At the top of that list is the performance of actress Judith Light who plays Vince’s wife, Marie. Light is best-known for her long-running stint as Angela Bower on the hit TV series, Who’s the Boss. Light has long been an advocate for the equality of gay and HIV-positive people. In fact, she said the overarching theme of Lombardi is exactly what drew her to the gay community in the late ‘80s and early ’90s.

“This was a community that rose to its feet as one body that had a vision and a goal to take care of its own,” she remembers. “They wouldn’t be dragged down by the AIDS epidemic and instead lifted themselves up in the world.”

“Lombardi on Broadway” is much the same, Light said. With football as the backdrop, the play explores the power of personal relationships and the importance of setting aside your own personal needs for the good of the many.

“It looks at human beings and how they operate with each other,” Light said. “How people operate as a team, what happens to people when they have their own desires and agendas, and what happens when you’re willing to surrender those to the vision of one person.”