Writer and actor, Anthony J. Wilkenson, is bringing comedic holiday drama to the stage when “My Big Gay Italian Christmas” lands in Atlantic City Dec. 16.
This production is the latest installment in a series of plays and productions that started 20 years ago with “My Big Gay Italian Wedding,” which was followed by “My Big Gay Italian Funeral” and “My Big Gay Italian Midlife Crisis.” Wilkenson says that, while this is the latest chapter in the series he loosely based on his own life, you don’t need to be familiar with the previous plays to be in on the fun of “My Big Gay Italian Christmas,” where the over-the-top members of the Pinnunziato family are forced indoors this holiday season by a snowstorm.
“Each chapter stands on its own,” he said. “For those who are not familiar with the other chapters, you can figure out — right away — Anthony’s history.”
The series started out as a young hopeful Wilkenson imagining what it would be like to get married, which took the form of an off-Broadway play that he figured would only last a few weeks. To his delight, the show became a hit with audiences in New York and then around the country and abroad. From there, he was able to create more “My Big Gay Italian” plays based on what was going on in his life at the time.
“The ‘Wedding’ was my early 20s when I had a vision of what it would be like to get married before gay marriage was legal anywhere,” he said. “It was legal in one state at that point. So, it was the fantasy of: ‘What would that be like? Could I have something the same as everybody else?’ I was in my early 20s so it was very new to me. The ‘Funeral’ was my first time really dealing with loss. It was dealing with closure, forgiveness and people in your life that didn’t accept you. My father had just died so it gave me the inspiration for that story. Then ‘Midlife Crisis’ was my first time really single, and I was approaching 40. I didn’t know what it was like to be single again. It was my first time dealing with the challenges of relationships and going on Grindr and Scruff for the first time and dealing with hookups and all the fun stuff. ‘Christmas’ was my first time starting to date again and I wound up with a guy that was still married and was lying about getting divorced.”
The first chapter of the “My Big Gay Italian” stories was born in the Bush era. Since then, the socio-political climate for LGBTQ+ equality and same-sex marriage has run through a roller coaster of hope and triumph during the Obama years, to the regression and despair kicked off by the ascension of Trump.
Wilkenson said that while political climates of the day were not at the forefront of his earlier works, it definitely became more of a plot point in “My Big Gay Italian Christmas.”
“It’s less political and more about my life,” he said of his plays. “However, the politics did drive into a lot of the situations and the fictitious parts of the piece. Each show is 50% fiction and 50% non-fiction. I used a lot of what was happening in the world to mold and create a lot of the fictitious portions of it to make for a more appropriate story. This one I had a lot more fun with politics because Trump is a bigger talking point than anyone else. A lot of my family was divided politically and still is. It was interesting the first time I brought somebody home who was subjected to hearing a lot of pro-Trump remarks. I had a lot of fun with that. So, the Christmas show is definitely the most politically driven in a lot of areas.”
Aside from the long-running success of his shows, Wilkenson said he has been pleasantly surprised at the audiences his productions are connecting with.
“I figured my audience would be predominantly the gay community, which would be like singing to the choir,” he said. “As we’ve seen in time, the majority of my audience is straight people, predominantly women. A lot of people have come to me and said that seeing the show has helped them accept people in their own families. That’s one of the most rewarding things as a writer to hear is how you can change the vision of certain people. I’ve always felt the best way to do that is through comedy. When you beat people over the head with an angry message, they just don’t listen. If you make people laugh and entertain them, they start to see things differently.”
“My Big Gay Italian Christmas” comes to the area at 8 p.m. Dec. 16 at Ovation Hall at Ocean Casino Resort, 500 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ. For more information or tickets call (609) 783-8000 or visit www.theoceanac.com.