Donnie Cianciotto

Donnie Cianciotto is a native New Yorker who made his stage debut at the age of 3 in his first dance recital and hasn't been able to stop performing since. In his youth he was represented by Manhattan Talent Agency for modeling, and performed with NY's Center Stage Productions, Staten Island Shakespearean Theater, and Staten Island Children's Theater, and went on to attend the Integrated Program at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan.

Donnie made his off-Broadway debut this Spring in Southern Comfort by Dan Collins and Julianne Wick Davis and directed by Tom Caruso at The Public Theater in NYC. He has performed in several shows at Feinstein's 54 Below including "Oh Broadway, Where Art Thou?" and "The Songs of Brandon James Gwinn and EllaRose Chary." He was also a performer at The Cutting Room in "Broadway Voices for NC", a fundraiser to fight North Carolina's HB2. He currently resides in Manhattan with his fiancee Rebecca and their three cats.

An accomplished improv comedian, Donnie created Tucson's professional short form comedy improv troupe Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed in 2002 after moving to Arizona. He was a founding cast member of medium form improv troupe The Originals and long form improv troupe Light Rail Pirates in Phoenix, and performed as a guest with several other improv troupes including S'Marmalade and at the Phoenix Improv Festival. He has also performed stand up comedy at several venues throughout Arizona.

Donnie spent five years as the Artistic Director of Arizona's Musical Mayhem Cabaret - an "under rehearsed and over dramatic" musical comedy troupe he created in 2011. Donnie blames his love of cabaret performance on the legendary piano bars of NYC like The Duplex and Don't Tell Mama's, and yearned to bring something similar to Arizona. During his time in Arizona he was also seen onstage or behind the scenes (directing, producing, stage managing, consulting, marketing, etc) with Desert Players, Millennium Theater, Broadway Palm Dinner Theater, Wilde Playhouse, Insurrection Theater Company, Rockin' Gay Cabaret, Herberger Theater Center, A.C.T, Horns 'N' Halos, Tom Thumb Players, The Kax Theater, The BlackBox Foundation, Cabaret Boheme, Invisible Theatre, Unscrewed Theater, South Mountain Community College, Scorpio Productions, Phoenix Theatre Company, Vaudeville Cabaret and more.

Though Donnie was assigned female at birth, he identifies as male, and has been living his life openly as a transgender man since 2012. He was recently the subject of an award winning short documentary titled "Donnie" and has made several appearances as a guest speaker on KGUN 9 News in Tucson, Arizona in regards to local and national trans issues from Caitlyn Jenner to Arizona's public healthcare system. He has also had articles published on transgender topics.

Prior to embracing his authentic self, Donnie spent 7 years performing across the country as an award winning Male Illusionist (aka drag king) by the name Anson Reign. As Anson, Donnie won several state, regional, and national titles within the USofA MI and Master Male Illusionist pageant systems and performed in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, and South Carolina. He also created and managed Kings For A Cause - A National Drag Event from 2009 - 2014 which raised money for charities across the country on both the local and national levels.