Maria-Christina Oliveras
Assistant Professor of Theater
BA Yale UniversityMFA National Theatre Conservatory
Maria-Christina Oliveras
Maria-Christina Oliveras is an award-winning actor, singer, educator and producer. She has performed extensively on and off Broadway, regionally, internationally, and in film and television, and has served as a singer for such esteemed artists as Taylor Mac and Toshi Reagon. Dedicated to new works and underrepresented stories, her career is distinguished by her transformational character work in a number of world premieres, including Kiss My Aztec, a new musical by John Leguizamo and Tony Taccone, music and lyrics by David Kamp and Benjamin Velez, Amelie by Craig Lucas, Nathan Tysen and Daniel Messe, directed by Pam MacKinnon, Soft Power, a play with music by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori, directed by Leigh Silverman, El Huracan by Charise Castro Smith, directed by Laurie Woolery, Pretty Filthy by Bess Wohl and Michael Friedman, directed by Steve Cosson and Here Lies Love, a musical by David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim, directed by Alex Timbers. Maria-Christina will appear next in Season 7 of NCIS:NOLA and the upcoming independent short, Matthew.
Broadway: Amelie (cast album); Machinal; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Off-Broadway: Here Lies Love (Public; cast album); Pretty Filthy (Civilians; cast album); Taylor Mac’s 24 Decade…(St. Ann’s Warehouse); And Miles to Go (PCP); Reading Under the Influence (DR2); Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Public); Romeo and Juliet (Public); Zorba! (Encores!); Night Sky (BPAC). Regional: CTG, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, Williamstown, Long Wharf, Huntington, Baltimore Centerstage, Sundance, O’Neill, among numerous others. Selected Film/TV: Manhattan Night, St. Vincent, "Nurse Jackie", "Law & Order: SVU", The Blacklist”; “Madame Secretary.” Education: B.A. with honors—Yale University; M.F.A.—National Theatre Conservatory.
An esteemed educator, Maria-Christina has served on faculty at Fordham University Lincoln-Center, Yale University, Primary Stages, Stella Adler Conservatory, among numerous others, and frequently serves as a guest speaker at universities throughout the country.
Maria-Christina is a founding member of Partial Comfort Productions, serves on the Board of The Civilians with whom she is also an Associate Artist, is a member of National Alliance of Acting Teachers and The Actors’ Center Workshop Company, and is an alumna of The Lark Playground and New Dramatists’ Composer-Librettist Studio, both dedicated to new works’ development and collaboration. She has served as a panelist and reader for various fellowships and programs including Sundance Institute, the Lark Play Development Center, New Dramatists, and Back to the Future/History Matters. She is the recipient of New Dramatists’ Charles Bowden Acting Award and the St. Ursula Award for Distinguished Career Achievement.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/news/Maria-Christina-Oliveras/
www.mariachristinaoliveras.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQNx2OvCv90
https://vimeo.com/461401083/b8ff835ed6
https://www.playbill.com/article/tune-in-october-1-to-viva-broadway-hear-our-voices
RE-EVAULATING THE GROUND ON WHICH WE(S) STAND(S): http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2020/10/01/bipoc-artists-and-theatermakers-discuss-the-challenges-of-working-in-white-spaces/
ACTING I: http://videos.wesleyan.edu/detail/video/6200198568001/inside-the-virtual-actors%E2%80%99-studio
Info on Acting I/Acting II: http://videos.wesleyan.edu/detail/videos/recent/video/6171936378001/maria-christina-oliveras:-acting-i-and-acting-ii?autoStart=true
LINKS to Other Interviews/Features:
- Broadway World Interview: KISS MY AZTEC!
- TheaterMania:Inside the Childhood Imagination of “Amelie’s: Maria-Christina Oliveras .
- Broadway World Interview: Maria-Christina Oliveras Talks “We’re Gonna Die”, Her Unlikely Career Path and the Subversiveness of Presence
- Playbill Feature: Machinal two-show day
- Playbill Feature: Amelie
- Playbill Feature: Here Lies Love
- The Civilians’ Feature on Performing “Romeo and Juliet” in Prisons for the Public Theater Shakespeare Mobile Unit:
- Feature on “Soft Power," a new musical by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori and Its Relevance
- Interview on Working with Latinx Women Focused Play, “El Huracan” at Yale Rep
- Culturadar Interview on the Development of “Here Lies Love," a new musical by David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim
- Interviews on Playing Macbeth in a Three-Woman Version at Hudson Valley Shakespeare:
http://stateofshakespeare.com/?p=5184
http://the-fifth-wall.blogspot.com/2016/04/women-on-shakespeare-maria-christina.html
http://wamc.org/post/macbeth-hudson-valley-shakespeare-festival
Academic Affiliations
Office Hours
By Appointment. To inquire about enrollment in Professor Oliveras' Fall 2020 Course, please e-mail her directly at moliveras@wesleyan.edu.
For more information on Acting I:
http://videos.wesleyan.edu/detail/video/6200198568001/inside-the-virtual-actors%E2%80%99-studio
Courses
Spring 2021
THEA 245 - 01
Acting I
THEA 245 - 02
Acting I
Fall 2021
THEA 245 - 01
Acting I
THEA 285 - 01
Acting II