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Why one Austinite is rooting for ‘Come From Away’ on Tony Awards night

Awards, Broadway, musicals, theater, Uncategorized.

You might have already caught this story on another American-Statesman page.

READ FULL STORY HERE.

But since this blog is called Arts in Austin, we thought we share a bit from this compelling 9/11 story that led to a book, a musical and an initiative that encourages random acts of kindness.

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The Broadway cast of “Come From Away.” Contributed by Matthew Murphy

Austinite Kevin Tuerff will be watching the Tony Awards ceremony very closely on June 11: He is a character in “Come From Away.”

That’s right. He is portrayed as Kevin T in the hit musical about Gander, a Canadian town that showed great kindness to thousands of airline passengers — including Tuerff — stranded there on 9/11.

The show has been nominated for seven Tony Awards, including best musical.

“Having a doppelganger on Broadway is crazy and surreal,” says Tuerff, who has retired from EnviroMedia, a green-themed Austin marketing company that he co-founded. “I never thought that my experience being one of 7,000 stranded passengers in Gander would end up on the Broadway stage, or that I would walk out on that stage to receive a standing ovation during a Broadway opening.”

WATCH: The Tony Awards will air at 7 p.m. June 11 on CBS.

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