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[0:04] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's the round table with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:08] Robert Bannon: Well, welcome to the round table, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World over here on the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeartSpotify, wherever you get your news about theater and art. Our next guest. We filmed this a couple days before this aired. Serenity has just done her first preview. You can get tickets to see this from now on. Opening night is coming up, and everybody needs to go to the Atlantic Theater Company and check out a brand new show called Indian Princesses with an S. Well, welcome, please, to the show, Serenity Mariana. Thanks for being here.

[0:42] Serenity Mariana: Thank you for having me.

[0:44] Serenity Mariana: I'm so I'm so excited. I am so excited that you're here, and thank you for agreeing to be here after your big night last night. How did it feel?

[0:50] Serenity Mariana: Um, it's it's it's actually crazy. Um, this is my off-Broadway debut. Um, but I didn't want to put that much pressure on it. So I just said that it's my character's off-Broadway debut. So it's Hazel's nine-year-old self, her off-Broadway debut. And I think that's really exciting.

[1:12] Robert Bannon: Congratulations, Hazel.

[1:14] Serenity Mariana: And I was yes, yes. But it was last night was so much fun. I think that the show is in is already in such a great place, and we still have I think 20 more previews. So um right. So you have you have time, so get a ticket right now. You can go to Atlantic Theater.org. The show we're on until June 7th, and it's in production with Rattlestick Theater, which we love. So how did this show come to you to audition? Did you don't tell me don't give me some nonsense, Serenity, that you went on like actor's access or went on some open call and just are booking shows. Okay. Because good night. Nice to have you.

[1:55] Serenity Mariana: No, no, no, no, no. No, that's that's not necessarily what happened. Um, no, no. So I um actually I was in the Peter Pan tour.

[2:05] Robert Bannon: Oh, did you fly?

[2:08] Serenity Mariana: I did fly. I did fly, and it was so fun. Um, I was a sling, so I got to um I got to do many, many different tracks, but one of the tracks that flew was um Wendy's daughter, um, Jane, and I got to fly, and it was actually crazy, and it was amazing. Um, but yeah, so I was um on tour with them, and I got an audition for the La Jolla version of Indian Princesses, and this was a little over a year ago. Um, I was doing self-tapes, um, I was also doing like Zoom callbacks, and then I had an in-person chemistry read for the with the person who would then become my now sister, Anissa. Um, and that was like I had a week in New York. Um, it was like a layoff on tour. Um, and then I booked it. Um, but the way that they found me was I had auditioned for something else, and a casting assistant had remembered me. Um, and wanted to bring me in for this.

[3:19] Robert Bannon: You know, that's so sweet and amazing because a lot of times when you go to acting school, you went to NYU. She's fancy, and she went to NYU. You go to these workshops and you talk to agents and managers and casting directors, and they bring them in. They always say, 'You're not auditioning for this job, you're auditioning for a future job,' and we will remember you. And as an actor, you never you don't, you're like, no, book me. I need work, I want to go.

[3:41] Serenity Mariana: Yes, I was just talking to my friend Bella about this. It's like, it literally is that thing that everybody tells you will happen, and it's like, no, it won't. Please stop it. I like, I don't want to hear it anymore. But it genuinely is the way it happened for this. Um, which yeah, is amazing, but also a little annoying that they're right.

[4:02] Robert Bannon: They are right. So, where did you originally grow up?

[4:06] Serenity Mariana: Um, I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Um, but I am indigenous of the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina. So we kind of relocated a certain portion of us, um, I believe in like the 70s or 80s. That could not be factual, so I'm more than willing to be corrected. Um shout out to Baltimore. I love Baltimore, and I love it's I I lived there for a year, and I had such a good time out there in Baltimore.

[4:32] Robert Bannon: And now when you say indigenous, the show is called Indian Princesses. So, what is the show about? What why is it important about casting this in a particular way? Tell me a little bit more about what this representation in this show means.

[4:50] Serenity Mariana: Yeah, so um the play is about five young POC girls of color in 2008, and they all have white dads or stepdads or grandfathers, but dad father figures, um, who put them in this program that is a real program. It goes by a different name now, but in 2008 it was the Indian Princess Program. And um it's supposed to be a father-daughter bonding activity for you know, dads and daughters to, you know, kind of like play what we're calling play Indian in order to like kind of open these like sort of wounds that at home like you're not able to explore and really connect with your daughter. Um but as they're learning these fake histories, the girls begin to have a lot of questions about where they're from and what it means to be um different, and the dads are unwilling or I would say unwilling, or they just don't know how to have the ability to have these conversations with their daughters.

Um, and it's actually based on what our playwright, Eliana, um, who's Yaki in Tewa, um she was put in that program with her sister Alicia, and it was she was writing it as kind of like this like exploration of like, all right, this happened to me, and it's really weird, and I need to get it out. And I think that what has come out is a really beautiful thing about you know, these five girls who are different and put into this like white institution being forced to like come together and like not create their own identities, but like create their own sense of like community and belonging and magic, and it's it's really exciting, and I think that people should come see this show because I think that this show is creating so many five different amazing roles for young POC girls in the canon that don't normally exist.

Um, two of them, yes, being Native American. And I think what is really exciting to me about these two roles is while the show focuses on identity, their their beings, their the the way they're written does not rely on them being indigenous. They are able to be fully developed people and not have to rely on their indigeneity.

[7:35] Robert Bannon: We have bells ringing here. Don't even worry. You're perfect.

[7:37] Serenity Mariana: Okay. You're in New York City.

[7:38] Robert Bannon: That's like.

[7:40] Serenity Mariana: But Hazel is just like a nine-year-old girl who like she likes iCarly. She just like likes exploring. Like, and then Lily, you know, Lily wants to be on Broadway. She wants, she loves Hairspray, she wants to be Penny. There are so something that we explore is there's so many other things that we or these girls want to be recognized for. And instead, specifically for these two characters, um, it's their indigeneity that um they're forced to lead with. And not that that's a bad thing, but it's definitely confusing for a nine and eleven-year-old um to be like, you never you never want to hear me sing, like you're always concerned about our experience and like what it's like, and like um, so I think that that's very interesting.

Um, and to not have a role that's rooted in like a stereotype or indigenous trauma is so such a breath of fresh air, and I think all of these roles are very um healing um for your inner child, and I'm I'm really excited for this to like go out and like for more people to play these roles because I I think that people will really, really enjoy it.

[9:18] Serenity Mariana: I love iCarly, I want to be on Broadway, I want to be in Harrisburg, but I also come from a culture that has a lot of traditions and history, and my family acts a certain way, but when I go to school, the people around me may act differently and you're assimilating to life. And this show in so many cultures around the country are dealing with what does it mean to be whatever you are at home and then be here in this country at the same time. Now, you being indigenous, your family doesn't come from anywhere. They're they this is their land, this is their country. And this story is something that is not often told, at least not from the perspective of the indigenous people. We, um, white people, colonized culture has taken over the story and kind of turned and made their own spin. What's it mean for you to be able to tell it from this perspective?

[10:08] Serenity Mariana: Yeah. I mean, I do think it's important to note that there's a multitude to, um, indigenous experiences. And I think that I'm very, very fortunate, um, because this what we're representing, this specific experience is very, um, I relate to it and I think it is very similar to what my experience was. Um, so I do think it's important to note I am very fortunate to be, um, representing one factor of a much larger experience, but I think still being able, because it is so, you know, indigenous work, it doesn't always make it out. Um, for, um, you know, people don't want it out, and that's a problem and it needs to be addressed. But I think that the fact that I get to, I'm just very fortunate that this part, my part of my relationship to my indigenity gets to be explored, and I think that that is a very valid experience, and it's not the whole thing, but I think that it's, yeah, I'm very excited.

You know, the naive part of me living in a male white upbringing is so excited because you know, when you fill out applications, you get to click the, you check that box. Like you are an actual relationship, you know, we we're isolated. I feel like we don't get the representation, we don't see people of indigenous background that's really truly depicted in American culture, really. It's been hidden and hidden away, and now you have a show that's talking about the white society trying to take over the relationships between fathers and daughters. I mean, this is a fascinating topic for not just people who can personally connect to it, but anybody because it's a story that I don't think we've ever heard before.

[12:04] Serenity Mariana: No, no, and it's so interesting to me because I personally didn't know the Indian princess program existed. Um, but you know, I through this process I've met many people who went through it, and it's there's a certain range of understanding that like, whoa, I can't believe we went through that and like we did that. That's crazy. And then there's also this, um, sense of like celebration for it, and because it did do sort of what it sent out to do, which was have a father-daughter bonding activity, and they're grateful for it, and it's like interesting, I feel like to kind of dismantle that, um, through now. I mean, that's 2008, so like modern society, and be able to still focus on the bonding of it, but also what it actually did.

[13:11] Serenity Mariana: Yeah. I get it, absolutely I'm thinking about it and I'm like, ooh, wow. Um, what a fun, fascinating, amazing show that you gotta get your tickets. There's lots of tickets you could get for less than a hundred bucks. You can't see new art in New York City for that price. They're taking care of you over there at the Atlantic, making it accessible for people to see the show. So your journey when you moved here to New York City and you came to NYU and the training you've learned. How's it feel now to be opening this off-Broadway show after the years you've been here, the auditions you've been on, the classes you've taken, the tours you've done, what's it like for you?

[13:54] Serenity Mariana: It's absolutely unreal. Um, the other day we have this, we got to have a really cool photo shoot. Um, and we didn't know that that photo shoot would be used for the playbill, and it would be, uh, it was it's on a not billboard, that's like a bit of an exaggeration, but it's on like a board like outside of the theater, and I saw it for the first time, and I just like kind of started crying because it's like you know, I've worked my entire life, I've always knew that I wanted to do this, and like the fact that like this is becoming an actuality, and I get to be in a play that I so, so believe in and feel seen by, and I think is such important work is very rare, and it's so this I think that I need to remind myself like this with all the chaos of the city and the chaos of the world, like this is what I dreamed for, and this is what I've been working for, and like you know, this is always what I wanted.

Um, and I worked for through NYU. Um, and then tour, and it's just like I feel very fortunate and very, very lucky. Um, and it's it's a weird, it's not a weird place, but it's a very fun place to be at because I am representing a little bit of my inner child, but I also it's not fully me. I think a lot of it is also based on I have a seven-year-old sister, Clarity. Um, and I think that Hazel is a lot, Clarity. Um, but being able to like it's like this kind of like dual moment of like, oh my god, my my my inner child dreamed this, and like I am playing sort of my inner child on an off-Broadway show, and that is just a full circle, weird, weird moment. That is like I can't believe that this is happening, and I'm so, so grateful, and I'm so excited for people to see it, and I think that this show, it I mean, in my experience in La Jolla in general, it opened up a lot of conversations.

Um, for people, and I think that it will continue to do that. And I think that that is the point of art, is to create conversations and dialogue and discourse, and I think that we're doing that, and I'm very just grateful to be a part of it.

[16:26] Robert Bannon: Serenity, while you're talking, I'm like, she needs a TV show. She like, can't you? Everybody, can't you see her on like Apple right now streaming as the kid in a show? Like, I see it right now. Like with Serenity, this is just the start. This is, you said this is your character's off-Broadway debut, but it's Serenity's off-Broadway debut. And Serenity is going to have a lot of debuts and a lot of television film and theater work for her career because you are just a light, a bright light of energy and we could we could follow you on social media and see your journey.

[17:01] Serenity Mariana: Yes, yes. Um, on Instagram, I'm Serenity Mariana, S E R E N I T Y M-A-R I A N A.

[17:09] Robert Bannon: I'll be following, we'll be following, we'll be sharing, and you can get your tickets. The show has a limited run, so you better go right now. It's until June 7th. They're in previews, they're gonna open up, it's gonna get incredible reviews, and you're not gonna get a ticket. So you better go to the Linda Gross Theater right now, the Atlantic Theater Company in partnership with Rattlestick Theater. Shout out to Eliana, shout out to your director, Miranda for what she's done with you. Amazing, amazing. It's an amazing team. And the fact that we have two POC young women who are leading this ship is incredible, and they are killing it. There are other people that you need to look out for. This is the theater that we need to be making in this country where everyone's voices gets to be heard and seen on stage. It matters incredibly to young artists and people out here. And what you're doing and the representation you're showing is going to change people's lives. So congratulations.

[17:56] Serenity Mariana: Thank you so much.

[17:57] Robert Bannon: And thank you so much for having me.

[17:59] Serenity Mariana: Come on back next episode.

[18:00] Robert Bannon: Yes, please.

[18:01] Serenity Mariana: She'll be too famous.

[18:01] Robert Bannon: She'll be booking. She'll be like, oh, I'm on set. I can't do interviews anymore.

[18:04] Serenity Mariana: I'm a big star now, Serenity.

[18:07] Robert Bannon: You better get ready.

[18:08] Serenity Mariana: Get ready.

[18:09] Robert Bannon: Thank you for being here.

[18:11] Serenity Mariana: Thank you.