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[0:00] Jeryl Brunner: From Shakespeare to Schwartz, from Fawcett to Alvin Ailey, from Sondheim to Borelis, from McNally to Faye, it happened to the greats, it still happens every day, when lightning strikes, it's the moment you know, when lightning strikes, where you're meant to go, you can stand and tell Eureka, do whatever you like, you'll never forget the moment, when lightning strikes.

[0:28] Jeryl Brunner: This is Jeryl Brunner and you're listening to When Lightning Strikes. Maria-Christina Oliveras is currently starring on Broadway in Manhattan Theatre Club's The Balusters at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, a versatile performer and Drama Desk nominee, her theater credits include Between Riverside and Crazy, Amélie, Machinal, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Hadestown, Cymbeline, Here Lies Love, and on and on and on. On screen, she has appeared in Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, and Law & Order: SVU, and she will soon be seen in the upcoming film Vivien & the Florist and Mindy Kaling's next TV series, Not Suitable for Work. Well, welcome!

[1:26] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Thank you so much, Jeryl. Thank you for that.

[1:29] Jeryl Brunner: You're welcome. What a joy to have you on the show and to see you in The Balusters. Can you talk about when the play first came into your life?

[1:40] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Sure. Gosh, they sent my team a script, I think, in October last year, thereabouts. I mean, immediately when it came into my inbox, I was like, David Lindsay-Abaire, what? Yes, and I've been such a fan of his, not only since Rabbit Hole, which is the one he's most known for, but my favorite of his is actually Good People. And so immediately, just that name itself, I was like, oh, yeah, I can't wait to kind of dive in.

[2:09] Maria-Christina Oliveras: And I was so from the beginning, I was like, oh, I want to be a part of this. And if I'm not, I want to support this and I want to see it and engage with it. Because, first of all, it represents ten very distinct, identifiable voices in our world right now. And it embraces both the hero and villain aspect of us all, right? The messiness of our humanity.

[2:34] Maria-Christina Oliveras: It also explored microaggressions in a really interesting way to me. You know, I'm Filipino and Puerto Rican and kind of have navigated a lot of predominantly white spaces throughout my career in my life. And, you know, this idea of code switching and integration and power and gatekeeping. I mean, he just brought up all these issues in a really interesting, nuanced way. Right. It's not one way or the other. It's not didactic. It's not heavy handed. He really just is like, this is what it is and embraces all aspects of it.

[3:16] Maria-Christina Oliveras: So I was just struck by the script itself. And then Luz Bacay, the role, she's just first off, I, you know, I'm often offered like working class characters, maids and characters, which sometimes just serve in a very one dimensional way. And I was just so thrilled. Here is a working class perspective that is layered and complicated and a linchpin, a vital part of the narrative, not just a service function. She's also Filipino. My mom is from the Philippines. So, you know, when I first got the material to I actually my mom is not an actor. She is a nurse. Forty five years retired now. But I had her record the lines, not because I wanted line readings. I just wanted to bring her into the space and into the room of her voice into that.

[4:14] Maria-Christina Oliveras: So she's very, very special to me in that way. And that's that. So, yeah, back in October, read it, offered up my perspective on her. And here we are. I was thrilled with the way it all kind of transpired. It was it was one of those moments, too, where, you know, because I just I so connected so deeply and was so just I knew what I wanted to offer with her. And it was oftentimes that auditions you're like, oh, my God, did I do it right? Did I do this? And but all you can really hope for, at least for me as an artist, is that I've done my very best. I've brought in all that I am and offered you in the moment because then I can walk away and it's not about getting the job. It's saying I did the thing. You know, I got to act. I got to do my thing with her. And I felt that way with her. And it came through as well. But it was it was a really just a beautiful gift to explore her then and to then do her and explore her to the depths of who she is now.

[5:17] Jeryl Brunner: Oh, that's really beautiful. And the plot is so delicious. I want to talk about the plot. Here we are. I'll let you tell it.

[5:26] Maria-Christina Oliveras: The play takes place. It's a gated community, a landmark community in Brooklyn called Verlinden. Based on Brooklyn. Yeah.

[5:35] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Yeah. And it's it's manicured lawns and every statue, every bolster, every piece of concrete has to be according to code. And it and here we are at an HOA. Well, I'll let you tell it.

[5:54] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Yeah, no, it's an HOA meeting in this very wealthy community. Vernon Point is a neighborhood. And, yeah, everything's beautifully curated. The president of the association, Elliot Emerson, has been president because there are no term limits. So endlessly, at least Luz has worked for them for 30 years. And during her tenure, he has always been president of the association. He was her former boss. I don't know how many spoilers we can offer, but let's see.

[6:26] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Yeah, exactly. You see my character no longer in his employee and working for this new resident, Kira Marshall, who's moved recently from Baltimore. Anyway, it's centered around this home association and a meeting seemingly about the safety of the community. There's a very dangerous intersection where accidents have been happening and people have been getting hurt and it's harmful to the community. So they started a petition to get stop signs led by Kira Marshall. But Mr. Emerson feels that it would ruin the beauty of the community and because, you know, the preservation of what it should look like.

[7:07] Maria-Christina Oliveras: And then you have other residents of the community as well, in addition to Mr. Emerson and Kira Marshall. So there's 10 of us total, nine wealthy in the community and then myself. And they all have their own points of views and they all fight very passionately for what they think is, quote unquote, right. And seemingly this argument over a stop sign becomes about so many other things, our missteps, how we fight for our own values. It's a microcosm, I think, of also of America and how kind of divisive we are in this moment, because we're all, I'd like to think, I mean, most of us are well intentioned. Right. We're always just doing our best to move our lives forward in the ways that we know how.

[7:56] Maria-Christina Oliveras: So it calls into question so many things. Who has the power to dictate what is, quote unquote, right or what should be done? Who are the gatekeepers? That's a big one for me as far as my character and also entering the community. You know, how can we coexist with deep passions? Right. And yet deep empathy. Is it possible? What I love about the play is it offers no answers. It just offers the questions and it reflects back. This is our reality. Where do you lie within the spectrum? You know how you feel. Also, what's great about it is you feel the alliances shift in the audience.

[8:38] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Yes. The play progresses much like what's happening in the play. Oh, she's right. Oh, I'm going to do that. Oh, I want stuff. Oh, no. Wait. Oh, wait. That's true. Oh, but and and oh, you know, so you really feel that energy. And it's so thrilling to ride this particular play with the audience, depending on also who the audience is. You know, that has such a huge impact about of the energy of the show itself.

[9:03] Jeryl Brunner: Yeah. You know, what's fascinating is really what's simmering underneath and how it boils over. And you're 10 people with very, very different opinions, views on life and how you all collide and have to navigate each other in various ways.

[9:24] Maria-Christina Oliveras: I was thinking about something Kelly Leon, the director, told me that August Wilson and Joe Turner's Come and Gone has a line that says life is great when you have love in one hand and laughter in another. And I think that's like at the epicenter of this play. I love that.

[9:46] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Yeah. And you feel the love and you feel the laughter, you feel the tension. There's so much going on and there's there's pain, but also you're laughing hysterically. And the way you all collect with each other and are trying to navigate is so incredible.

[10:07] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Now, I love I mean, that's such a beautiful, beautiful quote and so well rendered. Yeah. Oh, the play. I mean, I think every play needs to lean into the love, whatever that is, even if there's tension underneath it. But these people show up for each other for a reason. Right. They stay in the room together for a reason. They care about the community. Luz deeply cares about this community. I can't give a spoiler alert, but, you know, she is in service and she there is, you know, whatever your definition of a love, you know, not the romantic sense, but, you know, just that sense of investment in each other. Right. And joy. You know, these people, both us as actors and ensemble, but also these these characters enjoy each other's company. Right. They they show up and they care. They're so invested. And it just, you know, they're they're fighting for their own POV because they think it's right. Right. And again, so well intentioned. So, so well intentioned.

[11:03] Maria-Christina Oliveras: But, you know, you also bring up the laughter, love aspect. And I would then even go further to say the laughter comes in so many unexpected ways, whether it's like awkwardness is what has just happened, or joy, or like actual just like titillation, like, aha, that person's so funny. And then there's like the question right after of, oh, was I supposed to laugh at that? Or, oh, is that wrong? Or, oh, that is wrong. But oh, my God, that's so right. Or like, you know, the deliciousness of some of the microaggressions and lines in the play, you know. So I think it's beautifully subversive in that, like, you can be laughing in one moment, and then all of a sudden, it's serious. And you realize, oh, wait, the rug was just underneath. And then all of a sudden, David Lindsay Bear gives another zinger where it's like, oh, right, let's deflate that. Let's defuse that whole situation.

[11:59] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Yeah. And as you said so beautifully, you're the one character who's middle class, who doesn't live in the neighborhood, that she has this kind of moral center in a way as a compass.

[12:14] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Yeah. I mean, I think she just, she really reflects back to the truth of, you know, their actions, right? And for me, personally, she's not there. She's not out to get anybody, you know. Again, I can't spoiler alert. But she does provide the light and she is very much the truth teller of the piece. And everybody has their own truths. I mean, Ruth has this beautiful, everybody drops truth bombs. Ruth has this beautiful passage toward the end, as well, where she just embraces and really amplifies like the messiness of all of us, right? None of us are perfect or pure. We're all culpable on some level and to varying degrees of accountability.

[13:09] Maria-Christina Oliveras: So, but yes, I do. As I said, I deeply love traversing her journey every night. Um, she's so funny, too. I mean, she just she knows what to say. And David Lindsay Bear has given her just some zingers of just like, boom, okay, I'm out, boom, I'm out, boom. Oh, okay, you want this now? All right, here it is. And he's a real gift. He's such a master storyteller and a poet, if you will, and every character.

[13:39] Maria-Christina Oliveras: So three dimensional, what was that rehearsal room like? Because you're such a beautiful ensemble. Somebody described the play or all of you as an orchestra as a great.

[13:47] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Oh, that's exactly what it is. I mean, everybody it's like, it's playing. It's a sport, right? It's a tennis match. It's volleying, it's pace, it's being in flow. The orchestra, I always think I love great art to me is like great jazz, right? You always you know, what you're saying? No, no, there's no son of this guy, right? We're always going to sing that. But you know what, in this moment, this is going to be a little scat here. Oh, in this moment, we're going to throw it over the bass for their little solo. So but we're all singing the same song in with this sense of freedom and improvisation. But we always know what the structure is. And when your structure is a David Lindsay a bit of script, all you got to do is play baby play and you got all these all I mean, 10 very different instruments, right? Contributing to this beautiful orchestra.

[14:39] Maria-Christina Oliveras: And as I said, with this, this beautiful piece of music, beautiful way to put it. So I'd love to know your lightning strikes moments. I know you're a Bronx native. You went in the Bronx, you know, you got an MFA from the National Theater Conservatory. But when was the moment that you knew that this was your path? Or what was early time that you said, Oh, gosh, I have to?

[15:09] Maria-Christina Oliveras: I mean, I always loved playing dress up and putting on the makeup and pretend. But that said, it was very complicated because I'm the first generation. My mom migrated from the Philippines in 71. And my dad from Puerto Rico, shortly thereafter, 72, 73. Anyway, so, you know, first generation immigrant perspective, they were always so deeply supportive of me in the arts. But theater was never really a viable career option, right? That's just not I was supposed to be a doctor or a lawyer or president of the United States, you know. And, you know, worked really hard, like education was always emphasized. So got the grades was like your typical kind of overachieving. But theater always was calling to me and, you know, did a dinner theater in the Bronx in the Throgsday community, the Bronx did Rosie and Bye Bye Birdie. I mean, always. And as I said, my parents were always supportive. They were driving me back and forth. But again, it was a great hobby to kind of facilitate other things.

[16:21] Maria-Christina Oliveras: That said, I couldn't resist it. I kept doing it in high school. There was an all boys high school, I went to an all girls Catholic high school. So I did theater at Archbishop Stepanak. And it's called The Magic of the Major Bows, which was which was the theater. And my first show there was actually Mano de la Mancha, which my dad used to endlessly play a couple of main songs, but The Impossible Dream from Mano de la Mancha, endlessly in his little man cave, he'd be sipping a little Jack Daniels just listening to that and Tevye and Fiddler on the Roof. So the irony of my parents, you know, supporting me, but not, you know, but thinking like, Oh, it says you can't do this as career, you know, you got to be a doctor lawyer. The irony is, you know, it was my dad who really started putting these gems in my ear that I couldn't, you know, resist.

[17:10] Maria-Christina Oliveras: So I did musicals in high school, and then went to Yale undergrad. And Yale is not undergrad is not a, you know, a BFA or conservatory. So even though I did theater there, I also tried everything I could to like still stay on the lawyer track, right? I like was like, okay, I'll double major in sociology and theater and or something safer. And all that to say, because full circle, my junior year, I had had some credits accumulated, and I was in a position to take the semester off, and I need to save the money. And I was a scholarship kid, I did, we did not, you know, getting there was a huge financial burden on my family, too. So it's like, Oh, I can graduate in three and a half years. I'm gonna this theater thing keeps calling me. What's the more stable version? I was like, maybe I'll be an artistic director somewhere.

[18:09] Maria-Christina Oliveras: So I actually interned for Lynn Meadow, who is the artistic director of Manhattan Theater Club, my junior year when I was at school. I learned so much. It was so wonderful to be there, just to understand that kind of the nuance of the industry. I met so many different people started just understand that the business aspect, but sure enough, at the end of that, I booked my first professional gig as Cha Cha Di Gregorio in Greece at the Carousel Dinner Theater, and then the youngest Bloody Mary on record, I think, in South Pacific at the New Bedford Festival Theater. So, you know, right before I actually went back to Yale to finish, I ended up doing these two roles was my first like equity gigs. And I was like, All right, universe, like, I tried to do the quote, unquote, stable thing, but mama's gonna be an actor.

[19:05] Maria-Christina Oliveras: So, um, five years later, you know, here at, at MTC. And there's all sorts of other full circle things there. Like, David and Lindsay and I actually did crossover because he had meetings with Lynn about, I think, funny mirrors at the time. And then they were, I think, commissioning his next thing. And then last year, I got to work with Andrew Lippa, who's always I've just, I love music. And that was full circle, because the season I was there, his wild party was there. So I got to meet all of them. And, you know, it was just he he's one of my, like David being one of my favorite living playwrights. Andrew is one of my favorite living composers. So anyway, so it's all been so full circle. So the lightning striking was was progressive. And yeah, I mean, all full circle.

[19:50] Maria-Christina Oliveras: And now my parents, you know, anytime I'm like, Oh, puppy, you know, like, I'm sad. I, you know, I had this bad audition, or, you know, I feel bad. He's like, I there's no stable businesses, you stick you stick to your guns. Um, and one of my favorite moments still to this day is, is the opening night of Amelie. And my dad was at the opening night party, and I'm with my agents. And he comes up to me, he's like, Oh, dude, you're a modest agent. And Tim Marshall was like, Oh, yeah, yes, Mr. Alvarez. It's so great to meet you like your daughter so great. Like, we love her dinner. He's like, you know, she was supposed to be a lawyer. And, and Tim is like, Oh, I Oh, I'm sorry, you know, but I was wrong. So you take care of my girl. And that to me is one of my I'm just, you know, reflective of like, keep at it.

[20:58] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Anybody who's listening who's like, who thinks you can't? Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. And I do want to say this is also tremendously special to me. You know, I've worked a million jobs supporting and making this a reality. And one of my early jobs early on was working for this beautiful woman as her personal assistant. But one of my greatest friendships was actually with her housekeeper, who was an immigrant from El Salvador. And so I just she I bring into the room. Anyway, so it's just been a really beautiful gift to represent her in this way. And to bring all the voices, all the angels, all the ancestors to this to this play, which also I said, I'm like, it's hilarious. The play is hilarious. Like this moment that we're having now it's like, oh, we can cry. And then we'll be like, Oh, by the way, like, let's do a poop joke. Gerald, let's just get out of it.

[22:03] Maria-Christina Oliveras: So there's so much to unpack. First of all, we

[22:06] Maria-Christina Oliveras: How did you end up deciding to audition for Grease? I didn't have those resources, so I was always leaning toward the practical, practical, practical and wanting to do right by my family and all the things. I was always auditioning, though, surreptitiously. I took the subway from the Bronx. I went to the open calls and backstage. Even, I think, toward the end of high school, I always knew. I was like, okay, I'm going to just do this on the side. I was auditioning already, so I knew, as I said, I always knew in my heart and my soul. This is very odd, and it's functioned oddly in some relationships, but I do feel like on stage is where I can feel the most vulnerable and I feel the most at home in a way that I can feel like I can remove the masks, quite honestly.

I've always felt at home there. I was always surreptitiously auditioning. Again, my parents were so supportive. I can't even tell you, like this community dinner theater in the Bronx doing Bye Bye Birdie. I remember being, God, I don't even know how old I was. I was very young, still in high school, but dancing on a table and just the thrill of that and live performance and live engagement. Musical theater and auditioning was always on my radar. It helped because I was in New York already. When I was interning, I lived at home and just commuted in, so all of the auditions were right there. That was one of the ones that I auditioned for. It was just a backstage open call. It was my first experience with an equity theater, with equity actors.

[24:22] Maria-Christina Oliveras: That's how you got your equity card? No, no. Believe it or not, at that time, I know things have changed. A, now you can apparently buy into the union, but there was the EMC program, Equity Membership Candidacy, so you accrued points. I think you could actually get your card immediately, but at that time, I was like, no. I still was like, is this a thing? I started accruing points from that, from the EMC and then South Pacific. It's just ironic. The musicals, those are two, I mean, Greece and South Pacific, two of the most commercial musicals. It's ironic. When I first graduated undergrad, I was auditioning for Flower Drum Song and West Side Story, but ultimately, I was like, oh, I didn't have experience yet with creating roles in musicals, so I thought like, well, I'm not really a dancer.

The kind of bigger, more machine musicals in those senses of just the big Greece. It didn't feel right for me in that moment. And I was like, I love acting, I love storytelling, I love singing. There were some auditions when I first graduated undergrad where I felt like, oh, my God, I knocked that one out of the park, and then others where I was like, oh, my God, you're going to take away all my cards, because I just didn't have the craft and the skill set, and I was so young. So I was like, oh, I want to go back to grad school. And I went back to grad school and thinking that when I came back to New York, I would predominantly do plays, film, TV, because again, I wasn't a dancer, and so I just didn't understand how big the musical world is.

[26:21] Maria-Christina Oliveras: And I was doing a play downtown, Target Margin, like really big ones, and a friend and colleague of mine, Alex Timbers, who I'd gone to undergrad with, was doing Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Public, it kept extending. And so they needed coverage. And so he called me and it just schedules aligned. And then that show ended up transferring to Broadway in the fall. So I ended up going with that, and then did a show with him called Here Lies Love, where I was like, like epic singing, you know, and I got to do my thing. I love to sing. And, you know, it started just got into the pipeline of creating new musicals, new roles. And then that kind of opened up for me, like, oh, yes, like you, actor, singer, like these new musicals are where you live, new work, new play development.

And so did quite a bit of that throughout. And like, most of my career has been in new works and world premieres. And even the classics I've done have been, you know, re-renderings of them, like Cymbeline was a modern adaptation. I did an all three women version of the Scottish play. And those are more interesting to me. I mean, I'm getting to play male roles within that canon, you know, and why not, you know?

[27:41] Maria-Christina Oliveras: And then here, well, where did you learn to sing? Well, okay, this is my like, surreptitious when I was little, I was like, you know, I'm not gonna be an actor, mommy, but I love musicals. And so can I take voice lessons? So I've always I took voice lessons. Bronx House, like sent people to my elementary school, Holy Rosary. So I studied with like, an opera teacher, Margaret, I can't remember her last name is Margaret. But she was like, one of the nuns in the Sound of Music National Tour. And that was like, that was definitely her was much more classical based. And then I always sung throughout high school, most of my I've learned a lot on the job, too. I was like, oh, I was I also listened endlessly to Patti LuPone on repeat.

So like a lot of the brassiness and the richness actually of what I've kind of leaned into in my belt. I was like, because it's Patti was in my ear through all throughout high school. And then college, I did a cappella. Shades was my a cappella group and women rhythm. That's a huge is a huge sub community at Yale. Yeah, it's wonderful. I mean, I got to go on a world tour after it was one of the most amazing gifts. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we we did I did a rendition of sister sledges. We are family with my a cappella group in Amsterdam at some international a cappella competition. So much fun. So I've always sang and then when I did Here Lies Love, and that was like some high pop rock belt, you know, I went back to studying with Matt Farnsworth, who is still his studio, he's still my voice teacher there.

[29:27] Maria-Christina Oliveras: And then throughout, you know, I really do flow between plays and musicals and film TV. So like, depending on what I'm working on, I'll go back. You know, and that's what I love about being an artist, too. I have such wanderlust and being able to kind of go across mediums and like, oh, this time I've got to like, go train and, you know, CrossFit or, you know, oh, with actually with Luz, I'm actually finding Pilates is actually what I need for her in this moment. You know, so yeah, I've been lucky enough, but I've always sang I did a cabaret and it was one of my most scariest things I've ever done my own solo cabaret. And yet one of the most gratifying a couple years ago. So I'm working on that as well.

Yeah, I just I love, love, love to sing. And it's even more delicious when it's developing something from the ground up and within that world in a rich role, too. I mean, there's so many, as I said throughout, I've been offered things that have been really reductive, roles wise, you know, for whatever reasons, i.e. maybe the systems in place and, you know, the limitations of what people want to put upon you for whatever reason. I mean, the multitudes of you.

[30:46] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Has your family been able to see the ballets? Oh, yeah, they came opening night. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, like, especially for your mother. Well, this was such such a gift. So David Lindsay, a bear, his best friend, Carlos, his mom, Jerry, is from the Philippines and was an inspiration for Luz Bacay, the character. And, you know, David and I spoke about I told him how much, you know, this character meant to me as far as and my mom and he was like, Oh, my God, you know, Betty, my mom, and Jerry have to meet. So they met. And not only are they from the same region, the El Cano up in in north of the Philippines, they graduated within one year of each other from the same nursing program, Baguio General Hospital.

So we I mean, David, we were just like, Oh, my God, this is the universe. This was alignment on so many different levels. But like, that that was epic synchronicity or something universe within a year 1966 and 1967. Northern Philippines, Baguio General, Jerry and my mom. Well, David's ironically, David's inspiration was Jerry and my mom, my inspiration for Luz. And they were all within the same. I mean, it was, you know, just stories like that, that yeah, lightning strikes or the universe or something. I mean, I don't I don't I don't understand a lot of this life. But the mystery and the beauty of it is, is really, really just striking.

[32:21] Jeryl Brunner: Well, it's such a gift to talk to you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

[32:27] Maria-Christina Oliveras: My, my, my pleasure. Truly, truly. Thank you. And everybody, come on, see the ballast and see what we're talking about and see what what spoiler alerts we're avoiding.

[32:35] Jeryl Brunner: Yes. Yes. Yes.

[32:39] Jeryl Brunner: Have a beautiful, beautiful day. Thank you.

[32:42] Maria-Christina Oliveras: Such a pleasure. Such a pleasure.

[32:52] Jeryl Brunner: The theme song was written by Tom McGovern. This episode was produced by Anna Stroud.