“When I became a writer, I found it to be very challenging to break down the big ideas into tidbits that preschoolers could understand.” “During many of my years on Sesame Street, we were the first reality show, only without the whining,” Manzano said. Having recently retired after a nearly 45-year career as an actor and a writer on the iconic show, Manzano noted that Sesame Street was decades ahead of today’s reality shows. He also happened to be a professor at this school, and he has just been awarded an honorary doctorate, and it is my pleasure to reconnect with Dr. “My other connection is probably the most influential theatrical professor that I ever had at Carnegie Mellon University, where I was a student. At that time, it was an absolutely new field,” Manzano said. She was in the first graduating class of the computer science department. “My sister graduated in 1976, many years before many of you were born. The presentation, “From the South Bronx to Sesame Street,” was part of the University’s Latino Heritage Month Extravaganza 2015.įollowing a warm and rousing Blue Hen welcome from an appreciative audience, Manzano noted that she has two UD connections. 17, in the University of Delaware's Trabant University Center. Manzano, known to several generations of viewers as Maria on the Public Broadcast System’s beloved program Sesame Street, shared her story during a talk Thursday, Sept.

Sonia manzano muppet