Edit Villarreal's bilingual/bicultural plays have been presented successfully before both Latino and non-Latino audiences, an unusual accomplishment given the limited access that Latino theater professionals have had to important performance spaces. Part of her success is attributable to the fact that she writes for a crossover audience. In an unpublished 1 April 1996 letter she explains:

I tend to want to introduce one group of people to another--the Mexican immigrant to mainstream audiences, the Latina to mainstream audiences, the middle-class Chicano to mainstream audiences. In this sense, I am not writing particularly to Latinos. I'm writing about Latinos to mainstream audiences. I believe this is very important work to do. I want to tear down stereotypical attitudes held by non-Latinos about Latinos. At the same time, I do not want to reinforce stereotypical attitudes Latinos have about themselves; so I have no desire to write to the converted, so...