MARIA-CHRISTINA OLIVERAS (MARIANA) 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.  |  @mcoliveras

Bobby Plasencia (Papi) is excited to return to Two River Theater and share the stage with such a talented group of artists! He is a New York–based actor, writer, and filmmaker. Theater credits include: The Wild Duck (Mr. Flor, Theatre for a New Audience, Shakespeare Theatre Company), In Her Bones (Moises, Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, World Premiere), Somewhere Over the Border (Don Napo, Syracuse Stage, Geva Theatre, City Theatre, People’s Light, World Premiere), American Mariachi (Mino, Federico, Goodman Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center Theatre Company, The Old Globe, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Play House, Two River Theater, World Premiere), Water & Power (Norte/Sur, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Craig Noel Award), La Paloma Prisoner (Chelsea Factory), Orchid Receipt Service (MITU580, World Premiere), La Negra (BRIC Brooklyn), La Ruta (The Working Theater, World Premiere), American Jornalero (INTAR Theatre, World Premiere), Luz (La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, World Premiere), Julius Caesar (The Drilling Company), Recent Alien Abductions (Actors Theatre of Louisville, World Premiere), Vesuvius (South Coast Repertory, World Premiere), Blood Wedding (Leonardo, La Jolla Playhouse), Down Past Passyunk (InterAct Theatre Company, World Premiere), The Tempest, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Independent Shakespeare Company), Water & Power (Understudy, Mark Taper Forum, World Premiere). Film & TV: “House of Cards” (Netflix), “General Hospital” (ABC Television), “Fidel” (Showtime), Maria Full of Grace (HBO Films). He is currently finishing edits on his latest short film, Big Sky, a futuristic, dystopian sci-fi love story. He holds an MFA in acting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

MELINDA LOPEZ (PLAYWRIGHT) is a playwright and performer. Upcoming: Sonia Flew (The Gamm Theatre), Twelfth Night con Salsa (San Francisco Shakespeare Festival). Recent: Standing Still (University of California, Santa Barbara), Stir (The Old Globe), Mr. Parent—co-created with Maurice Parent (Geva Theatre Center, Lyric Stage Boston, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park). Other work includes an adaptation of Yerma (The Huntington), Mala (bilingual, The Old Globe, ArtsEmerson, Guthrie Theater, The Huntington, Elliot Norton Award for Best New Play, ArtsImpulse Award for Best Solo Performance), also available on Audible in English and Spanish, Becoming Cuba (The Huntington, North Coast Repertory Theatre), and Sonia Flew (The Huntington, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Contemporary American Theater Festival, and many others, Elliot Norton Awards for Best Production and Best New Play). Melinda is also an actress and has appeared at The Huntington, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, Portland Stage, Guthrie Theater, and others. She is also featured (and has become a meme) in the film Fever Pitch. She provides humanitarian aid for the people of Cuba (Friends of Caritas Cubana) and occasionally sleeps on the ground in the American Southwest. She has run two marathons and plays a little ukulele.  |  melindalopez.com

JOEL PEREZ (PLAYWRIGHT) (he/him) is a New York–based writer, director, and actor. He wrote and directed the film The Upper Room (NewFest, 2025) and directed and co-wrote the film Villa Encanto (Tribeca Festival, 2025, executive producer Lin-Manuel Miranda). He wrote and starred in Beautiful, FL (Disney+). His play Stir received its World Premiere at The Old Globe, was developed at The Huntington, and won an Elliot Norton Award for Best New Script. Other writing includes Lost City Radio (New York Stage and Film, Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and the podcast Love in Gravity. He won the 2021 Voces Latinx National Playwriting Competition for From the Fountain and a 2021 Warner Bros. Discovery 150 Artist Grant for the pilot “You’re Tired, You’re Poor,” optioned by 20th Television. He is a 2019 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Playwriting. Acting credits include Fun Home (Broadway), Kiss My Aztec! (Hartford Stage), As You Like It (The Public Theater), and Sweet Charity (The New Group, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical). Film: tick, tick… BOOM! (Netflix). TV: “Hazbin Hotel” (Prime Video), “Jesus Christ Superstar Live!” (NBC), “Person of Interest” (CBS), and “Odd Mom Out” (Bravo).

misterjoelperez.com | @misterjoelperez