Syracuse Student Takes it as a Sign

By Joe Norton

When Jonathan Shew started thinking about his mother in December, around the anniversary of her death, the promos for the film RENT were playing everywhere. About the same time, two different friends told him that they were involved in fighting AIDS.

“There was all this synchronicity,” the 18-year-old Syracuse University freshman says. “I began to wonder if my mom was trying to tell me something. I couldn’t sleep. I stayed up until three in the morning telling my roommate how I wanted to do something about AIDS. He said, ‘Go for it.’ So I am.”

Jon, whose mother contracted HIV through a blood transfusion and succumbed to the disease in 1993, sells Broadway Cares wristbands to family and friends, and on campus at S.U. Most people send Jon additional donations or buy more bands to hand out on their own.

So why did he choose Broadway Cares? Because Jon is family here, literally. Jon’s dad, Broadway actor, Tim Shew (Les Miz, Guys and Dolls, Wonderful Town), has been supporting us for years. Most recently, he starred as Santa Claus in The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, of which his son is very proud.

Jon’s earliest memory of his dad on stage was during the revival of Guys andDolls. “Since my mom wasn’t around, my dad would take me to the theater with him, and I’d watch him perform from the lighting booth. One night, when (cast member) Ernie Sabella started his line, ‘Now that I’m here…,’ I finished it,’…I still wish it!’ My dad glared at me from the stage. I just sat down.”

BC/EFA sponsors Tim Shew’s annual “Broadway Sings on Park Avenue” benefit to raise proceeds for organizations like Cody House and Doctors Without Borders, among others. Jon’s the producer’s assistant, naturally, and even performed in the show last year. Now, he is planning to produce his own cabaret for BC/EFA on the Syracuse campus.

“The reward is like the wristbands say,” Jonathan quotes: “Make a difference.”