Michael Anastasio and Richard Eric Weigle : The Dynamic Duo of Grove Street

Born in Louisville, KY on September 4, Michael Anastasio lived there until 1975 when he relocated to Indianapolis for nearly four years, then on to Chicago for another four, then nearly three years in San Francisco, Boston for another ten, and for the past twenty-seven years, New York City. I have had a near fifty year career as a retail store and residential interior designer. That is a long time to do anything. It is no longer his passion and try as he may to pull out, his clients keep dragging him back in. Writing is his primary interest now. He has co-authored a few screenplays and has written a book, “Gay Boy’s Life,” which he self-published on Amazon in July of 2021 just ahead of his 70th birthday. Michael has survived most of my friends and partners who died during the AIDS crises. As one of the lone survivors, he is among the few left to tell the story—his story; their story; our story. “Gay Boy’s Life” is that story; a funny, touching, sexy, sad, tragic but in the end uplifting universal love letter to being a gay male. I helped produce the feature-length documentary, “Broadway: The Golden Age” about theater in New York and is a producer of the sequel, “Broadway: Beyond The Golden Age” which aired on PBS Great Performances in August, 2021. He has also helped produce several short films and hope to produce a short animated film of my own, based on the “Second Grade Saints” chapter from “Gay Boy’s Life.” Michael has had a few acting roles in a few films and recently had my voice acting “debut” in a podcast series called “Love or Dopamine.” While writing is Michael's current passion, he admits to having been slightly bitten by the acting bug. I have made eight videos for an NBC/Comcast site called “I’m From Driftwood.” The videos are an on-camera accounting of “gay life as it was,” and bring to life eight stories from my book. Michael’s husband Richard Eric Weigle made seven videos as well. They can all be found on YouTube at the link below:    • What Was It Like? Michael Anastasio   I currently live in Greenwich Village with Richard, my husband of twenty-two years. We have been married for six of those years. Together with two other filmmakers, they run The Greenwich Village Film Festival. They are very active in their block association of which Richard is President. They travel quite frequently to Europe and have a large international group of friends—a family really, that they have created during their travels. Having been around so long, Michael is constantly asked by younger, rather astonished-by-his-age- friends, “What is your secret?” his answer has always been and will continue to be, “I just keep smiling and dancing!” Born in Scotch Plains New Jersey on July 7, Richard Eric Weigle had quite a nice and happy childhood there. After high school, he went to Muskingum University where he earned his Bachelor's of Arts Degree majoring in English. After 4 years of living in a small town in Ohio where he joked that the only thing to do there was to watch the corn grow and study, he was ready to see the world and have some adventures. The Vietnam War was raging, but he was lucky to be accepted into The Peace Corps where he taught teachers how to teach English as a second language in The Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. It was during this time when he came out as a gay man so that when his Peace Corp stint was over, he spent 8 months traveling home visiting such countries as Cambodia, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Beirut, Turkey and most of Europe. It was a time when much of the world still loved Americans and a time where he could experiment sexually without being judged. Upon arriving home to the United States, he became a High School and College English teacher for 25 years earning higher degrees in Education along the way. Also, in the early 1970s he moved to Greenwich Village reaping the benefits of the Stonewall riots and the gay civil rights movement where he has lived happily until this day on one of the most beautiful tree-lined streets in The West Village. In 1995, he took early retirement from teaching receiving a pension and full medical benefits. While there he met director and producer Rick McKay who was making a documentary about Broadway. Since he had been the Official Archivist for his favorite actress since childhood, Eva Marie Saint and also for Kim Hunter, he knew that he could help get these actresses to appear in his film. Married to Grove Street is now becoming known as the street with the beautiful birdhouses, and they are very proud of that.They love to travel and have been to over 40 countries together.