Ron Simons was a Detroit-born superstar who inspired many people in theater

I left the water spout at Hart Plaza’s restored Dodge Fountain, which, like Michigan’s Central Station, was celebrated for its return. I headed to southwest Detroit to eat some Mexican food.

Then I went home and picked up the phone to make a call that I had missed making for four days.

Mayor Mike Duggan (L) presents a key to the city to Tony-winning Broadway producer and Detroit native Ron Simons during "Broadway returns to Detroit" at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on July 24, 2022.

I was calling Ron Simons to ask him to come out for the announcement of this year’s class of creatives honored by the Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship (ACE), individuals who will receive medals for 25 years or more of service at Detroit Arts and Culture. I wanted him to place the ACE medals, which we treat like Kennedy Center Honors medallions, around the necks of the honorees.

But before I could dial the number, the phone rang, annoying me again. It was a friend in New York who told me he had bad news.

I braced myself for a sad update regarding a mutual theater acquaintance in Los Angeles who had been ill for months.

Instead, I heard, “Ron Simons had died.” »

More:Ron Simons, Detroit native and four-time Tony-winning producer, dies at 63

I asked him to repeat it because I must have heard it wrong. I had Ron in mind. I was about to call Ron. I was tired. Ron was going to come to Detroit. I probably heard wrong. Ron would answer the phone.

But he won’t. He left. And I can’t hear the words “Ron Simons has passed away.”

And for hours, I thought about his impact on the theater, on Broadway, on all the artists and all the audiences whose lives he had changed because he knew and often said that theater should reflect everyone, tell all the stories. What is a genre if it doesn’t resemble America, your state, your city, your family – in one way or another?

As with deaths, our first thoughts are usually: When was the last time I saw him? Did I tell him how awesome he was? Did I thank him for being who he was? Did we talk about his latest project or mine?

But my first thoughts were: Oh, how happy I am that Mayor Mike Duggan celebrated him, along with other Broadway stars, two summers ago at the Wright. So many Detroiters were working on Broadway that year that Mayor Duggan and a team of Detroiters traveled to the Big Apple to pay their respects and took it by storm. Dinner at Sardi’s. Introductions to a Detroiter, super-playwright Dominique Morisseau, before the curtain rises on her play “Skeleton Crew,” for which Phylicia Rashad would win a Tony.

Related:Broadway Shows Have Record Number of Detroiters, Provoking Big Celebration in New York

A few months later, when several Detroiters were nominated for – or won – Tony Awards, I told the mayor he needed to return to New York. He said no. Bring them here.

That’s what we did, and Detroit’s Broadway royalty, which included iconic producer Woodie King, beloved actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the brilliantly prolific Tony Award-winning actor Morisseau Michael R. Jackson – and Ron Simons, all came. They laugh. They met a former teacher who trained most of our best theater talent.

Related:Retired Detroit drama teacher helped launch careers of many Broadway and Hollywood actors

And then they went off to slay more dragons, do more magic, and produce or star in more shows that reflected who all were inside and out.

Ron was only 63 years old. Yes. Only. 63. He had so much more to do, so much more to offer.

Today, three days before the Tony Awards, the spotlight is already a little darker. I decided not to go this year. Maybe I’ll change my mind, stand outside with a candle in the wind, marking a moment that the show will better recognize, immortalize and draw inspiration from.

This is a devastating loss that comes with a monumental challenge. The rest of us must step up now, be a little bolder in our determination not to be erased, ignored or diminished. We have to do this for Ron.