Maria Prudente

Washington, D.C., United States

Journalist at Freelance

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Articles

Facilitators Help Middle School Girls Build Confidence and Sisterhood Through Theatre

Feb 7, 2025 | wihe.com | Maria Prudente

On a balmy Monday afternoon in June on Webster Avenue, Trisha Jeffrey, a teaching artist for the theatre education non-profit International Girls Ensemble (IGE), tapes a giant yellow sheet of paper to a bookshelf titled “Girls Circle Play,” listing possible themes in colorful marker: “Going through changes.
Observer Arts Interviews: Painter Jaouad Bentama

Dec 23, 2024 | observer.com | Maria Prudente

Jaouad Bentama keeps apologizing for the heat. He’s invited me to look at new works in his studio in the basement of Mana Contemporary, a former Tobacco factory turned hybrid cultural arts space where visitors can simultaneously view art like the works of Andy Warhol’s original silkscreens and rub shoulders with resident artists like Bentama. But each time he secures one acrylic painting to the wall and goes to collect another, the tape peels, sending the painting crashing to the floor.
Maria Prudente: Newsrooms are disappearing. Who will we turn to for the truth?

Jan 31, 2024 | chicagotribune.com | Maria Prudente

As a millennial, I often feel stuck in a perennial state of deja vu. At 11 years old, inside an enoteca in Florence, Italy, I watched the World Trade Center burn and crumble with my American family. At the height of the 2008 recession, I graduated high school and moved to New York City to pursue a futile career in theater. In the fall of 2016, inspired by journalists covering the election who had been labeled enemies of the state — I decided to go back to school to pursue a degree in writing.
Taylor Swift was not 'Person of the Year' (Opinion)

Dec 21, 2023 | houstonchronicle.com | Maria Prudente

Taylor Swift is TIME magazine's Person of the Year for 2023. Inez and Vinoodh photographyIn a video on Instagram titled: "Taylor Being Iconic at the Renaissance Premiere," I watch Taylor Swift exiting a car, walking the red carpet, posing with fans and brushing her hair behind her ear. But the comments would have you believe you were viewing something else. "I keep replaying it," one person wrote. "Not to sound like a creep, but she's such a vibe.
Ode to My Burning Bath

Oct 27, 2023 | kgbbarlit.com | Maria Prudente

I’ll never tell men what I thinkwhile the inkon our check driesnext to the meringue plate and he asks me to come over while I eye the acrylic or is it porcelainand I’m burning formy best position:curved back, bowed head, legs lightweight and hugged byarms pressed into torso just like I’m back in mother’s womb if a womb were rectangle.
Actors and writers aren't just striking. They're grieving too

Sep 14, 2023 | latimes.com | Maria Prudente

1 Beyond the hanging pendant lights of the Liberties, a modern Irish pub in downtown L.A., waves of laughter bellow from a private event room. Grief support specialist Rebecca Feinglos asks the nine actors and writers attending what she calls a “meet and grieve” to pick a cut-out picture of an internet meme from the table that best represents how they feel that evening.
Chris Noth, You Are Not a Victim

Aug 23, 2023 | msn.com | Maria Prudente

Chris Noth would have us believe that he is a victim. In his first interview since being accused in 2021 of sexual assault by multiple women, the Sex and the City actor vented about how he’s had to “persevere” and lay low after the allegations to protect his family and mental health. Oddly, the catalyst for the interview—published on Aug. 7 in USA Today—stems from a partnership with the menswear brand Samuelsohn, which named Noth the face of its new mental health campaign.
Chris Noth, You Are Not a Victim

Aug 23, 2023 | yahoo.com | Maria Prudente

Chris Noth would have us believe that he is a victim. In his first interview since being accused in 2021 of sexual assault by multiple women, the Sex and the City actor vented about how he’s had to “persevere” and lay low after the allegations to protect his family and mental health. Oddly, the catalyst for the interview—published on Aug. 7 in USA Today—stems from a partnership with the menswear brand Samuelsohn, which named Noth the face of its new mental health campaign.
Actors are striking because we’ve long been in crisis. It’s not just streaming or AI.

Jul 29, 2023 | fredericknewspost.com | Maria Prudente

In late 2014, I was hired to play friend #3 in a new commercial for Garnier Nutrisse, the at-home hair color line. The company offered me a payout of $100 for my likeness, which they would use online and elsewhere. I spent that paycheck on a cab to and from the shooting location in a desolate area of industrial Brooklyn that inspired “A Clockwork Orange” kind of anxiety. This is a risk that many actors have to take, particularly actors who are nonunion or work without talent representation.
Actors being in crisis is not just streaming or AI

Jul 28, 2023 | sentinelsource.com | Maria Prudente

By Maria Prudente In late 2014 I was hired to play friend No. 3 in a new commercial for Garnier Nutrisse, the at-home hair color line. The company offered me a payout of $100 for my likeness, which they would use online and elsewhere. Maria Prudente is a writer, actor and researcher for SIGNAL: Tech and Society Lab at Columbia University. She wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.