As Editor-in-Chief of Spyglass and a longtime theatre student at Westridge, senior Valentina V. ’26 is used to writing stories. This spring, however, she brought one of her stories to life through her original Middle School play, To Keep Her a Nestling.

Premiering on May 14, the play follows Carleen (played by Angelina W. ’30), a young girl struggling to cope with her older sister (Grayson R. ’30) leaving for college. Determined to keep her sister close, Carleen partners with her magical kitten (Lyla K. ’30) to turn back time to the previous day. However, as she repeatedly resets time, Carleen fails to realize how her fear is negatively affecting those around her who have to relive pain and loss over and over again.

Valentina drew much of the play’s inspiration from her own life. As a younger sister who considers her older sister her best friend, she connected deeply with Carleen’s fear of separation. Valentina also incorporated some of her other passions into the production, including her love for dolls and acting.

Valentina’s love for playwriting began in Middle School. She described her theatre experience as a “full circle moment.” She wrote her first monologue for an eighth grade play called Superheroes before pitching her first play in tenth grade at Westridge’s Winter Showcase. Later that same year, Valentina also wrote her first musical, Uniquely Nova, which follows a chimpanzee, raised by humans, who attends high school without realizing she is a chimpanzee herself.

Transitioning from writing a musical to writing a play challenged Valentina to become more independent as a writer. For Uniquely Nova, she wrote the script while Westridge alumna Sydney Sheldahl composed the music. In contrast, Valentina wrote To Keep Her a Nestling, entirely on her own. She said, “Being on my own, I did feel a little insecure at times, like I know I think this is good, but I don’t really have a partner to double check me. But I also think that gave me a lot of independence and room to grow.”

Regarding Valentina’s writing process, she often begins with a character and imagines the world and other people around them. From there, the plot gradually develops. She has also expanded her playwriting through an independent study with Director of Theatre Mr. Brandon Kruhm where the two meet once a rotation to read, discuss, and write plays. Valentina described Mr. Kruhm as one of her mentors and said she has treasured every play they have studied and every opportunity she has had at Westridge to strengthen her passion for theatre.

Unlike her previous productions, Valentina took a more hands-off role in bringing To Keep Her a Nestling to life. Previously, she has directed her own productions and contributed to set designs, costumes, and other creative decisions. For this play, however, she handed it off to Middle School Theatre Teacher Ms. Julia Davis. Valentina admitted, “It was kind of scary at first. Like, what if they don’t bring it to life? But then I kind of realized that’s not my job as a playwright, and they brought it to life not in the way I envisioned, but in a way that’s way better and that I love even more.”

Next year, Valentina plans to major in theatre at Wellesley College, focusing primarily on playwriting, while continuing to act on the side. She hopes To Keep Her a Nestling leaves a lasting impact on the Westridge Middle School students in her production. She said, “I feel really lucky that other students are having their first time acting in a play with words that I wrote.” Just as those students are beginning their theatre journeys, Valentina is preparing for a new chapter on her own, while leaving behind a lasting legacy at Westridge through her love for writing and storytelling.