Now on the heels of the release of his latest single When It Hurts, Avant is currently touring with Jacarious Johnson's newest play Love Overboard, which opened in Detroit at the Music Hall on Feb. 17, and the Michigan Front Page had a chance to catch up with him to find out what he's been up to.

FrontPage: Tell me a little bit about the play Love Overboard that you're starring in and a little bit about the role you're playing.

Avant: Love Overboard is based on a boat and it's just talking about everybody's relationship going overboard really. By it being such a tight situation, by you being on a boat and you gotta be around these people all the time, it's kind of frantic and everything's going crazy. My position in the play [is] I'm a gigolo. My name is Angelo in the play and I bring two of my friends on the boat with me; one is married and the other one is freshly divorced. And I just wanted them guys to get a whole other outlook on things, another perspective.

So I said let's go out here, it's a great party on the boat. Let's see what we can see. But my whole goal is to try to get some tail on this boat, so I have my own personal direction in what I was trying to do. But it was fun. I can't give you all the goodies about what's going on but it's a lot. You know you have great actors and we're definitely pulling the story together.

FP: So you're Angelo the gigolo, huh?

Avant: (Laughing) Yeah, Angelo the gigolo cause gigolos get lonely too. You know that, right?

FP: What has the world of theater been like for you?

Avant: It's been great. I actually came up in the Cleveland School of Arts. I did theater, I did A Raisin in the Sun, I did Fences, I did Moses when I was in Ohio in, like, the fourth grade on up. So I understood what theater was, period. I must say it really helped me to be able to bring across the theater that I do now. So big ups to everybody in Cleveland and all the teachers that paved the way for me.

FP: So it wasn't hard for you to make the transition?

Avant: Well, it's always hard. But it was just like at least I had some type of blueprint to stand on. So it was good for me to be able to understand what blocking is and understanding not running over someone else's lines. It really helped.

FP: How many cities are you guys touring?

Avant: We'll be out till May, that's all I can tell you. It's rolling and it's a great play and everybody needs to come out and support because it's dealing with love. Something that we're lacking right now, but within this recession and everything that's going on and the relationships that [are] holding on within the recession, we're making them tighter. Because this boat goes through a lot of turmoil but some type of way we try to smooth everything out and understand everybody's differences.

FP: So right now if you had to choose between singing and the acting full time, what would you choose?

Avant: Oh, I'm definitely going to choose my singing, even though you get paid more in acting. I just love to do what I do. I'm a song- writer, you know. I love emotion from the fans; it's more personal. I like to be out and taking pictures with the fans and being able to come to your city and give you a great show. I think that's very important. I think music is what heals the world so even though I love acting as well, my music, that's my first love.

For more information on Avant visit www.myspace.com/avant.