Maria leaves Sesame Street after 44 years
Maria leaves Sesame Street after 44 years – Telegraph
By AP 10:47PM BST 02 Jul2020
Sonia Manzano became one of the first Latina stars on American television but producers have yet to explain how she will leave the show
Sonia Manzano performing at the Daytime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles Photo: AP
Sonia Manzano, who has played the role of Maria on Sesame Street since 1971, is to retire.
A beloved resident of Sesame Street since she was a teenager, the character Maria owned the neighborhood repair shop with husband Luis (played by Emilio Delgado, who remains on the show).
Ms Manzano, 65, won plaudits as one of the first Latino TV stars in the US and served as a writer for the show, sharing in 15 Emmy awards as a member of the writing team. She has also written children’s books.
Born in a Puerto Rican neighborhood of The Bronx that resembled the world Sesame Street would later embrace, she began her show business career in the original cast of the musical Godspell, which began as a student production.
She moved up with it as it transferred to a club in New York’s Greenwich Village, then to off-Broadway, then Broadway.
In 1971, she auditioned for Sesame Street, which at that time was only 2 years old.
As Maria, she and Luis became the masters of repair, including a large quantity of toasters, as co-owners of the Fix-It Shop. Luis and Maria wed in 1988.
In confirming Ms Manzano’s retirement, Sesame Workshop said "she will always be a part of the fabric of our neighborhood.
During her 44-year career as the iconic ‘Maria’, and the first leading Latina woman on television, she was a role model for young girls and women for generations."
Sesame Workshop did not say how her absence would be explained.
Ms Manzano has also performed on the New York stage in productions of "The Vagina Monologues" and "The Exonerated."