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
Poetry
“Like Water” (Cathexis Northwest Press, 2020)
“Rules of a Woman” (Cathexis Northwest Press, 2019)
Interviews
Interview with Angela Gabrielle Fubunan (Inklette Magazine, 2019)
On Obsessions and Repulsions: An Interview with Jamel Brinkley and Linda Ashok (Inklette Magazine 2019)
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)
Prose + Personal Essays
"A Girl Grows in Brooklyn" (Prometheus Dreaming, 2018)
"Things Behind The Sun" (Litro Magazine US, 2020)
"Visitor" (Quarto Magazine, 2021)