MY BIG GAY ITALIAN WEDDING
Previews begin November 7th at Actor’s Playhouse

Planning a wedding can be hell. And planning to ruin a wedding can be a hell of a lot of fun -- especially when one of the grooms is your ex-lover! Such is the premise of My Big Gay Italian Wedding, a new Off-Broadway comedy written by Anthony Wilkinson and directed by Peter Rapanaro featuring sets by John Kenny (Emmy Award winning Art Director for One Life to Live), costumes by Chris March (2001 Drama Desk Award nominee for Christmas with the Crawfords), lighting by Aaron Copp (Naked Boys Singing) and choreography by Joseph Ritsch (a.ka. Sunrize Highway). Previews begin November 7th at Actor’s Playhouse with opening night scheduled for Friday, November 14th.

Anthony Pinnunziato and Andrew Polinski are getting married. Anthony insists on a big, traditional Italian wedding -- but there are a few problems. Anthony’s family won’t give their blessing unless he can fulfill two requirements: the ceremony is to be performed by a priest, and Andrew’s estranged mother in Florida must give her blessing too. To further complicate matters, Andrew’s ex-boyfriend is intent on breaking the couple up by revealing a recent indiscretion. Can their familial problems be solved? More importantly, can this couple make it through "I Do" after what one of them did?

The cast of 24 features Concetta Maria Aliotta, JC Alvarez, Michael Batelli, Vincent Briguccia, Lorenzo Cianabrillo, Joe Cirillo, Meredith Cullen, Brett Douglas, Bill Fisher, Laura Gaspari, Joe Grimaldi, Melanie Maras, Carla Marie Mercun, Amanda Minker, Kevin T. Moore, Maria Nazzaro, Rocco Parente, Perryn Pomatto, Anthony Raymond, Yvonne Roen, Donna Ross, Joe Scanio, and Nick Scarnati.

Anthony Wilkinson is a 26 year old Italian-American born and raised in Staten Island. He received a bachelors in English with specialization in Creative Writing in 1997 from New York University. In 1996 he became Production Coordinator for the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. He has been with the show since that time and is currently DGA Senior Production Associate. Anthony wrote and produced his first stage production Time Will Tell at NYU. In 1996 he created and produced an annual ABC Daytime karaoke competition to benefit Rainbow’s Hope, an event that ran successfully for seven years. In 2002, Anthony wrote and produced the gay musical Rainbow Phi which ran in Fire Island and at Spectrum in Brooklyn. He has never been married.

My Big Gay Italian Wedding runs Fridays at 10:00pm and Saturdays at 3pm beginning November 7th. Actor’s Playhouse is located at 100 Seventh Ave South (between Bleecker and Christopher Streets -- accessible from the 1, 9 trains at Christopher Street). Tickets are $40. For reservations call 212-239-6200 or visit TeleCharge.com.