VERONICA DEL CERRO
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/arts-events/showstoppers/
Veronica del Cerro
A brilliant debut
When DC native Veronica del Cerro graduated from Virginia Tech in 2002, the psychology major realized that if she wanted to act, “it was now or never.” So she headed to Studio Theatre’s conservatory to study acting, and her big break came last year when she landed a lead role in Studio’s production of the Athol Fugard drama My Children! My Africa! Not only was she brilliant in the part of a teenage student, but she mastered the British/South African dialect. Studio artistic director Joy Zinoman, who has taught and directed del Cerro, says: “She’s amazingly connected emotionally and is fiercely disciplined. When you get those two together, you get something really dynamic.”
This season, the 28-year-old is appearing in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents at Round House Theatre. Del Cerro plays the most assimilated of four Latina sisters but still has to speak some Spanish. It won’t be a stretch. Her mother is Argentinean, and her father was Uruguayan-Italian...When not acting, she works as a behavioral specialist at a school for children with special needs. “I love behavior,” she says. “You can use it in acting. You study what motivates people and therefore their characters.”
—Susan Davidson
ANDY AND THE SHADOWS by Ari Roth directed by Daniella Topol
Theatre J, Washington DC
THE WASHINGTON POST
"Andy’s nuclear family, completed by Stephen Patrick Martin, Colleen Delany and Kimberly Gilbert — plus Veronica del Cerro as Sarah, his patient (up to a point) fiancee — exists under Daniella Topol’s deft direction in a convincing whirlpool of alienation and affection...As the women in Andy’s life, del Cerro, Delany and Gilbert are guided by Topol to appealing portrayals elevated by their fealty to truth."
THE WASHINGTONIAN
"his put-upon fiancée, Sarah (Veronica del Cerro), knocks desperately at the door. “I’m blissful,” he protests during one scene when Sarah questions his unhappiness; “You’re hitting yourself,” she counters. It’s tough to get a clear picture of what about Andy would make such a vibrant, attractive woman tolerate his issues and his abstraction of her, though a scene at the play’s conclusion finally gives a sense of the couple’s warmth and bond."
CITY PAPER
" He’s a bright but selfish young man who can’t conceive of limiting his options in life by marrying his loving, patient, sexy, generally flawless long-term girlfriend (Veronica del Cerro). "
BWWorld
"As Andy's fiancée Sarah, Veronica del Cerro brings intelligence, reason, and emotional wholeness both to the role and to the Glickstein family in general, and one hopes much that Andy has the good sense not to let her slip away."
MOSTLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF HOMER P FIGG
directed by Gregg Henry
by Kennedy Center TYA, Washington DC
WASHINGTON POST
"..the Kennedy Center’s Family Theater houses the world premiere of “The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg,” a tall tale set during the Civil War. All in all, it’s enough sepia-toned Americana to make the hippest Washingtonian say, “I’ll be jiggered!”
"..Veronica del Cerro drolly conjures a ladylike scam artist and an earthy tattooed lady."
BWWorld
"Tom Isbell’s adaptation of Rodman Philbrick’s award-winning children’s book The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg,currently in production at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is interesting in that it appeals to older children and adults alike. Under the direction of Gregg Henry, seven capable actors assume multiple character roles to explore resilience, perseverance, and commitment in the face of adversity in the Civil War era. Equally educational and entertaining, this Kennedy Center commission is as successful as it is thanks to the strong source material with a compelling plot, and the committed cast.
"Veronica del Cerro rounds out the strong ensemble in a series of smaller roles, which she executes quite well."
",,the explosively funny production of Tracy Letts’s “August: Osage County” at Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre..The large cast artfully slugs its way through the shock and muck of lies, booze, pills and toxic hookups in Letts’s chronicle of an Oklahoma clan’s spectacular flameout. It’s an exuberant, aggressive opening:
Lancisi’s formula is simple: mainstream plays plus the best actors (largely local and familiar) he can grab. Everyman is only the city’s second fully professional resident theater after Center Stage (in business since 1963), so the meat-and-potatoes approach seems right. Let the actors have at it.
A gorgeous new space deserves an equally stunning production. .... he expounds on the virtues of T.S. Eliot– whose hymns to despair and stasis haunt the play– while interviewing Johnna (the powerfully stoic Veronica Del Cerro) for a position as a housekeeper...
http://dctheatrescene.com/2013/01/23/august-osage-county-3/
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Tracey Letts directed by Vincent Lancisi
Everyman Theatre, Baltimore MD
ANNA IN THE TROPICS by Nilo Cruz directed by Jose Carrasquillo
GALA Hispanic Theatre, Washington DC
THE WASHINGTON POST
You know you’re in a poetic world when even the electrical fans exude lyricism — and the appliances dangling beneath a cigar-factory ceiling, inGALA Hispanic Theatre’s graceful and affecting production of Nilo Cruz’s “Ana en el tropico” (“Anna in the Tropics”), do just that.
In a more sensational relationship that echoes “Anna Karenina,” the married Conchita (Veronica del Cerro) begins an affair with Juan, to the frustration of her husband, Palomo (Jose Guzman). Del Cerro’s alluring, vulnerable Conchita radiates quiet sadness — a quality that only heightens the chemistry between her and Ceville’s Juan. In one memorable sequence, the lovers converse ardently over a copy of Tolstoy’s novel: With Juan standing just behind her, Conchita closes her eyes and opens the book: The sensuality of the moment is so intense, you’d swear the Russian classics were renowned aphrodisiacs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/gala-theatres-ana-en-el-tropico-exudes-lyricism/2012/02/17/gIQAoS8AOR_story.html
DC THEATRE SCENE
"Overpowered by the seductive sway of his voice, Veronica del Cerro, standing center stage), spontaneously transforms into Anna. Conchita takes on the stature of a more statuesque, full-bodied woman who allows real passion to well up inside her. Thereafter, Conchita becomes a seductress in control of her relationship with Palomo and teaches him how to love her. Absolutely memorable!"
http://dctheatrescene.com/2012/02/14/anna-in-the-tropics/
Burke Actress Stars In ‘Anna in the Tropics’
Veronica del Cerro sees acting as a forum to educate audiences, herself.
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2012/mar/14/burke-actress-stars-anna-tropics
SAVAGE IN LIMBO by John Patrick Shanley directed by Lise Brenneu
METRO STAGE Alexandria, Virginia
WASHINGTON POST
“Savage” is a wonderful play for actors, and director Lise Bruneau — a more than capable performer herself — has assembled a cast that revels in Shanley’s acid wit and high passion. Most arresting is the raw turn by Veronica del Cerro as Linda Rotunda, the 32-year-old sexpot whose beau has just told her he, um, needs to start seeing ugly women.
Del Cerro’s swivel-hipped, pugnacious Rotunda is thrown for a loop, naturally. (The actress is dead-on with Rotunda’s blend of come-hither and back-off.) "
DC THEATRE SCENE
"Carolyn Griffin’s casting of Savage in Limbo is insanely inspired, especially since so many choices are against type... How do you imagine Veronica del Cerro, so classy and optimistic in My Children! My Africa!, as the slutty and discouraged Linda? ... We now have an early frontrunner for the year’s best cast."
MY CHILDREN! MY AFRICA! by Athol Fugard directed by Serge Seiden
Studio Theatre, Washington DC
WASHINGTON POST
"Fanned by gusts of talent -- those of a trio of supple actors, a sensitive director and the superlative South African playwright Athol Fugard -- the 1989 apartheid drama remains in this Studio Theatre revival a captivating snapshot of the ways in which a cruel policy lays waste to an oppressed people...
It's to the immense credit of director Serge Seiden and the actors that Thami, Isabel and Mr. M always come across as true to their natures; del Cerro is especially convincing at conveying Isabel's assertiveness, her need to reach across the gap."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/10/AR2007091002390.html
WASHINGTON TIMES
"Miss del Cerro conveys such immediacy and unflagging optimism as Isabel that you can forgive her character for being such a wide-eyed symbol of colonialism".
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/sep/15/africa-an-acting-triumph/?page=all
WASHINGTON CITY PAPER
"Veronica del Cerro’s luminously eager Isabel proves an immense asset to Serge Seiden’s admirable production; she’s urgent and brisk, full of glee at the thrill of discovering a true connection among people whose differences are all she’s been taught to know, charming even when the puckish Fugard uses her as a pinprick to deflate the comfortable condescensions of the liberal-minded."
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/2548/deeply-veldt
NO ROOSTERS IN THE DESERT by Kara Hartzler directed by Barclay Goldsmith
Borderlands Theatre, Tucson Arizona
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
"the play's enormous potential was clear - especially through Luisa, the crosser from Chiapas. She's young, frightened and full of folk tales that she tells to fill the silence of the night and quash the fear that comes with their dangerous mission. Veronica del Cerro, an actress from Washington, infused her Luisa with a big heart and a sort of luminosity when she took centerstage to tell her stories (OK, the spotlight on her helped, but you have a sense this character would have shone, anyway, thanks to del Cerro's performance)."
Standing O for best of theater
"ANNUAL 'MAC' AWARDS HONOR COURAGE, INTENT, EXCELLENCE"
Best Actress, Drama
Veronica del Cerro was spellbinding as the young border crosser and storyteller in Borderlands Theater's "Arizona: No Roosters in the Desert."