Meet Vanessa DeSilvio!

Newlywed Vanessa DeSilvio has been onstage in Dallas at SMU, Shakespeare Dallas, and DTC, but this is her first show with Kitchen Dog, and we're thrilled to have her! Catch Vanessa and the cast of SE LLAMA CRISTINA from May 24 to June 22 at Kitchen Dog Theater!

VANESSA

FULL GIVEN NAME

Born Vanessa Gibens Acosta. I gave myself my middle name, Renee, when I was 15.

HOMETOWN

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, but I grew up all over the place and ended up in Plainsboro, New Jersey, for high school, so I guess that is my "hometown."

ZODIAC SIGN

Sagittarius

CURRENT SHOW (OTHER THAN YOUR OWN) THAT YOU HAVE RECOMMENDING TO FRIENDS

Cara Mia Theater's The Dreamers: A Bloodline.

FAVORITE PLAY

This one. Seriously.

MOST PLAYED SONG ON YOUR IPOD/DEVICE

Dave Matthews Band "If Only"

LAST BOOK YOU READ

The third installment of Fifty Shades of Grey: Fifty Shades Freed.
Don't judge.

MUST-SEE TV SHOW

I'm thinking of re-watching The Sopranos seasons. Because it's that good.

LAST GOOD MOVIE YOU SAW

"Django Unchained" Finally got around to seeing it.

PERFORMER YOU WOULD DROP EVERYTHING TO GO SEE

Speaking of...Christoph Waltz

Christoph toasts Vanessa's choice

POP CULTURE GUILTY PLEASURE

The Real Housewives of New York. So much drama.

FAVORITE PRE-/POST-SHOW MEAL
Pre-show meal: I like a healthy salad. Post-show meal: Beer.

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE?

I wanted to be a pediatrician. But then I got totally turned off when I found out med school required you to be really good at math. I hated math.

WORST FLUBBED LINE/MISSED CUE/ONSTAGE MISHAP:

I was in a production of The Taming of the Shrew, playing Katherine, and we were performing the famous "wooing scene" to a packed house. Just as lines were getting quicker and quicker, the guy playing Petruchio said a line that he says near the top of the scene and I immediately responded with the line that comes after his, so we totally went back a few pages in the script and literally did the entire scene over again, complete with the choreographed slaps and ear pulls and all. I know audience members were like, "didn't we just see this?"

WORST COSTUME EVER:

When I was in a production of Cyrano with Shakespeare Dallas, in the middle of the summer, I had a super quick change that could only be solved with me wearing one costume on top of the other. It was 95 degrees outside. Outdoor theater. The costumes had to be peeled off me.

A PLAY THAT HASN'T BEEN DONE ON A DALLAS STAGE BUT SHOULD BE DONE

El Nogalar by Tanya Saracho. Wonderful play, based on The Cherry Orchard but set in Mexico.

ONE PLAY YOU HOPE YOU NEVER SEE AGAIN

Mmm. I will skip this one.

IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT HOLDS DALLAS BACK FROM THEATRICAL GREATNESS?

Imagine if more people who graduate from acting programs in Dallas would stay here and not move off to LA or NYC... The theater in this town would be unstoppable.

BUCKET LIST ROLES

Shakespeare's Cleopatra; Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet; Natasha in Three Sisters, Adela in La Casa de Bernarda Alba.

IF YOU HAD TO RUN A SHOW FOR 10 YEARS AND YOU GOT TO CHOOSE - WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Honestly, I loooooved playing Jeanette in The Full Monty. It was a total character role, so I could play the role for 50 years and actually grow into it.

SUPERSTITIONS

You cannot say the name of the Scottish Play in a theater. Please. Don't.

(Ed: learn more about this long-standing superstition here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scottish_Play)

DREAM PROFESSION IF YOU DIDN'T BECOME AN ARTIST?

I would be a food critic! I would taste foods everywhere and write about them.

FIRST SHOW TO SEE AT KITCHEN DOG

Vigils by Noah Haidle

KDT Co-Artistic Director Tina Parker
and Matthew Gray in Vigils in 2010

FIRST SHOW TO BE IN AT KITCHEN DOG

Se Llama Cristina by Octavio Solis

BEST PIECE OF THEATER YOU'VE EVER SEEN

August: Osage County

Don't miss Vanessa in her KDT debut in SE LLAMA CRISTINA at Kitchen Dog Theater, May 24 - June 22!

Buy tickets for SE LLAMA CRISTINA here.