My Remarks at the 2023 Vivace Awards Honoring Sheilah Rae

I see a few familiar faces here, but for those of you who don’t know me, my name is Timothy Huang.  I’m the husband of former New York Theater Barn Artistic Associate Laura Brandel.  I’m a musical theater writer, I’m represented by the Bret Adams agency, and have had the good fortune of knowing and being friends with Sheilah Rae for about fifteen years.  Some of you probably knew that.  But what most of you don’t know is that Sheilah Rae officiated mine and Laura’s wedding in 2015.  Which is probably the main reason I get to speak at all tonight.   So in that spirit…

Dearly beloved

We are gathered here today at the Player’s Club in the presence of the spirits of Edwin Booth, Joseph Jefferson and John Drew, in the long shadows of Helen Hayes, Agnes DeMille, and Lucille Lortel, and perhaps most significantly in the warm, grateful embrace of Bret Adams and Paul Reisch to celebrate and applaud Sheilah Rae on receiving this very special Vivace Award, for her service and commitment to…

To what?  I mean, take your pick.  To the arts?  To the Bret and Paul Foundation? To the advancement and amplification of women in theater. To the advancement and amplification of women! To the writing and development of new musicals.  To the war against ageism, anti-semitism, anti-intellectualism. To her commitment to being a thoughtful and empathetic human. To her commitment to nurturing generations of theater artists.  The list is long my friends, and the night is young am I right?  If I’m right let me hear it with applause!

I'm being a touch dramatic but the point isn't lost on you is it? All of these things that each and every one of us knows Sheilah for are just a biproduct.  An after-effect. Evidence of the presence of a much larger idea that commitment to anything first demands a person be themselves committed.  And given that context, is anyone more worthy of tonight?

No one in this room needs to be told that service and commitment are two things that Sheilah has in infinite supply but I will say it anyway.  Service and commitment are two things that Sheilah has in infinite supply.  She embodies them.  And best of all she embodies them with humility and love and kindness. 

Anyone who has had even a passing conversation with her will recognize this immediately.  And I’m speaking from personal experience because literally the very first moment I swapped words with her, I knew it.  I KNEW I was in the presence of a remarkable human being.  And though in that moment I didn’t have the first idea of the extent to which that was true, I have been forever changed because of it. 

I’m telling you this because tonight I’m your avatar.  Tonight, I get to speak for all of us.  Our lives are changed because of her.  Whether it’s in the form of being invited to work on one of her many groundbreaking shows.  Or getting to sit and chat with her and Elliott over dinner.  Or if you’re lucky enough, to have her standing at the altar beside you when you marry your best friend.  Every single one of us is changed because of her.  Where’s the lie?  If I’m right let me hear it with applause!!

It was Sheilah who invited Mark at the Bret Adams agency to come see the show we worked on together.  Without which I’d have no agent.  It was Sheilah who first suggested I might reach out to Joe Barros about possibly participating in the New York Theater Barn’s New Works concert series.  And, in turn, it was Joe who recommended I meet with his Associate Laura Brandel to walk me through how that concert would go.  And when I immediately and completely fell in love with her it was Sheilah that took her aside in the middle of rehearsals for her musical The Belle of Tombstone, to say “Yes, here’s a guy who is way too intense, who is an entire decade older than you who is unapologetically into you.  I get it, it’s scary.  Why be afraid of that? What have you got to lose by embracing it?”  Y’all I cannot over state how committed Sheilah was to my personal happiness.  I can’t.  She was selling me to Laura Brandel like it was her job.  And you know what?  Maybe it was.

Maybe she knew that in the cosmic tapestry it’s always someone’s job to be that person for someone else.  To see them.  To validate them.  And to say to them “I get it.  What you’re facing now is scary.  But how is fear a better choice than humility and love and kindness?”  Maybe that’s not just her north star, but her mandate to everyone she comes in contact with.  That it’s all of our jobs to be that person.  Maybe in the truest sense, we are not just changed by her but we are made better. 

I could be wrong.  But if I’m right will you please let her hear it with applause?