Sonia Manzano on playing "Sesame Street's" Maria and creating "Alma's Way"

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2021

⏱️ 54 minutes

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Summary

For nearly 5 decades, Sonia Manzano played the part of Maria on Sesame Street. The role came to be during her college years while she was studying acting. She had just gone back home to New York for her first gig, which was a role in an off-Broadway musical called Godspell. While she was there, she auditioned for a part on Sesame Street, and her life changed forever. Now, Sonia has a show of her own called Alma's Way. It is an animated kids series that centers around the show's title character, Alma Rivera. She's a 6 year old Puerto Rican girl living in the Bronx alongside her family, friends and community members. Sonia joins the show to talk about her new PBS Kids series Alma's Way and her many years on Sesame Street. She'll also share what it's like when she meets fans in real life. Plus, she talks about her time performing in Godspell.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Jesse. It's the Max Fun Block Party. It's a kind of virtual party we're thrown here at maximum fun until October 22nd.
0:08.0	You are invited. There's a couple things we're doing. First of all, all of our shows are making shows that are
0:16.2	inviting to new audiences, avoiding injokes.
0:19.4	Basically, we want all the shows to be the episode where if you say, where do I start with Beef and Dairy Network?
0:25.0	Or where do I start with stop podcasting yourself?
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0:33.1	It's our hope that not only will you try some new shows, but maybe you'll recommend this show or other Max Fun shows you like to other people.
0:40.4	We've also got all kinds of cool
0:43.3	games and an online radio station and a volunteer event and a poster and all kinds of other things.
0:49.9	You can find them on our social media channels. You can also find a rundown of everything at maximumfund.org
0:55.1	or slash block party. That's maximumfund.org slash block party. So have fun and tell your friends.
1:04.8	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of maximumfund.org and is distributed by NPR.
1:11.2	It's Bullseye. I'm Jesse Thorn. In 1971, Sonia Munzano was in her early 20s. She was a junior in college studying in Canada.
1:31.9	She just gone back home to New York for her first big gig. She had a role in an off-broadway musical called Godspell.
1:40.6	While she was there, she got an audition for another part. This time it was a TV show for kids set in New York.
1:48.2	She got that part and her life changed forever.
1:52.1	That show, of course, was Sesame Street.
1:56.1	Sonia played Maria, one of the human friends to Big Bird and Grover in the count.
2:03.0	Maria! Oh, did I give you a scare?
2:05.5	Yes.
2:06.1	Oh, sorry. I just wanted to find out why are you walking around like that, muttering to yourself.
2:11.0	Well, I'm trying to figure out the right way to go in there and ask Lisa to give me a raise.
	...

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