WesCeleb Ryan Villano ’27 on Meaningful Football Memories, Musical Theater, and Mixing Worlds

The University prides itself on having extracurricular offerings that reflect its students’ diverse interests, and no one takes advantage of that more than Ryan Villano ’27. Whether it’s on Andrus Field as a running back for the football team, showing off the school as a tour guide in the Admissions Office, or onstage in productions of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and “A Chorus Line,” Villano keeps his schedule absolutely jam-packed. This week, The Argus sat down with Villano to get insight into how he balances it all.

The Argus: Why do you think you were chosen as a WesCeleb? 

Ryan Villano: That’s a loaded question. If I had to guess, I put myself out there a lot. Obviously I’m on the football team, but I do a lot of theater stuff on campus, too. I also work in admissions, and I run the wealth management club. I love telling my football friends to come to all of my theater shows and telling my theater friends to come to our football games. I try to mix my worlds as much as possible. 

A: What are your favorite things to do on campus?

RV: It really depends. When I’m in the middle of football season, pretty much all I’m doing is going to class, going to practice, and learning plays. In season, it’s hard for me not to think that football is my favorite thing. But then, when it’s springtime and I’m doing a musical, it’s a blast getting to sing and dance and act every day. Whatever I’m doing at the moment, I go in fully. I have a bit of an addictive personality in that way.

A: You are also a tour guide on campus. What is your “why Wesleyan” statement?

RV: The fact that I could both play football and do theater. I’ve been doing musicals since I was in second grade. My first time having a big role in a musical was in third grade, when I was Rooster in “Annie,” which was so fun. I started playing tackle football in fifth grade. I really wanted to be able to play college football and also be able to keep doing theater. The open curriculum was a slight consideration, and also my older cousin Jason, who I love more than anything, went here. When I was a senior in high school, I visited him a few times and went to a football game and the Ebony Singers concert because he was in it, and it blew me away. I was like, “I gotta go here.” Also, there are so many people here who are really well-rounded and have super different passions for different things, which is something that makes me love Wesleyan.

A: How did you first find your way into student theater at Wesleyan?

RV: My first year, I wasn’t involved in theater at all. I didn’t know the difference between Spike Tape and other theater organizations on campus. Even though I was a theater major, I couldn’t act in any of the fall shows because they conflicted with football, so I wasn’t sure at all how to get into it. Then, I took an acting class in my sophomore fall with Associate Professor of Theater Maria-Christina Oliveras, and I made a friend named Izzy Auerswald ’27.

She was in “Falsettos” that semester, and I asked her how to get involved in musicals. She introduced me to Spike Tape through the show “A Chorus Line,” which I auditioned for in my sophomore spring. I got a really crazy role where I had a 10-minute monologue. I’m very used to playing fun, happy-go-lucky characters, but this character, named Paul, had a very long and tragic backstory. Even though I had never done a role like this before, I loved it, and it was super fulfilling. It was also a big cast, which was helpful for me, because I didn’t know anybody in theater at the time. That’s how I originally got involved with Spike Tape. I’ve been trying to stay more involved with them by going to all the shows, but I hate that I can’t be in anything in the fall. I get performance envy watching other people perform.

A: The Argus review of Spelling Bee singled out your “Magic Foot” number. How do you embody a character like William Barfée?

RV: I give it my 110%. I was early for every single rehearsal, without missing one.

William Barfée, the character, has a nasal disorder where he kind of talks all funny. I was inspired by my older sister for the voice—she’s a bit of a know-it-all, and I love that about her. I just remember as a kid, sitting at the dinner table, I would say something like, “Oh, you know, we won our football game 40 to 0,” and she’d be like, “Actually, you won the football game 42 to 0,” and I would do the nasal voice at her. I remembered that voice from when I was a kid, and I brought it into the Barfée character.

A: How did you embody your character, Paul, in “A Chorus Line”?

RV: When I was playing Paul, a lot of the character’s trauma came from discovering his sexuality growing up and hiding his life as a drag performer. When his parents found out about that, it was a traumatic experience. I didn’t have anything exactly like that to draw from, but I’ve had some emotional experiences, particularly with my parents growing up, although my parents are wonderful and I love them. It was a lot of drawing on how my relationship with my parents is related to this character’s relationship with his parents, but I still made it as truthful as possible. That’s really important to me: honoring the truth in a character, whether it’s a serious character like Paul, or a funny character like Barfée, where I have to think about bringing the audience the most amount of joy possible. 

A: Earlier this fall, you scored a touchdown against Tufts. What do you remember most clearly about that moment?

RV: Wow, that was a really, really special moment for me. I don’t know how deep I’m allowed to get, but I’m happy to share. My family is very close, including extended family. For example, I mentioned that my cousin Jason went to Wesleyan and played on the football team when he was here, too. We have these two little cousins, and their names are Brantley and Cooper. Brantley is eight years old, and Cooper was five years old. Midway through September, right before our first game against Middlebury College, Cooper was hit by a reckless driver and passed away. It was rough, and it was all over the news because he was a five-year-old boy. We loved him so much. There are genuinely hundreds of pictures and videos of Cooper at my football games, both of him and Brantley. They came to every single football game since my first game during my sophomore year. They had these little T-shirts made with my name and number on the back of them. 

The game against Tufts was the week after everything happened. It was pouring rain, just terrible, terrible weather. My parents were there, as well as Cooper and Brantley’s parents, and Brantley. We loved Cooper so much, and being able to score that touchdown was the highlight of my Wesleyan football career, for sure. I wanted to celebrate and do a dance in the end zone, but I didn’t even get the opportunity to, because immediately, within one second, all my other 10 teammates on the field swarmed me because they knew how much that moment meant to me and my family. It was just beautiful. And to get the game ball from head coach Dice (Dan DiCenzo) afterward and to be able to give that to Brantley meant a lot to him and to me.

In general, scoring a touchdown is always a great way to help contribute to a good team win, especially against Tufts. You know, screw them. They stole a game from us last year. We should have won, so it was nice to help solidify our win against them. You know, put it on them real good. It was a super special moment. It was awesome. 

A: What’s your favorite part about being on the football team?

RV: Some of the best friends I’ve made in my entire life have come from football, but especially from football at Wesleyan. There’s a really unique bond that you can develop with someone when you suffer together. Not to say that football is suffering, but we have all those 6 a.m. wake-ups, the super hot days in August when we’re on campus two weeks early, and those days in November when you’re sore, tired, and cold at practice. Playing here with my cousin Jason was also really awesome. I love Jason so much that we’ve gotten closer and closer. The coaches are awesome. I really can’t say enough good things about the football program. 

In general, I do a good job at life when I’m really busy, when my schedule is tight, and I have a lot of structure. When I’m left to my own devices, I tend to just not do anything. I have ADHD, so I’m just all over the place. Football really helps me be like, “All right, I have to be here at this time, and then I have to go to film. Then I got to do my homework for two hours because that’s the only time I have to do it. And then I got to go practice, eat dinner, and go to bed, because I need to be up at eight.” In that way, football helps me stay disciplined and has set me up well for the future.

A: What’s something you wish people knew about you?

RV: I have a pet turtle, and his name is Mr. Zippy. I’m also a huge Ariana Grande fan. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Willow Simon can be reached at wsimon@wesleyan.edu.