Tonight belongs to Mr. Hawkins! During final bows of a recent performance of The Prom's national tour, actor Sinclair Mitchell, starring as supportive principal Tom Hawkins, proposed to his boyfriend of 12 years, Joe Kokofsky.
"I just want you to know, most importantly, I love you. You're my sun, my light, my shining star. You are perfection, and you're the reason I believe in love," Mitchell tells Kokofsky before getting on one knee in front of the audience, which included Kokofsky's friends and family.
The Prom tweeted a video of the occasion. Watch below.
What an incredible weekend we had at #TheProm! Watch as our amazing Mr. Hawkins, Sinclair Mitchell, took a moment after the show for a once in a lifetime moment! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ pic.twitter.com/rImViNC4yc
— Prom Musical (@ThePromMusical) March 14, 2022
The proposal happened at the Providence Performing Arts Center, where the production concluded its run March 13. The tour's next stop is Madison, Wisconsin with upcoming stops set for Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Worcester, Massachusetts; Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; Dallas, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; and Kansas City, Missouri.
Mitchell stars alongside Kaden Kearney as Emma, original Broadway cast member Kalyn West as Alyssa Greene, Courtney Balan as Dee Dee Allen, Patrick Wetzel as Barry Glickman, Emily Borromeo as Angie Dickinson, Bud Weber as Trent Oliver, Ashanti J’Aria as Mrs. Greene, and Shavey Brown as Sheldon Saperstein. Prior to his role in The Prom, Mitchell was featured in the School of Rock national tour and Off-Broadway's The Emperor Jones and Harlem Song.
The Tony Award-nominated musical tells the story of Emma, an Indiana high schooler prohibited from bringing her girlfriend to prom, which leads a group of eccentric Broadway stars to visit the small town and show their support. The musical was adapted into a Netflix movie by Ryan Murphy in 2021 starring Ariana DeBose, Meryl Streep, James Cordon, and Andrew Rannells.