Maria Prudente
Writer + Journalist
I'm a writer and journalist in New York City. I write personal essays, investigative stories, and cultural critiques.
In December of 2021, I broke the story of the third woman accusing actor Chris Noth of sexual assault in The Daily Beast.
I've written about feminist ethics in romantic relationships during #metoo, and participating in the George Floyd marches and protests. Other personal essays and poetry have appeared in Litro Magazine US, Prometheus Dreaming, and Cathexis Northwest Press.
In 2021, I was awarded the nonfiction prize for my essay "Visitor" by Columbia's literary magazine, Quarto, and invited to speak as a guest poet at the NYC Poetry Festival.
Trained in musical theatre, I worked for a decade as an actress in Los Angeles and New York before pursuing a career in writing. Theatre highlights include starring as Mayzie in the national tour of Tony-nominated Marcia Milgrom Dodge's production of Seussical The Musical and Nurse Flinn in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at New York's Chain Theatre. I also appeared in HBO's Gossip Girl and How To Make It in America, Tony Kaye's Detachment, and co-starred in The Null Set.
I have an M.A. in Cultural Reporting and Criticism from New York University, and a B.A. in Nonfiction Creative Writing from Columbia University.
Contact: mprudente20@gmail.com
Selected Writing
Prose + Personal Essays
"A Girl Grows in Brooklyn" (Prometheus Dreaming, 2018)
"Things Behind The Sun" (Litro Magazine US, 2020)
"Visitor" (Quarto Magazine, 2021)
Criticism
"21st Century Woman: A 20-something's Ascent into Feminist Ethics" (The Manifest-Station, 2018)
"Beyonce and Who Gets to Claim Identity in America" (Pink Moon, 2020)
"The Face of the Other at Abu Ghraib" (Pink Moon, 2020)
"Color-Coded Language in Casting Calls" (Pink Moon, 2020)
"A City in Crisis: How Punk and Poetry Defined 1970's New York City" (PinkMoon, 2020)
Are We All Actors? (Pink Moon, 2022)
Interviews
Interview with Angela Gabrielle Fubunan (Inklette Magazine, 2019)
On Obsessions and Repulsions: An Interview with Jamel Brinkley and Linda Ashok (Inklette Magazine 2019)
Poetry
“Like Water” (Cathexis Northwest Press, 2020)
“Rules of a Woman” (Cathexis Northwest Press, 2019)