South Jersey Man Wins Second Tony Award With Influential Teacher By His Side

NEW YORK — When Medford Memorial School graduate Seth Goldstein heard a former performing arts teacher of his, Linda Chepigan, was retiring after more than 35 years of teaching, he knew he had to be at her retirement concert.

"She set me off on a path and inspired me," Goldstein told Patch. "She created a room where everybody's talents were encouraged and uplifted. I understand that teachers generally tend to be encouraging, but not every teacher finds a way to kind of unlock that [potential] in their students."

Plans to send Chepigan, who had since become Linda Cecil, off into her retirement in a big way were nearing completion when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Like so many other big events like weddings, graduations and bar mitzvahs, Cecil's retirement concert — and all the events and surprises Goldstein said alumni had planned to go with it — was canceled.

This meant Goldstein could not give the teacher that meant the most to him a proper thank you.

"The pandemic has been so painful for so many reasons, so it is hard to complain about missing a retirement celebration," he wrote on one website. "But I was sad that we couldn't celebrate her career and the impact she had on so many students. She deserved a huge alumni presence at her retirement concert and the attendant celebratory dedications."

So Goldstein came up with another idea.

"I wrote her a note based on Facebook that basically said, 'I know we haven't spoken in a long time. But I want you to know, I think about you often. And I have often thought about how I got to where I got, and I can't think of a stronger reason, other than maybe my parents' support, than your mentorship and inspiration.'"

"I don't know when this is all gonna end," Goldstein's post continued in a reference to the pandemic. "But when it does, as a way to show my appreciation, could I take you as my date to the Tony Awards?"

Miles away in Medford, Cecil was overwhelmed with positive emotion when she read the post.

"It's on the bucket list of every performing arts teacher really, it's like a fantasy," she told Patch.

"It's a cliche answer but I cried when I read the message from Seth," Cecil continued. "I just ran around the house screaming with delight. It was just too much. I felt like Cinderella was going to get to the ball. As long as we're using cliches."

A year passed without Goldstein being able to take his former teacher to the Tony Awards.

Then, as the second full year of being unable to fulfill that wish was drawing to a close, he received his fourth Tony nomination for his work on "The Lehman Trilogy." He had previously won in 2017 for his work on a revival of "Hello Dolly."

The time had come for Goldstein and Cecil to go to the Tony Awards.

Almost $3,000 in GoFundMe donations to cover Cecil and her husband's hotel accommodations, meals and entertainment for the weekend later — and with many of the donations coming from other former students of Cecil's who said she positively and strongly influenced their lives — Linda and Seth, along with a few other special guests, met in a hotel room for a champagne toast and for some catching up time.

Then, a few hours later the group took their seats inside Radio City Music Hall for the 75th annual Tony Awards.

"It was my husband on one side and Seth on the other," Cecil said. "It was it was so phenomenal."

"The Lehman Trilogy" was nominated for Best Play, which meant the group would have to wait several hours to learn if he won one of Broadway's top honors. When it was announced as the winner, Goldstein, Cecil and everyone who had anything to do with the production erupted in jubilation.

"I jumped up and applauded as he went down to the stage," Cecil said. "It was a fantasy come true. It was fabulous."

Goldstein added that he "was ecstatic" when the show's name was called.

"My first [Tony Award], I had my parents there with me and ... that felt more like a personal milestone," he said. "But this time, it felt more like just a recognition of this incredible [Broadway] community who somehow has managed to resurrect itself after a really, really hard pandemic."

Even better than winning was having his most influential teacher by his side, according to Goldstein.

"I would say taking Cecil and having the experience with her eclipsed winning," he said. "I would have been fine not winning, but I would not have been fine if she wasn't there."

Got a news tip? Story idea? Send me an email with the details at janel.miller@patch.com.