We recently connected with Anthony J. Piccione and have shared our conversation below.
Anthony J., we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I feel like the most honest is to go back to my first high school Drama Club performance in 2008, since that’s when I really started taking live theatre seriously as a career path. It wasn’t until college, though, that I took some playwriting classes and discovered that my real passion was for telling my own stories. It was always exciting, and still does excite me, whenever I come across a script that “breaks the mold” in one way or another. Whether it’s with an unconventional plot structure, or with supposedly “taboo” subject matter, etc., I learned around that time how – contrary to popular belief – live theatre is capable of being so much more than just Shakespeare or musical theatre.
After college, I’d been producing a number of my own plays Off-Broadway, and they were some of the most creatively satisfying experiences of my life. However, I also noticed that – as an openly autistic man – there was not much emphasis on the inclusion of neurodivergent artists in the theatre community, when I first moved to NYC in 2016. Even with all the conversations about identity and diversity in the theatre industry, it hasn’t been until relatively recently that there’s been much conversation on how to make neurodivergent and disabled people feel seen. So even as I write my own work for theatre and film, I also want to do everything to make sure there’s a space for more artists like me to have a space where they feel seen. Whether it’s through the Neurodivergent New Play Series or the Talking It Out Virtual Arts Festival, I’ve tried to create exactly the type of performance spaces that I wished existed when I was first starting out.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Among other shorter works, my work as a writer includes the full-length plays “A Therapy Session with Myself” and “One Empire, Under God” which were produced Off-Broadway in 2019 and 2021 respectively. I have clips of “Therapy Session” and the performance of “One Empire” on my YouTube channel, I should note! They’re also published, and hoping to find a new home at some point for my shorter works, after my old publisher closed down. I also wrote the screenplay for the short film “The Fire That Won’t Stop” and am looking to turn my attention more to film after writing for the stage for so long.
The first of my two festivals – the Talking It Out Virtual Arts Festival – we’d been doing on Zoom since the COVID days. That was before the Neurodivergent New Play Series, actually. More recently, we’ve been starting to finally transition to live performances, but we’re also doing podcast recordings of the shows to keep the virtual aspect alive! The whole idea behind that festival was to reach people across the world who struggle with mental health, and this allows us to continue in that spirit while also bringing live performance based into the process.
The NNPS was launched in 2023, and that one is more geared toward traditional full-length plays specifically for neurodivergent playwrights. Most of the actors and directors we work with there are also neurodivergent, and as an autistic adult, I feel very strongly about carving out space for people like us. It’s extremely rewarding to see the playwrights enjoy the outcomes at both festivals, it’s also nice that I have them to fall back on, so I have some outlet for my creative energies while I’m in-between producing my own writing.
The only downside of doing these festivals is I haven’t had the energy to write as much as I used to, and really more than that, the mental energy to produce my own work in addition to the work of others. But lately I’ve been getting back to it, as my festivals have been getting to be on a more stable foundation. I’m hoping next year to shoot my debut feature film “What I Left Behind” – which is based on a short play I wrote years ago about teen suicide & bullying, which won Best Short Play at the New York Theatre Festival. Although it also has some plot elements from “A Therapy Session with Myself.” I didn’t want to do an exact adaptation of it, because it was VERY autobiographical and while I wanted my first work as a filmmaker to reflect the same themes, I also wanted it to be something that would resonate with a less niche audience. Something that really embodies the core of what both of those plays were meant for.
Oh, and I’m also writing my next full-length play, too! It’s similar to “One Empire, Under God” in some ways, but different in that it critiques society more thru the lenses of class and neoliberalism, as opposed to religion like “One Empire” did. No idea when it’ll get a reading or production, but the more I work on it, the more excited I am for people to eventually see it.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
If I learned anything about this industry, it’s that you can never have too much ambition. Mentally, you can trick yourselves or others can trick you into thinking otherwise, but the people who actually make things happen are the ones who actually have the drive and the focus to make those things happen.
Beyond that, I’d just say know what your goals are, and more importantly, HOW you are going to achieve those goals. I know so many writers I went to college with who were talented but never went anywhere, because they just didn’t stick at it after graduating. So many people set goals without thinking of how they will realistically meet them. I find that whenever you actually set a basic career goal – one way or another – you’re able to meet it.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
When you’re an independent producer, you’re ALWAYS facing the challenge of breaking even with your productions. As much as I hate to say it, producing art – even just a staged reading – isn’t cheap. Thankfully, we get a fair amount of grant money for NNPS, but it still only covers part of the expenses for the overall season. We do try and make things affordable for audiences, but ticket revenue is nonetheless an important source to help us just stay afloat, let alone expand. I’m optimistic about the trajectory of the festivals, though. No theatre company is without challenges, but when thinking about the long-term plans for both of my festivals, I feel proud of what we’re doing. I’ve learned that it’s never a good idea to speak too much about long-term plans until they’re in motion, but without saying much, things are only going to get bigger if I have anything to say.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.anthonyjpiccione.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piccionearts
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AnthonyJPiccione
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