FNVOAD is a partner with the Virginia Beach-based organization Mercy Medical Airlift, a non profit organization which provides support medical transportation services during the aftermath of natural disasters. In 2005 the organization made some 2600 flights to the New Orleans area to transport the sick and disabled to specialized medical care facilities. They do this through Angel Flight, an outfit of 630 pilots who donate their planes and resources to the organization’s cause.
Last year the organization which began in 1972 served over 23,000 people. The concert will be open only to the volunteers. Wayne said he will write and produce most of the performance. Elaine Green, Wayne’s mother, once worked for the organization. It was she who linked him up with the organizers of the conference’s Host Night Dinner organized by the Mercy Medical Uplift. Wayne, now 30, fondly recalls beginning his career in musical theater at age 5 working with the Margie Day Walker Theater Arts Program.
Wayne writes and produces concerts and events for organizations like NVOAD, through awayne Productions, a company he founded several years ago. awayne (with lower case “a”) Productions also devotes its resources toward mentoring the next generation of artists. “We provide training and interactive training for youths who aspire to be part of the entertainment industry,” said Wayne. “It’s part of us giving back to our community, when we can allow the kids to perform and develop the skills they will need to be successful in whatever area of the arts they choose as a career.”
Since graduating with his Bachelor’s in Music Theatre from Shenandoah Conservatory, he has toured the United States and the world extensively with “Fame – The Musical” as Tyrone Jackson, “Smokey Joe’s Café,” “The Will Rogers Follies” starring Larry Gatlin, the First Broadway National Tour of “The Color Purple,” and “A Chorus Line” as Richie.
His regional credits include “Parade” as Jim Conley, “CATS” as Rum Tum Tugger, “AIDA” (Maine State Music Theatre), Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), “SWING!” (Theatre Under the Stars, Houston), “Sophisticated Ladies” starring Maurice Hines (Arena Stage, D.C.), and “Robin and the 7 Hood” (Old Globe, San Diego). Wayne worked with the Alvin Ailey School in New York City and Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago in Illinois. Off-Broadway, he was seen in the critically acclaimed NY City Center Encores! productions of “Anyone Can Whistle” and “Bells Are Ringing.”
He made his Broadway debut in the three-time Tony Award winning revival of “Anything Goes” starring Tony Award winners Sutton Foster and Joel Grey. He is currently performing as Jimmy in the Broadway production of “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – The Musical.”