you say that about your mom and where that's coming from, without giving anything away for the end, there's a part where you're telling a little bit of your story toward the end of the play. And now that you say that, it makes sense because I see that caretaker. I see that woman that which I felt, but now I see where the roots are from it.

[17:07] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Yeah, she's coming through beautifully in your piece.

[17:11] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Yeah, I mean, deep roots there. And ironically, you know, not to give away too much, but MC is the next gen, like would be her progeny, her child, you know, in a lot of ways. And that was really exciting to me, too, to play a woman who in a lot of ways is less reactive to a lot of like racial politics and microaggressions, who's just navigates these spaces with a grace and an ease and not an acceptance in a doormat kind of way, victimized way, because that is something that I don't honor and don't think is actually a part of what people write, things like that, victimized humans. It's like, that's not real or that's your perception, right? You know, so to embody again her power and that story has been a real gift.

[18:02] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah. Did you grow up watching Richard Thomas on TV?

[18:06] Maria Christina-Oliveras: No, you know, it's so funny. He is the kindest. I adore him. Oh, my God. The sweetest, most generous actor and human being. And but no, you know, people are like, oh, my goodness. What is this in the Waltons? John Boy.

[18:18] Bruce Gotlieb: John Boy.

[18:18] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Yeah, yeah. Everybody constantly like John Boy, John Boy, John Boy. It was like, oh, yeah, I just missed that window. But I do actually want to do my due diligence once we kind of open. I'll put it in my queue of like, let me let me watch a few of those episodes.

[18:34] Bruce Gotlieb: So, yeah, yeah.

[18:35] Maria Christina-Oliveras: But it is wonderful to play up, you know, that he not to go way too much away. But that that I get to play opposite him as my.

[18:45] Bruce Gotlieb: He was my boss at one point.

[18:47] Maria Christina-Oliveras: He was Lucy's boss. There's history.

[18:50] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, there is history.

[18:50] Maria Christina-Oliveras: He has to have a very deep shared history. And he actually of all the characters, their histories is the deepest. She's 30 years in that community serving him initially. I mean, I can't wait to go.

[19:05] Bruce Gotlieb: I know.

[19:05] Maria Christina-Oliveras: I know. I'm so sorry. You know, we're like we're just dangling all the little all the fruit.

[19:10] Bruce Gotlieb: Exactly.

[19:11] Maria Christina-Oliveras: I don't want to, you know, the discovery of it and how it kind of picks up speed is from or do you want that? You want that thrill, that journey?

[19:23] Bruce Gotlieb: How has it been? You know, we've seen a lot of work that Kenny's done and we've had him on the show. How has it been working with him to discover all those different layers of your character?

[19:33] Maria Christina-Oliveras: And like you said, he's always finding the truth and wanting to tell the truth. So I know that's so important to him.

[19:40] Maria Christina-Oliveras: And that is exactly where he pushes us toward challenges us, throws the gauntlet of, you know, you know, the truth live in the truth. Don't stand aside beside the truth. Live inside it. And that is so key, I think, especially for comedy, right? To play the truth of the characters, just the reality of the moment, invest so wholeheartedly in what they are fighting for. And then the funny comes, the comedy comes, especially in David's work, where if you just trust the moment and live the truth of the moment, which is where Kenny is really, really encouraging and again, cultivating, then the language really soars and the play really soars. So that's been really, really wonderful to have a director who's constantly saying like, oh, no, no, let's let's get back.

Let's get back. What is the truth? What is the truth of the moment? And so all of us are mining by embodying and experiencing it versus any sort of kind of technical like, oh, this is funnier. You know, oftentimes comedy can fall into that land if you if you fall outside of the reality. So staying within this reality, I think.

[20:43] Bruce Gotlieb: And writing out the audience and them aligning and realigning with the arguments on stage because it's desperate people desperately, passionately fighting for their agendas.

[20:59] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Right. And then it calls into question who has the power to push what agenda and why? And it's, again, a microcosm, I think, of the world that we live in. It's like, how can is it possible for us to move forward with deep, deep conviction and deep empathy at the same time? I don't know. And that's what the question I think one of the questions the play asks. It's like, how do we move forward with with really staunch, beautiful, passionate perspectives of what we think is right while listening potentially to the other human accommodating? I don't know. And also, after tearing back, as you guys do at the end, tearing back all of the surface level, all of the all of the the shades of layers like, yeah, this is the this is the truth of it now.

[21:51] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[21:52] Maria Christina-Oliveras: And you still stand the way you did when the play started.

[21:56] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[21:57] Maria Christina-Oliveras: In line with whomever or feeling how you did towards whoever.

[22:01] Bruce Gotlieb: Yep.

[22:02] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Revealing the hypocrisy is showing revealing the truth as it is, which is, you know, so much a part of the show is that line between civility, right, and how we perform civility. But then what really lies underneath, you know, what what are our private thoughts and what happens when they exist in a public space?

[22:22] Bruce Gotlieb: Right. Are you finding that the because of the world that we're living in today?

[22:31] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Which it probably was even different from when you read read it when you first received it.

[22:37] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, yes.

[22:38] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Are you finding that as the climate kind of does what it does, that it's changing how the the audience is receiving it on a daily basis?

[22:45] Maria Christina-Oliveras: It's definitely it definitely shifts daily just because of the demographic of the audience, too. You know what I mean? Sometimes some days it'll be more of a subscriber base. Some days they'll be more intergenerational, intercultural, you know, students. And so every show is very, very different. And sure, depending on what maybe happened in the day or what's in the ether. But overall, it really in real time, different different alliances emerge on different nights and different lines land in a funny way. Some nights are laughter of recognition, which is interesting. Some nights are laughter of awkwardness within the same moment. Right. And it just depends on who's receiving it, what their filter is. And that's what's really thrilling, because you kind of you feel a dialogue even within the audience.

[23:41] Bruce Gotlieb: Right.

[23:41] Maria Christina-Oliveras: And then not only joining their the alliances on stage, which is what's happening on stage as well. Everybody is a real time, real outplay of of people shifting alliances on stage and in the audience to hear. Oh, you know, some audiences are really reactive, you know, and then others are like, oh, oh, or like, again, that that laughter because maybe you said that and maybe you shouldn't have in your real life. You know, there's the phrase now that I think on our billboard, like the boundary between decorum and disaster. Right. Because we're always we're all just on that brink. And that is what I think is so wonderful and interesting about the play. And David wrote all of these characters without judgment.

Right. There are no heroes. There are no villains, truly. And so as a result of that, I think the audience is invited in and entertained and challenged. And there's no didactic message. There's only questions. And that, to me, I think is the best kind of of theater of play of just like it's entertaining while also being challenging on some level, whatever that is for you.

[24:50] Bruce Gotlieb: Do you know if he based any of these characters on real people in his neighborhood?

[24:55] Maria Christina-Oliveras: He does have an HOA. And, you know, he and Kenny are actually doing a talk back tonight, I'm sure. And he's spoken about it as well. But for better or worse, we all have the experiences with being a part of an organization, whether it's an HOA or a little club or PTA, where everybody's fighting over, you know, things that are desperately important to them. But in the large scale of things, it's like a petty thing. But it's so reflective of larger dynamics and, again, power access when our identities are challenged. Right. Gatekeeping is a huge one for this, as you know, Bruce and Eila, as you'll see. You know, who has access? And that's what I love about Luz, too. She has proximity to the power. Right. But she's not centralized within it. Right. And how does that function? And then where does her power lie? Right. Within that. Because she does have a lot more power than some of the other people that you would think are in the position to have power.

[25:51] Bruce Gotlieb: Correct.

[25:54] Maria Christina-Oliveras: And then, I think, right? And then what is power? Like, who gets to define what that is? And what system do you want to be a part of? What power structure? And how do you function?

[26:06] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah.

[26:06] Maria Christina-Oliveras: And part of that is, you know, the game of chess. Like, what game are you playing versus what game is somebody else playing? And, you know, it's like, if you watch Survivor, you know, everyone's kind of jockeying for who's on my side that I can sway things from my narrative. So, you know, that's ultimately at the crux of what some of those characters are trying to do. Who can I get to align with my wants and needs? Which is delicious for her to observe, right? Because she doesn't have to play into that game. She can just say, hello. Oh, there's that.

[26:40] Bruce Gotlieb: There's that.

[26:41] Maria Christina-Oliveras: You know, again, without judgment, just holding it. Because again, I mean, she knows these people. She knows these dynamics. She knows this community. And there's power in that.

[26:57] Bruce Gotlieb: Have there been a lot of changes since you've started previews?

[27:00] Maria Christina-Oliveras: You know, very, very few, believe it or not. You know, again, because it's so brand new. I think we're discovering what the script is as is, you know? And there are some minor ones. Like, I got one yesterday, which was a wonderful one to kind of recontextualize and offer for a character that's offstage, you know? And it's just minor tweaks here and there. And he's so precise in his language. So I think he's hyper-conscious of, let's see what we have now before we kind of go in and tweak. And he is a dream collaborator, truly. David is—he's so generous. He's a listener. He's firm with his language but open to the collaboration and who's in the room and who are creating these characters and who's embodying these energies. So it's been really, really wonderful. But we have not had—

[27:49] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Major changes. I mean, there's still time, but I don't foresee at this point anything major. I've been a part of processes. I remember Amélie maybe two days before we first met, maybe a day, Adam Chandler-Burrough, God bless him, he received a whole new number to close the first act. I mean, brilliantly. Next day he had it and it was done. So no major changes like that. I don't foresee plot-wise, but that is what's exciting about new work and truly about previews where we're really some creative teams don't like to use previews for that because it's too sick. No, this is exactly what previews are for and that's really, really, really wonderful. That sense of, yeah, no, we really are discovering, y'all.

We really are learning. Yeah. And the audience tells you too. So you were saying you get those different vibes from the audience, being in the audience, hearing the gasp or the, you know, oh, no, she didn't type reaction. No, Allah, that's what it is. Some days it's like, yes, and yes, yes. Followed by the laughter and all of that that you said, being the observer in the play, you also have the privilege of being, I guess, almost the observer on stage too, because there are so many moments where you're laying in that observation role. So you get to observe the play and the audience. What's that like? Oh, it's delicious. I mean, I do love doing film TV as well, but the magic of theater is the literal exchange of energy and breathing and, you know, whether she's speaking or not or the characters, it's that symbiotic energy exchange that is constantly evolving and shifting.

And if you're attuned to it, then it reveals something about the moment and about the play itself. So what is the experience? It's delicious. It's why I do theater. Truly, you know, there's no other form, you know, where you literally have people in the dark sitting next to each other who could be of completely different races, socioeconomic classes, backgrounds, religions, taking in the same air, taking in the same story through their lens and literally exchanging energy and breath in the moment. So it's one of my greatest joys and why theater has been my lifeblood more so than other mediums. You know, in the society we're in today, which is so different from how we grew up, live performance is one of the very few things we experienced together.

[30:26] Bruce Gotlieb: Yep. And, you know, Richard Thomas's character in the play, Mr. Emerson, he talks so beautifully about that, about preserving a sense of, you know, live music, being able to sit outside, you know, just preserving what seemingly in this society is not valued anymore, right? Like true exchange, you know. I mean, he has other problematic things that he's pushing for in the play as well, but, you know, also beautiful things. Again, David's brilliance of these characters are both, they're messy, they're human, you know, no good or bad. Thinking makes it so, right?

[31:06] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Right. Yeah. So do you ever in this show or in any other shows that you've done, do you ever learn who your character is more than you realize from the audience? Yeah, you know, yes. I guess particularly for Luce, what has surprised me is the audience's kind of reception and her journey and how they really are charting her throughout so that, again, not to give away too much, but her journey and her arc was unexpectedly received for me personally. I did not expect the audience to be so kind of complicit, I guess, in her journey in a lot of ways. And so what that did for me is it really empowered me to think, oh, wow, she really does have a power and it doesn't have to be loud, right, in her journey. Yeah. So I do absolutely learn from the audience how it's received. And again, in this particular character, it's been empowering to see how on board the audience is.

[32:25] Bruce Gotlieb: You know, it's a good thing that the show has a limited run because you're so busy. I have a list. Did you already shoot Suitable for Work, Mindy Kaling's show?

[32:31] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Oh, yeah, that was a quickie. So it was, I mean, it's been a beautiful kind of a moment of abundance. Right before this, I shot Vivienne in the Floors, which is a feature film with Carla Ruggino as Vivienne Lee and David I. Pierce as John Gielgud, Matthew Martin as my husband. But it just serendipitously came. Scheduling-wise, it fit in perfectly right before Ballisters. And then within that, a fabulous, fun, quick cameo as this MTA spot in this new Mindy Kaling show as well. So but those are all done. Luckily, those, you know, not luckily, but they just fit in scheduling-wise, which was and then a bunch of other workshops and readings were progressively previous to that throughout. So it just worked out schedules alignment-wise.

[33:20] Bruce Gotlieb: That's amazing. Yeah. And I mean, those are just a couple of the many, many things that you have that you're working on. Also, Cymbeline.

[33:28] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Yes, we just it just dropped. Truly one of my favorite all-time roles. Balerius, who nobody knew, I didn't know, but was such a gift, but got to do him and Queen in that. And so that podcast, we just did a re-rendering of it. So that's dropping very, very soon as well. And yeah, yeah. Lots of other just just hats. I finished also directing a friend of mine, her Lincoln Center Songbook series. So kind of putting the actor director hat on.

[33:59] Bruce Gotlieb: Is that Ruthie?

[34:01] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Yes. Ruthie Ann. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Ruthie Ann Miles. Yeah. She's amazing. Yeah. Love, love. She and I, yes. Talk about new works development. She and I were in basements together developing Here Lies Love, like, God, I want to say 15 years ago. Yeah. Wow. A while ago. A while ago. But it's been a beautiful, long friendship since then. So that was a beautiful collaboration.

[34:20] Bruce Gotlieb: Yeah. When you get in, you were saying, you know, you get these abilities to have your DNA thread in, like Here Lies Love. In these workshop settings, we've spoken with other actors who they love that. That's like one of their favorite things to come in and help develop something, even if they don't get to see it through on the other side.

[34:34] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Yeah. What is that like for you as an actor to be able to just get in the trenches and develop the new work? It's the best to be able to create something literally. I mean, that's what I feel leaving my DNA, no matter what, because it's true. You don't know how things are going to evolve and develop. And ultimately, if the story is indeed the biggest ego in the room, then you can't take it personally. Right. It's like, what is serving the story best? Truly. And that's the hardest thing to say. You know, younger humans are always like, oh, MC, you know, what advice do you have with this? I was recently reminded of a call from a colleague, you know, make it personal, but don't take it personal.

Sometimes, yeah, that is key. Sometimes what's seemingly perceived as rejection is a form of protection on some level. Right. And truly, with all the new works, you're figuring it out in the moment. And that is such a gift, truly, whether you move forward with it or not. Yes, we certain projects you get attached to or not, but you're figuring it out in the moment. And that is such a but you're in you're in the creation of it. And so whatever your voice, your ancestors, you've brought into the room. And I think that's really important to you. I just love being in rooms because I feel like, oh, I'm bringing all of who I am, which is in this life of Filaregan from the Bronx, you know, and my own experiences and offering that perspective, which for better or worse, you know, the landscape is not as inclusive.

Right. So anywhere we can get voices in, I think, and perspectives in are really, really important, especially when it's at the seminal phases of conception. You know, I mean, I feel like just having the career that you have, you've already won. So whatever you get to do to completion, you know, it's kind of irrelevant because, you know, you're in the game. So many people, most people don't get to this level. So it's just, you know, just the fact that you have this attitude already is just, you know, that's all there is.

[36:48] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Yeah, truly. We can only do one, you know, all in. I say go all in in every moment. Who knows what the next moment will yield? Because also who knows whether the next moment exists, you know, in this right in this world and not to, you know, bring it down to mortality, but they're in life, you know, death and taxes, although taxes, I know, imminent. Right. But nothing is promised. Right. So might as well make the most of this moment. And also some of these projects take years to come to fruition. So, you know, sometimes you're just either not available or you've, you know, you've moved on to a different kind of role.

[37:28] Bruce Gotlieb: Correct. And schedules realign. And, you know, there's one project that is still hovering that I've been a part of that if it does come to fruition, it'd be 13 years. It would be my longest dedication. And that's why, you know, yes, schedules shifting. Pure Life's Love was six years. Soft Power was two. Amelie was three years. I mean, we're talking years, writing different iterations of it and having been through a lot of those new works to seeing, again, it really, if the story is the most important thing, then you really can't take it personally. I've also been in development where I've shifted roles throughout. Yeah. Amelie, I started in one role and then when we ended up on Broadway, it was a different role, you know.

So, yeah, it's a thrilling development process. It's like when they were developing a chorus line. You know, it was everyone's real story, but not everyone played themselves. Right. Right. And then now everybody's playing that, you know, it's right down into these scripts. And that's the other beautiful thing, you know, seeing different productions of shows that I've put my DNA on, even in a reading to see where it's come or production, like a fully realized production to see it revive. There's such a joy and delight of, oh, it's not mine. It is the story and it's the world. And it's now being manifested by these beautiful humans and these collaborations. On so many levels, it's just different productions. It truly is different, different renderings.

[39:01] Bruce Gotlieb: So, yeah. Do you want to I know you mentioned directing Ruthie and Miles. Is that something you want to do more of as you go forward in your career?

[39:06] Maria Christina-Oliveras: With the right material? I also I know my skill set really is as an actor. Right. And that's why that particular collaboration was good, because as an actor writer, I developed my own cabaret a couple of years ago, whether I'm directing or teaching, I'm really offering living through it as an actor and then what my kind of offerings might be on your instrument. So with the right material, absolutely. But it's not something that I am actively kind of pursuing as a director per se. It's more, again, the right project comes up.

[39:45] Bruce Gotlieb: So is there anything coming up that you want people to know about?

[39:51] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Well, definitely Vivian in the Floors will be coming out probably in the fall. And it is I mean, Carla Gugino is Vivian Lee. It's a beautiful, beautiful movie to biopic. Actually, it's based on when she did the 1966 revival of Even Off with Gilgood. So that's imminent. There are a couple of other NDA projects that may or may not come to fruition. We'll see. But yeah, right now, truly, I'm all in with this moment and excited to see what the next chapter is.

[40:19] Bruce Gotlieb: Well, I will be going to the Ballesters. Yes. And I hope everyone else will go see the Ballesters. I hear it's hilarious.

[40:25] Maria Christina-Oliveras: We hope so. Again. Yeah. It's that notion of can we entertain and challenge you at the same time? You know, laughter and recognition and awkwardness and all the in-betweens. Absolutely. And if you saw it already, then maybe go back and see it again and see how it's evolved once it's open.

[40:49] Bruce Gotlieb: Absolutely. You know, something interesting. I was interviewing George C. Wolfe for a book, and he told me that he learned to direct by going to previews and he would go and to multiple previews of the same show, like, you know, with directors like Hal Prince and Lloyd Richards and just watch how the shows developed. And he really got a lot out of that. So, you know, it's interesting.

[41:11] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Yeah. Previews can reveal so much and how you navigate audiences and rewrites and all that. So, well, thank you so much for joining us.

[41:25] Bruce Gotlieb: Oh, my pleasure. Oh, you're an absolute joy. And come back any time. We'll do it. We'll see what's next on the docket. Yes. Absolutely. And we'll see everyone next time on Behind the Awards. Bye-bye.

[41:33] Maria Christina-Oliveras: Bye. Take good care. Thank you.