Artist's Statement
I have always had a fascination with the outsider. The outsider is observant, lonely, quick to fall in love, easy to hurt, vulnerable to the vastness of the universe, and obsessed with the trivial and minute. I believe there is an outsider in all of us, peering in through windows and tapping at doors. In my recent work I have explored the outsider through aliens, mermaids, robots, and mimes, through angsty teens and floundering parents, the lonely, the lost, and the socially inept. The bad with words and the good at parties. They all get a seat and they all get a voice. The theater is a place where outsiders may enter in.
Questions I Frequently Ask Myself
Why the "V." ?–Isn't that a little much?
It totally is, but we could all use a little gravitas. The V in my name stands for Vilanova. It's my mom's family name and I love that side of my family, so I wanted to include it professionally.
What's satisfying to you about writing scripts? What makes you keep doing it?
I write scripts because I love characters. In moments of quiet, I hear their voices with thrilling clarity. If I stopped writing down what they said, this would become a real concern.
I also think there is something risky and exciting about creating worlds and characters for other people to inhabit. It keeps me honest, knowing that other artists are going to have to reckon with, consider, and hopefully enjoy my work in such an intimate way.
Why do an art form that is collaborative? You are literally the shyest person I know.
It makes no sense to me either, but in my career thus far, the moments I've felt most proud or successful have happened in the rehearsal room. Seeing an actor suddenly click into a role, hearing a question that unlocks a part of the story that was previously hidden from me, or seeing the folks waiting in the wings become friends and even family through the telling of a story I made up–all of that is what makes the terrifying act of sharing pages with strangers worth it.
To sum up, I may be shy, but I still really want you to come to my party. Let's have some fun and wrap things up by 9:30.