A stranger bought this Broadway star a ticket years ago when he couldn't afford it

Claybourne Elder was 23 years old and an aspiring actor when he took a trip from his home in Utah to New York City.

Elder went to see a play, and as he stood in the very back of the theater, he was visibly enthralled by the show. A stranger approached him after the performance and spontaneously handed him $200.

"You look like you were enjoying that show more than people who are sitting in the expensive seats," the stranger said.

He instructed Elder to use the money to buy good seats to the Broadway show "Sweeney Todd."

Elder, now a 39-year-old Broadway actor, was a bit leery that evening as he stepped out of the show, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

But it seemed like the chance of a lifetime.

"I wouldn't have been able to afford tickets," Elder said of the performance, which starred Patti LuPone.

Although there were other, perhaps more prudent, things Elder could have done with that $200 — such as putting it toward rent or meals — he decided to follow the stranger's instruction and buy a ticket to the classic show about a wrongly imprisoned barber seeking revenge against the judge who falsely accused him of a crime.

As a self-proclaimed "theater nerd," Elder said, "I couldn't imagine anything more exciting than to spend money on a play."

Plus, the stranger told Elder that "Sweeney Todd" would change his life. He was right.

After watching the show from a seat in the front row of the balcony, Elder was completely sold on starting a career on Broadway.

"Seeing the kind of work that I wanted to do was just thrilling," he said. "It was a show that I could see myself in."

"In a city that I thought of as big and scary, to experience that kind of generosity, it gave me a lot of hope," he said.

Elder is acting in the new HBO series "The Gilded Age," as well as the recent revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical comedy "Company," in which LuPone is also performing.

"I am still who I was 15 years ago, watching Patti LuPone," he said. "When I'm onstage watching her sing 'Ladies Who Lunch,' I am still that kid who is thrilled to be in the audience."

Given the ways in which his life and career have come full circle, Elder has often sought to pay the random act of kindness forward. For the past two years, Elder and his 4-year-old son, Bo, have covered the cost of a stranger's meal at a local diner once a month.

Bo is responsible for selecting the lucky recipient, then his father secretly pays for their bill. They call it "special breakfast."

Recently, he decided to further broaden his efforts. In an Instagram post on Dec. 30, the actor pledged to give away two free tickets to a "Company" show on Jan. 1. He invited people to enter the contest, citing a few conditions, including that those who enter should be "someone who could maybe not afford to come to the show otherwise."

In the post, Elder explained the inspiration behind the initiative, sharing the story of how he got to see "Sweeney Todd" more than 15 years ago. He included the photo he held onto of him and the generous stranger and wrote: "If you know this guy — let me know. I would love to thank him."

What happened next stunned him: Not only did donations from fans who wanted to cover the cost of additional free tickets start pouring in, but Elder's fellow actor in "The Gilded Age," Douglas Sills, called him and said he is friends with the man in the photo.

"I was dumbfounded," Elder said.

He learned the man was Mark Howell, who owns an advertising agency and lives in Los Angeles. He's also a huge theater fan.

Howell said he hadn't thought about their exchange since the night it happened, but instantly, "the whole thing came back to me."

"I wanted to be an actor when I was his age, and I saw some of my enthusiasm and passion for theater in him," Howell recalled.

Howell was deeply moved by how his unplanned $200 gift triggered a chain of kindness that keeps growing.

Given the outpouring of support for Elder's ticket initiative, he has continued raising funds through his Venmo account, with the goal of offering free shows to as many people as possible who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford them.

"Experiencing that joy of being given something and the surprise of it has reminded me of how wonderful it can be to help somebody," Elder said.

"Every time I have a group come to the performance, in honor of the photo I took with Mark, I have them meet me outside the theater and we all get together and take a picture," said Elder, who has printed each photo and placed a copy on the wall of his dressing room.