PRESS
the courtroom
New York City, directed by Lee Sunday Evans
"As the piece follows her from one courtroom to another, what is most palpable is the suspense--how deeply invested the audience becomes in the future of this gentle woman."
- The New York Times
zoey's perfect wedding
Denver Center Theatre, directed by Mike Donahue
"The smaller cast gave each member a chance to shine and they all seized these opportunities, a notable bright spot being amateur wedding planner/cousin of the bride Missy (Kristin Villanueva)."
- Out Front Magazine
who's afraid of virginia woolf
Weston County Playhouse, directed by Mike Donahue
"Villanueva is a revelation--Honey can be a difficult character to fully realize and her performance finds every moment of humor and despair and plays them to glorious effect. She is a delight to watch, and her change over the course of the evening might be one of the most precipitous--possibly the most physically challenging and certainly the most entertaining to witness."
- Broadway World
"Villanueva makes Honey into the play's humorous social compass. She radiates naïve incomprehension as civility is breaking down and suspends herself in oblivion as the proceedings grow difficult to watch. Villanueva's delicate touch adds just enough comedy, and when she, too, is hurt, her wail expresses the pain everyone else labors to conceal."
- Seven Days
"Villanueva’s Honey is a fittingly pitiable creature, child-like and dependent on those around her; she also seems to be the most human in this destructive dance of demi-gods."
- The Chester Telegraph
"Villanueva’s Honey had more character than is common for this role, making the whole performance more substantial."
- Times Argus
tartuffe
Resident Ensemble Players, directed by Maria Aitken
"Her facial reaction and subsequent bawling was classic Lucy Ricardo when she got herself in a kerfluffle."
- Broadway World
Two gentlemen of verona
The Old Globe, directed by Mark Lamos
"Point-Du Jour and Kantor easily handle the transformation from friends to enemies. Coleman evolves into a regal and beautiful Silvia, who is hard to take your eyes off of until Villanueva shows up on stage. With her stomping, crying, falling-into-despair portrayal of Julia, it's a laugh a minute. She truly steals the show."
- La Jolla Light
"Kristin has a youthful exuberance as Julia."
- The San Diego Union-Tribune
pride and prejudice
Playmakers Repertory Company, directed by Timothy Douglas
"Villanueva anchors the production as Elizabeth Bennet through her sincerity and her ability to transition fluidly between emotionally divergent scenes. Villanueva's Lizzy is streaked with independence but without sacrificing the amiability that makes so many women want to identify with the character."
- Daily Tar Heel
"It is easy to see why he falls for Elizabeth, the tiny Villanueva commands the stage and gives us a marvelous Lizzie, with the full compliment of wit and vivacity that has made her more than acceptable to her many admirers for nearly 200 years."
- Indy Week
"The central character, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, is gracefully and fiercely portrayed by Villanueva. She gives us a strong head, a fiery loyalty, and the seeming stubbornness of a woman of her times who nevertheless knows her mind."
- Classical Voices of North Carolina
all's well that ends well
Shakespeare & Company, directed by Tina Packer
"Kristin is fizzingly alive and responsive as Helena - she has the eye-catching energy of a star in the making."
- The Wall Street Journal
"Kristin gives Helena every giggle and sob and exuberant leap she needs."
- The Boston Globe
"It is Villanueva's performance that steals the show. If Helena's suffering over the spoiled, spiteful, adulterous Bertram seems hard to believe, her acting of it is sublime. And if the ending, one of Shakespeare's glorious weddings, seems equally hard to believe considering Helena's suffering, Villanueva makes it believable. She plays Helena, like so many of her counterparts in Shakespeare's plays, as a 17th-century feminist, taking control of her life and surmounting seemingly impossible obstacles."
- Daily Gazette
"Villanueva, petite but feisty, is engaging as the loving but determined Helena, especially appealing in her vocal delivery and her dogged determination."
- Berkshire Links
"Villanueva takes this role and delivers a knockout performance. [She] was absolutely superb as Helena, investing her character with great concentration, physicality and sublime delivery."
- Berkshire Fine Arts
"Villanueva is wonderful as Helena, diminutive but powerful, and convincing in her cunning innocence."
- Times Union
romeo and juliet
Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, directed by A. Bryan Humphrey
"Villanueva in particular was captivating in the balcony scene, speaking some of the most famous lines in Shakespeare's canon in a way that made them her own, and made the audience feel what it was supposed to feel. But it wasn't only the romance she got right. Her impatience in prying information from her verbose Nurse about Romeo's feelings; her soliloquy that mixes foreboding with talk of stars; her grief at the news that her lover has been banished--all prove her range and talent as an actress."
- Omaha World Herald
two gentlemen of verona
the musical
Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, directed by Bill Roudebush
"Villanueva is utterly adorable as Julia. Don't let her five-foot-nothin' stature fool you. This dynamo grabs you by the nape of the neck and won't let go. Whether rolling her rrr's throughout the evening or lapsing into Spanish altogether in snippets of musical numbers, she sizzles in this mutlicultural feast for all of the sense."
- Omaha World Herald