Jun 15, 2011 -

"The Normal Heart," which made its Broadway debut this year and is co-produced by Harvey Mudd College Trustee and computer science/mathematics alumnus Gregory P. Rae '00, has won three Tony awards.

The play, set in New York City during the early days of the HIV epidemic and nominated for five Tonys, won for Best Revival of a Play. Also, Ellen Barkin, making her Broadway debut, won best actress in a featured role in a play, while John Benjamin Hickey won best actor in a featured role.

"It's just an incredible experience. It's my first time out, and it's like we hit a home run," said Rae (shown second from left, top photo), who produced the play along with Daryl Roth (second photo), Paul Boskind, Martian Entertainment, Jayne Baron Sherman and Alexander Fraser. "It's the right time to bring this to Broadway. People are ready for political plays."

"The Normal Heart" follows a group of friends as they struggle to understand the disease killing otherwise healthy gay men and to persuade doctors, politicians, and the press to give AIDS the attention it deserved. The play originally was performed off-Broadway in 1985; this is its Broadway debut. It beat out Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia," Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice."

"A lot of people in my generation don't understand what happened in the 1980s with HIV," Rae said. "It's important to get that story out there and remind people that AIDS is still a problem."

Although Rae has invested in several other creative projects, "The Normal Heart" is his first experience as a Broadway producer. Unlike most Broadway shows, which may have 30-40 producers, "The Normal Heart" has only six. This has allowed Rae to be much more involved in the production. Although a producer's primary responsibility is to raise money to finance the production, Rae has worked on its marketing as well. He drew on his experience using the Internet (Rae formerly worked at Google), and social media in particular, to get the message out. He was the technical lead for the No on 8 (Proposition 8, which prohibited same-sex marriage in California) campaign.

Preparations for "The Normal Heart" were rushed. Rae had only two weeks to fulfill his funding commitment—the same two weeks that the actors had to rehearse. But one would never know from the rave reviews and pile of award nominations "The Normal Heart" has amassed. The production has also won a New York Drama Critics' Circle Special Citation and Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards, Drama League Awards, as well as two Theatre World Awards.

Rae, who splits his time between investing and political activism, was also an investor in "The Scottsboro Boys," which was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, as well as in a film called "The Green," which is currently playing at film festivals. He also serves as treasurer of Fight Back New York, a political action committee that promotes marriage equality.

Photos: 2011 Tony Awards / CBS / June 12, 2010