Interview: Executive and Artistic Director, Anthony Wilkinson of AVENEL PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

Broadwayworld.com New Jersey continues our interview series with leaders of the entertainment industry in the Garden State to find out how they are coping with the Covid-19 outbreak. We had the pleasure of interviewing Anthony Wilkinson, the Executive and Artistic Director of Avenel Performing Arts Center. Like many other venues, the Center has suspended operations but is looking forward to resuming programming.

Born and raised in New York, Anthony is a graduate of NYU's College of Arts and Sciences for English and Creative Writing. He started his career as an Intern Writer at ABC Daytime's One Life To Live in 1996 and during his fourteen years there he worked his way up to the position of Associate Director. While in that position he earned three Daytime Emmy Awards, seven nominations and was a two-time recipient of the Directors Guild of America Award.

Anthony's original production of My Big Gay Italian Wedding started his other passion in the theatre world, when it opened Off-Broadway in 2003 at the Actor's Playhouse and later moved to Theatre Four in the spring of 2004. In 2006, Anthony wrote and starred as "Rio La Rocca" in the Off-Broadway production of Boys Just Wanna Have Fun. Anthony restaged My Big Gay Italian Wedding in September of 2009 at the St. George Theatre for an audience of almost 2,000 people. After much discussion and huge debates with regards to the topic, its rave reviews and success prompted an explosive revival on Restaurant Row with a full out Equity cast in April of 2010. The run was expected to last six weeks, and wound up extending 14 times in the same location.

During the run, the show hosted some major celebrities in efforts to help raise money and awareness for marriage equality and the Trevor Project. Aside from New York City, the show has already played in multiple cities in the US as well as Edinburgh, London, Vancouver, Hong Kong and parts of France. On March 1, 2018, the film "Puoi Baciare Lo Sposo" opened all over Italy, an Italian film version based on the play "My Big Gay Italian Wedding." The film has been distributed with subtitles across different parts of the world and did extremely well in the box office.

In June of 2013 Anthony opened the sequel to My Big Gay Italian Wedding, My Big Gay Italian Funeral. The funeral ran for over two years at St. Luke's Theater in New York City, and has also been licensed in multiple locations by Samuel French. Wilkinson's next chapter, "My Big Gay Italian Midlife Crisis" opened at the Theater Center Off-Broadway in November of 2015. My Big Gay Italian Midlife Crisis has also been published and has already been licensed in Kentucky, New Jersey and Michigan.

In December of 2017, Wilkinson launched the latest chapter of the series "My Big Gay Italian Christmas," which opened in Atlantic City at the Golden Nugget Casino as a special holiday production. The show is being brought back to the Nugget for a special Christmas in July performance. Wilkinson continues to play the role he originated "Anthony Pinnunziato" in the New York and Casino productions.

Anthony currently resides in Woodbridge, New Jersey and can now be seen on Amazon Prime on the new hit series "Tainted Dreams," which landed him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Digital Drama Series. He is currently employed by Woodbridge Township and was recently appointed as the Executive & Artistic Director for the new Avenel Performing Arts Center scheduled to open in February of 2019.

We appreciate Anthony's responses to our questions about his background and the future of Avenel Performing Arts.

You have impressive credits as a writer, actor, director and producer. How has your background prepared you to be the Executive and Artistic Director of Avenel Performing Arts Center?

Having worn so many hats in the theater industry, I can relate to the presenter, the producer and the agents. Being from Staten Island originally, most of my shows always had a huge bridge and tunnel following in the city as well as the casino's. That been said, I think I have a good eye for the kind of entertainment that goes over well in Central Jersey. I wasn't sure this was the path I wanted to take till it came to me and so far it has been a great fit.

As a resident of NJ, why do you think the state has such a great arts and entertainment reputation?

Being so close to NYC I think we have a huge advantage at accessing a great talent pool from the theater industry. All of the theaters in our state are extremely successful in creating exceptional programming and I think that is one of the main reasons.

Avenel PAC is new to the NJ entertainment scene. Why do you think the venue has been so successful?

From the beginning Mayor John McCormac, Chief of Staff Caroline Ehrlich, and Business Administrator Vito Cimilluca have given me the direction to program at the highest professional level. Working with other venues across the area we have managed to secure some very notable and successful national touring acts and shows that are polished with very credible entertainers.

What have been some of the standout productions that you have brought to the PAC?

Too many to name but some of the most well received music productions were FACE, and Wicked Diva's which featured two of the Broadway stars from WICKED. The comedies have been doing extremely well like "Late Nite Catechism," "Dixie's Tupperware Party," and my own shows "My Big Gay Italian Wedding" and "My Big Gay Italian Funeral." We also had tremendous success with "Santa's Circus" around the holidays which was our first real family friendly show for the kids. We will have more of all of the above when we re-open.

Covid-19 has disrupted plans for productions across NJ. What is Avenel PAC doing to stay connected to their patrons and supporters?

Our core staff is working from home and still taking calls and emails from our patrons. We have re-scheduled all our shows thru Memorial Day and now remaining hopeful to open after that. Fortunately, it worked out that we didn't have to cancel any productions so our customers are pleased that they won't be missing the shows they were looking forward to.

Can you share with our readers some of your plans for the future of the Center?

We will continue to give our area some of the best entertainment around with a wide variety of programming. As we continue to see what is selling and what is well received, we will strive to keep delivering the very best of that genre.

How can our readers continue to support the center during these unprecedented times?

Keep checking out our website as we keep updating it with our shows that are on sale thru the end of the year. If we are forced to discontinue or postpone a show due to the current problem, all money will be refunded if the postponed date doesn't work for the patron.

Anything else, absolutely anything you want BWW NJ readers to know!

For those who haven't visited the Avenel Performing Arts Center yet, we also have an incredible restaurant called "Curtains," open six days a week. When we can finally re-open we are going to have weekly karaoke, trivia nights, live entertainment and some fabulous networking happy hours that people in the area are sure to enjoy!

You can follow Anthony Wilkinson on Facebook; Instagram @tonypinn30: Twitter @tonypinn

Avenel Performing Arts Center is located at 150 Avenel St, Avenel, NJ 07001. Visit their web site at https://avenelarts.com/. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @avenelperformingartscenter

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Anthony Wilkinson

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