Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maria Müller. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Maria, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

I have been thinking a lot about the idea of legacy lately, since it has come up in many aspects of my life. I like to think of myself as someone who’s interested in what the world will look like beyond their lifetime – in more ways than one. Professionally, I want to leave behind a better and more sustainable artistic system. Most creatives I know pour their heart/time/energy/resources into their art and what they get in return does not match the artistic genius they offer. I recently read Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Big Magic’ and learnt a lot from it. The idea of “owing” something to artists came up and it is mentioned that no one asked us to become artists and therefore the world doesn’t owe us showing up to our shows, supporting our work etc. So we should just… do it. I agree with that – no one has asked me to become a creative. However, as it has been proven time and time again (and the pandemic was the best example of this) we do need art. Art does not create itself. It needs people. And as much as I can, I want to help leave behind a system that sustains and compensates artists properly, one that does not make them choose between their income and their art. I am very aware of my limited power as an individual, but I want to use the communities I have (for example, the theater company I founded) to break this cycle of overworking and underpaying.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an actor, writer, producer, and Co-Artistic Director of Et Alia, a theater company founded and led by international women. I work both in theater and in film/TV and I also host events, such as East European Comic Con. I have been acting for almost as long as I can remember myself and I am at a point where I can tell what sets me apart – I say this for now, but hopefully my answer is in an everlasting process of changing. In an industry saturated with actors and in a city like New York, I really had to think about what I bring to the conversations that so many amazing creators are having around me. Throughout the years, I have worked on becoming a more versatile, open, flexible, specific etc. actor, and I have also worked on intertwining discipline and play. However, that was still not enough. There are too many artists who already have both – so how am I special? I have come to realize that my biggest strengths lie in my ability to “speak different languages.” And I mean that in more than one way. I do speak three languages fluently and that has certainly helped me in the past – both through allowing me to work with a wider range of people and through developing those parts of my brain. But I also mean artistic languages. I am fascinated by different directors’ approaches in the rehearsal room or on set and I feel like I constantly learn not only from their direction per se, but also from their directing style. Some are trained in a specific technique, others base rehearsals on actors’ trainings. Some like to prioritize movement over text, others like to do it the other way around. Some like to give positive notes, others consider notes necessary only when they feel like something isn’t working. I have worked with every type, and I felt like a big advantage I had was my curiosity towards their approach and my malleability. I think this also comes from my broad and extensive training and from having worked on a variety of projects both on screen and on stage.
Along those lines, I think the projects I am the proudest of fit in two categories. The first category are the ones where the director and I had the most dissimilar visions of the project going into it; those are oftentimes the ones I gain the most from artistically, because I allow myself to be open. The second category are the ones where my artistic input goes beyond acting. For example, my theater company and I worked on a project called ‘Stella, Come Home’ last year – that was my brain baby. It developed from an idea I had back in the pandemic, and it transformed into the wonderful project my collaborators and I are so proud of. Under SarAika Movement Collective’s skillful direction, Ana Moioli, Giorgia Valenti, Luísa Galatti, Israel Harris and I were able to bring this beautiful story to life with the help of 3 grants and a lot of hard work from people who believed in us and in the value of that story.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Apart from my previous answer that has to do with my flexibility as an actor, I think what helped me build my reputation is my constant commitment to seeing projects through. Since I oftentimes like to produce my own work, I am in a position of being able to finish it and I feel very grateful for that. All the artists I know are working on an abundance of projects at the same time, so it is unfortunately quite common to start things you cannot always finish (because of time, resources, other opportunities etc.). However, I make it a point (maybe too much of a point sometimes haha!) of giving myself and the world a completed version of my work – that may not be the final product, but I believe there is so much value in seeing things through and closing the mental tab on them before completely moving on to something else. There have been projects in my career that I felt like I outgrew as I was in them, and that was definitely an interesting experience that made me question my role in that production. However, I always chose to stick with it and learn from it. There is such an appealing idea of “the next best thing,” but I think that is a trap a lot of people fall into. For example, post-production on a film can take very long – by the time that film is done, you feel like you are ready to move on; you learned your lessons, know better now, and are ready to embark on a new adventure. People then become embarrassed or self-conscious about sharing a version of themselves that they feel like they’ve outgrown. While I understand that and it is something I have experienced before myself, I do think there is so much value in releasing that product into the world.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are many rewarding aspects of being an artist – the amazing feeling when someone identifies with what you’ve made, the satisfaction of being cast and picked from a multitude of creators, the privilege of getting paid to do what you love etc. However, what I cannot get over is the fact that I get to share a room with brilliant minds for every project. I am not exaggerating when I say I am in awe of my collaborators almost all the time – from the women in my theater company who keep me inspired and motivated every day to the one-time castmates on short-term projects who sometimes plant a seed of an idea in my brain that I then carry with me for years, I feel so lucky to be able to see artistic visions of people who are making art I admire. A recent example is a show I did at the end of 2022 called ‘Where Are You? (New York)’ directed by Sim Yan Ying “YY” as part of Mabou Mines’ SUITE/Space program. It is a show about death and grief understood through the lens of seven young people from different cultures, backgrounds, religions, etc. We devised it with the help of an incredible team, and we had a very intense rehearsal process – we met five times a week and spoke about heavy subjects for a few hours a day. I was oftentimes asked during that period if it was too overwhelming. Even though the themes were hard to deal with and uncomfortable to process, I could not help but feel an immense gratitude towards it. If I am going to talk about death for three hours a day, might as well do it with people whose experiences with the subject are very different from mine and who have the ability of transforming them into artistic products that I can learn from. How lucky I am to be able to hear fresh opinions and share space with creators on a regular basis! That is definitely the most rewarding aspect of being a creative for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.marialuizamuller.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mmaarriiaamuller/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maria.muller.9883/

Image Credits
Emmanuelle Glazier, Alexia Haick, Marcus Middleton, Federica Borlenghi