Interview: Maria-Christina Oliveras in STIR at Two River Theater

Two River Theater (TRT) in Red Bank continues their 2026/2027 Season with STIR written by Melinda  Lopez and Joel Perez.  The show is directed by Edward Torres.  It will be on the Red Bank stage from October 31 to November 22.

Join two siblings in the kitchen as they piece together their mother’s beloved black bean recipe. Secrets simmer and memories are on the menu as they reconnect from across the country.  STIR is fork-tender comedy that will excite your taste buds and leave you hungry for more.

Broadwayworld had the pleasure of interviewing Maria-Christina Oliveras who plays Mariana in STIR. She shared with us insights about her career and the upcoming show.

Maria-Christina Oliveras was most recently seen on Broadway in David Lindsay-Abaire’s The Balusters, earning her second consecutive Drama Desk Award nomination. Other Broadway: Between Riverside and Crazy, Amélie, Machinal, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. She starred as Persephone in the National Tour of Hadestown. Selected Off-Broadway: Cymbeline (Drama Desk Award nomination), the World Premieres of Here Lies Love (The Public Theater), A Woman Among Women (The Bushwick Starr), Pretty Filthy (The Civilians), Parable of the Sower (The Public Theater), and Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (St. Ann’s Warehouse/HBO). Selected Regional: the World Premieres of Kiss My Aztec! (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Hartford Stage), Soft Power (Center Theatre Group/Curran), Amélie (Center Theatre Group/Berkeley Repertory Theatre), El Huracán (Yale Repertory Theatre), and January Joiner (Long Wharf Theatre). She has developed new work with New Dramatists (Charles Bowden Acting Award), the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Signature Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, and Roundabout Theatre Company, among numerous others. Film/TV credits include St. Vincent, Manhattan Nocturne, “Blue Bloods,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “The Blacklist,” and “Law & Order: SVU.” Upcoming: Vivien and the Florist, Bluebird, and “Chicks.” She is Associate Professor of Theater at Wesleyan University. BA, Yale University; MFA, National Theatre Conservatory. 

When did you first realize your penchant for theatre?

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love make-believe and dressing up. Theater was a magical escape. I had a lot of big feelings as a kid that I didn’t know what to do with, and my mom would constantly lament, “Stop being so dramatic!” Alas, I turned it into a career. We didn’t really talk about feelings in our family. My two sisters and I certainly felt loved, but it was a very specific kind of love: silent, disciplinary, immigrant. So I became the overachieving first-generation good Catholic school girl on the outside, but inside I was always sitting on a wealth of emotions I never got to fully express, until I found my Church, the Theater. It was a place where I could step into characters and imaginary worlds, where we could all laugh and cry, sing and dance together. LOUDLY!

I started in musicals. My dad, despite being a machismo Puerto Rican self-proclaimed jíbaro, loved them. He would blast “If I Were a Rich Man,” “The Impossible Dream,” and “My Boy Bill” from his man den. I always thought it was a little odd, but I realize now it was probably his way of working through his own feelings, as a father of three Americanized girls and a man chasing the American Dream. My freshman year of high school, I got cast in Man of La Mancha, took my first bow, and the rest is history.

You have amazing credits. What have been some of the challenges of developing your career?

One of the most challenging parts of this career is accepting that the no’s are inevitable. I deeply believe what’s yours is yours and that rejection is often protection, but knowing a no might be a gift doesn’t make it sting any less in the moment. You go through it to get through it.

I’ve also struggled with impostor syndrome. I’m from a middle-class immigrant family in the Bronx, and I was navigating very homogenous worlds like Yale and the industry itself. As I’ve gotten older, the things I once thought were sources of shame have become my biggest sources of pride, and I bring my ancestors, my stories, and my experiences into every room now to serve the story. For much of my career, I tried to lessen parts of myself to make other people more comfortable.

The other challenge has been the boxes people want to put you in. I’ve been very lucky to work with collaborators who believe in me and honor the breadth of my talents. Most of my work has been world premieres, and there’s nothing more exhilarating than creating a role, collaborating on a new work, or reimagining a classic. But I’ve been a character actress since my twenties. I didn’t fit the industry’s narrow standard of a leading lady, and certainly not an ingenue, so the larger roles have been elusive until now. My dear friend Alex Timbers, who I’ve known since college, told me over coffee right after we graduated, “You’re going to have a great career, but I really think you’ll take off in your forties.” He was right. In my forties, the roles are getting richer and bigger, and characters like Mariana are finally getting their due. I’ve always said my dream role is a female Willy Loman. Attention must be paid, and now is the time.

We’re excited about your Two River debut. How do you like working in Red Bank, NJ?     

I love it here! It’s beautiful, we’re right on the water, and the weather has been gorgeous. Red Bank has it all: wonderful coffee shops, great food, so many places to walk, and great workout spots (Pilates is my latest obsession). It’s also right off the train, so getting back to the city is easy.

What I appreciate most is the people. There’s a deep kindness and generosity in this community, and Two River takes such good care of us. They hosted a wonderful Oktoberfest that brought together some amazing small businesses.

I also brought my dog Max, and Red Bank is such a pet-loving town. He’s become our rehearsal room dog. Our director wants to cast him, but Max would never audition. He’s offer-only.

How have you prepared for your role as Mariana in STIR?

Mariana is very close to the skin. She’s going through major life changes in the middle of the pandemic, and like a lot of us, I have a shorthand into that. I revisited my own pandemic days, the endless self-help books included, and re-envisioned that world through her eyes. Being an actor gets easier as you go, because you have so much life to draw from.

Then there’s the fun stuff I love to geek out on: the nuances of being a CPA (which coincided beautifully with filing my own taxes in time for my 10/15 extension!); how to play dominoes; how to cook magical secret black beans (shout out to Teresa from the fantastic family-owned restaurant, El Señor Pepper, who gave us a tutorial); revisiting the Jane Fonda workout videos on VHS that Mariana talks about in the play, which my sisters and I did indeed do; and, joyously, the choreography to NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” I pretend I’m Justin, and Philippe, who plays my brother, is Lance.

It’s also a marathon of a show, so it’s all about endurance. I start every day and every rehearsal with tremendous gratitude and then gird my loins. I take care of my body and voice, give myself grace, and when I get bogged down or frustrated, I breathe, go moment to moment, and find the joy in the magic.

Tell us a little about the cast and creative team for the show.

This show has been full of beautiful synchronicity. Eddie Torres and I have known each other for decades. We were colleagues at Wesleyan University, and we’ve acted together in workshops over the years, but we’d never done a production together. When he called and the scheduling worked out, it was a no-brainer.

I also adore both writers. I met Joel Perez when he first came to New York, and we did a play together for the 52nd Street Project. We’ve worked on a number of readings and workshops since, and for almost thirteen years we’ve helped develop John Leguizamo’s Kiss My Aztec!, with workshops and productions along the way. I know Melinda Lopez from a workshop I did of her beautiful play Becoming Cuba at the Huntington in 2012, almost fourteen years ago.

This is my first time working with Philippe and Bobby. Philippe is so generous, so talented, and game to try anything. Bobby Plasencia is such a grounding force as my father. I’m so grateful to be in the room with them both.

We’ve also got an amazing team of designers, stage managers, and production staff. Working at Two River Theater Company has truly been a dream, with extraordinary collaboration and support across the board. To say the least, it’s been a joy to stir the pot with this company.

What would you like metro area audiences to know about the show?

At its heart, STIR is about a family moving through grief, and about the power of laughter, learning to let go, and our need for escape and a little magic along the way. It’s about how food unites us and can even heal, with their late mother’s secret magical black bean recipe at the center. It’s about the importance of family, and about going home again, to the legacy and childhood comforts that made us feel alive, safe, and happy.

Perhaps you’ll laugh, perhaps you’ll cry, perhaps you’ll even leave a bit hungry. We do cook on stage, so it’s truly a sensory feast for the body, mind, and soul.

Can you share any future plans?

I’m excited for audiences to see Vivien and the Florist, an indie I shot earlier this year, starring Carla Gugino as Vivien Leigh, and a couple of TV projects should be airing in the next few months. My mom is turning 80 during the run, so there’s a party to plan, and I’m part of a few shows in development, so we’ll see what the universe yields.

Anything else you want BWW NJ readers to know?

I don’t believe in regrets, but you’ll regret missing this one! The theater is amazing, and there are so many community initiatives for accessible tickets and fun events throughout. Come escape with us for ninety minutes and be reminded of the joy of connection. Let’s laugh, cry, and rail against the universe together. As we say in the play, the recipe is love. That’s what we’re cooking up, and that’s the secret.

You can follow Maria-Christina Oliveras on social media @mcoliveras.

Two River Theater is located at 21 Bridge Avenue, Red Bank, NJ 07701.  For tickets to STIR, and upcoming shows, please visit Two River Theater and call 732.345.1400.       

Photo Credit: Billy Bustamante