In February, a group of mostly Guadalajara’s American School students and parents taking in the musical comedy “Honk!” sat up a little straighter whenever 18-year-old Maria Contreras, in her role as the Ugly Duckling’s mother, took the stage.
It wasn’t the first time. Maria, who has a reputation among teachers as especially talented and especially nice, has been wowing school audiences for years with her roles in plays and musicals. So nobody was particularly surprised to learn in late 2014 that the singer, actress and dancer had won a full scholarship to study musical theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in Greenwich Village.
Nobody except Maria. “I had been to NYU earlier for a musical theater summer program,” she said, “and I saw people who had amazing singing and acting abilities. So after that, I stepped up my voice training and participated in about five plays at the American School. But still, when I went back to NYU for early auditions to be admitted to the program, I didn’t expect to get accepted. I think maybe they saw a lot of improvement and realized I was determined.”
“It’s an enormous accomplishment. It’s an extremely competitive school,” said Maria’s voice teacher Kimball Wheeler.
Maria credits many for her success, particularly her mother, acclaimed pianist Elena Palomar.
“My mom takes me to every single class and accompanies me around the world,” said Maria, who has participated in competitions and summer programs in France, Italy, Spain, Peru, New York, Ukraine, Monaco and London since the age of 6.
But family support doesn’t stop with her mother. Maria’s 27-year-old brother, Juan Pablo Contreras, an accomplished tenor and orchestral composer, recently had one of his works that had won a competition played by the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra at the Teatro Degollado. He lives in New York and, like another brother and sister of Maria’s who likewise live in the United States, cheers Maria on from afar.
“Every time I do something, my siblings congratulate me. My dad works as an engineer, and of course supports me that way. He used to say maybe I’d be an engineer or programmer, but at some point I realized that everything I loved — writing, reading, singing, acting and dancing — was related to theater.”
Maria had been focusing on ballet for many years when, at the age of 15, a knee injury incurred by arduous practice preparing for possible acceptance into the Royal Ballet School in London turned her life around.
“I couldn’t dance for six months, so I started thinking of other things I could do, and singing came to mind. I’ve always liked to sing. There was a talent show at the American School and after I participated, the drama teacher Eric Mercer said I’d be perfect for the Ariel Moore role in ‘Footloose.’ That was the same year my knee popped. It was a life changer.”
Her experience in “Footloose,” as well as in several other plays prompted by an expanding and ambitious theater effort at the American School, redirected Maria toward musical theater and soon pushed her to attend the summer program at NYU.
“Another life changer was the acting training I got that summer,” she said. “The teachers explained that in acting, unlike in many other arts and sports, the objective isn’t to reach some ideal, like to become the strongest athlete or the best dancer, but to discover more about yourself, so that when you play a character you bring in your own experiences and act in a realistic way.”
Inspired by the NYU program, Maria returned to Guadalajara and undertook the additional training she had realized she needed in order to pursue musical theater. One of her teachers was world-renowned mezzo-soprano Wheeler.
“I came to Mexico to retire in 2006,” Wheeler said. “But when a talent such as Maria’s comes along, who am I to send her away? So many teachers, far better than I, gave generously of their time and expertise to me without money changing hands.”
“I knew if I had opera singing, I could sing whatever I wanted,” said Maria.
“Maria came to me as a highly trained ballerina,” Wheeler added. “She didn’t have much voice. I taught her basic Bel Canto technique with a few changes for when she is ‘belting’ in musical theater repertoire. At this point in her young life, she has a strong middle voice which serves her well in musical theater. She also wants to sing opera, and she will. This will require a slightly different technique.” Wheeler noted that the breathing style used in ballet is different from singing, and that this was a challenge in teaching.
Maria is set to finish at the American School in June and start at NYU in August. “It will be great to be in the same city as my brother,” she said.
Before that, on April 24, 7 p.m., at the American School, Maria presents a theatrical work in Spanish, which she wrote and directs and which draws on many of her talents.
“The title is ‘Mexico Libre.’” she said. “It’s an ironic title that addresses the issue of safety here in Mexico. I’m not acting in it. It’s about the kidnapping of Bosco Gutierrez, who was held captive a long time and escaped. It’s an image theater piece, which means the action is represented onstage graphically with 11 live dancers from my school, the Real Academia de Ballet, and with recorded dialogue and music written by my brother.” The cost to enter is 50 pesos.