Ever since eight Northwestern graduates
plunged through the mirror with Alice in 1988,
Lookingglass Theatre has astounded
Chicago and national art audiences
with their unique blend of music, dance,
theater, and circus virtuosity.
"Moby Dick", which is the piece I saw most recently of theirs, is seared in my memory.
The fearless acting in every role, the
inventiveness of the Greek chorus-turned-leviathan,
the strain of the whaling boats
racing over our heads in pursuit of the pod,
the acrobatic scaling of that ship-meets-whale-rib set,
the keening of the flayed whale tethered by her ankles
as yards of unwinding red fabric spin her at ever-increasing speed,
the bump under our seats from beneath, and the rush of white China silk overhead as we finally,
finally see the great white whale.
These and countless other images attest
to Lookingglass's extraordinary, unparalleled ability
to transform literary pedantry into visceral poetry,
to erase our memory and convince us that stories we think we know
and then we've read a thousand times
are ones we're really experiencing for the first time ever.
And when I talk about "Moby Dick", you can say the same about "Hard Times", which you should,
or "Race", which you should, or Ovid's "Metamorphoses" as you should, ad infinitum.
Every turn at a Lookingglass show is a
surprise. Every effect a revelation -
expanding and shattering the boundaries
of what we thought was possible in the theater,
even as we ourselves are
expanded and animated in new ways.
The values of collaboration, transformation, and invention which informed the artistry
informed the ensemble as well.
And of the many experiences I had in my years at Theatre Communications Group,
among the most special is the day I spent with them,
watching them think and struggle, engage and dream,
not only about the work they wished to produce,
but about who they wished to be.
About whether, after having been in 22
spaces in 15 years, they wanted their own space.
Most importantly, about the impact
they hoped to achieve for Chicago.
Now, a sterling national and international
reputation, a Civic Labs program,
an educational institute, a glorious
landmark Water Tower facility,
a Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre.
But even better, an astounding 140 Jeff nominations.
Yeah!
(applause)
And 51 wins -
51 wins - Lookingglass now stands on the brink of their 30th anniversary -
a tribute to the artists of the ensemble and their intoxicating synergy.
14 of the 24, each an extraordinary artist in her or his own right, are here tonight.
And I know with ensembles
we forget who they are as individuals easily,
but they're extraordinary artists, so forgive me for taking the time to name them individually tonight.
Kareem Bandeal- sorry, Kareem Bandealy.
Nicki Brooks. David Catlin. 
Thom Cox. Larry DiStasi.
Kevin Douglas. Christine Dunford.
Anthony Fleming. Raymond Fox.
Louise Lamson. Phil Smith.
Heidi Stillman. Tracy Walsh. And Andy White.
Yeah. Yeah!
(applause)
An extraordinary group, expanded and
complemented not only by their 10 collaborators,
- their artistic collaborators - but the administrators, the technicians, the board members,
and management that have served them over the years,
including the very great and special Rachel Kraft.
(applause)
All of them and many of you have given
their time, their resources,
and in many cases their lives
to follow a proverbial white rabbit
to lands of ever new one, 
and we're all the richer for their journey.
"Oh my, how curious everything is", says Alice, 
and oh my, how blessed we are
that Lookingglass continues to create the most exquisite, the most exhilarating
the most ever-curiouser-and-curiouser of theatrical journeys.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in saluting tonight
the recipient of the League of Chicago Theatres' 
Artistic Achievement Award,
Lookingglass Theatre.
(applause)
Oh my gosh, thank you so much.
And Ben, that was awesome. 
That made me so happy and excited.
That was cool, wasn't it?
(applause)
Oh my gosh.
On behalf of all of us 
and our comrades that couldn't be here,
Laura, Joey, Schwimmer, Mary, Dan, Mara, Doug, Kersnar, Joy, and Temple,
We are incredibly grateful for this honor.
We're also thrilled to have Ben present this to us,
as he has been a real source of knowledge and inspiration to us, as he is to so many in this room.
Seriously.
(applause)
Ben came and spoke to us many years ago, as he was referencing,
and at that time we were embroiled in
our crisis of the moment (audience laughter)
as one is wont to do in not-for-profit theater
and he talked to us about pulling our heads up and taking a look back at the fabric we had been weaving
so that we could see the pattern of it, and see the quilt that was trailing behind us
and that image just stuck in our in our minds.
And this honor and our coming 30th season has caused a lot of reflection and looking back at what we've made.
How has 30 years gone by? (laughter)
How are we still together? 
And how are we still making art?
In no other city and in no other community would we have lasted for 30 years.
We've been nurtured and supported by a city that values the arts.
By two mayors who have understood what theater adds to a city,
and those mayors have even understood what *our* theatre adds to the city .
We've been supported by an incredible community of theater-goers and philanthropists over these 30 years.
We have many of our board members
sitting in the audience right now.
(applause)
We've been supported by a network of
funders and foundations and corporations
who have valued what we've put on stage.
We've been mentored by a generous theater community...
that - it's hard to even express all the ways - 
all the many ways that we've been mentored.
The Goodman was so good to us, and Steppenwolf just really took us under their proverbial wing
and helped us in so many - so many ways.
We have had - been staffed by absolutely brilliant arts administrators over these years,
many of whom are with us right now tonight.
(applause) But I think over the 30 years (applause)
Of all the people who have worked on
our stages, who have worked in our offices,
who have worked backstage, who have
given us money, who have supported us -
It's, it's crazy I mean, we're really, really lucky,
and we live in a city where it's possible to carve out a living as a working artist,
however you cobble it together.
We have families and we've made a life doing what we love and what we feel called to do,
and that's pretty amazing.
And and then our ensemble - it's been our own crazy ongoing grand social artistic experiment.
(laughter)
I remember a moment where our dear pal Martha Lavey said to some of us,
we were doing some show, I can't remember which one,
at Steppenwolf, 'cause we did a bunch of shows in the upstairs space,
right when that upstairs space was was starting.
And  - some of us were turning 30 that year or something and Martha looked -
- it was a long time ago, like 20 years ago -
(laughter)
And Martha looked, you know, looked at us in that penetrating way she has,
and she said "What a great way to spend your 20s, making plays with your friends".
And she was right.
And we've spent our 30s and our 40s that way too.
Not all of us are that old, but many of us are.
(laughter)
You know, these people up here are my
deeply respected colleagues,
and brilliant fellow art-makers, and they are also my dearest and closest friends.
And our children are growing up together
and they are each other's dearest and closest friends.
So, it has been a crazy experience and a really meaningful experience,
so it means a great deal to us to be recognized as an ensemble
because this ensemble has defined our lives, I'm realizing.
I mean, clearly now after 30 years, looking
back at what we've woven -
This is our great life project. This is what we've done and this is what work we're doing.
So thank you so much for this
acknowledgement.
I have one more thing I want to do, just because.
Martha Lavey - we honored her a few years ago at our gala, and she made such a beautiful speech to us,
I thought I would read it.
It it's very short, but I think, you know it applies to us, but I think it applies to all of us in this room.
So she said, "Lookingglass is 27 years into what I think we have to acknowledge is the crazy commitment-"
"A commitment to creating original work in the medium of theater,"
"through a process of ensemble creation and culture."
"Every single part of that mission is a point of vulnerability."
"New work is difficult to
make and challenging to market."
"The medium of theatre is resource-intensive, evanescent,"
"and because we are committed to the presence of live event, difficult to scale."
"And ensembles are notoriously fragile and volatile beasts,"
"so on paper it is highly impractical equation towards a nearly impossible goal."
"Just like every human endeavor that is authentically valuable and authentically beautiful."
"None of it makes sense and all of it must be preserved."
"The resource of a company of artists 27 years into their collective life,"
"telling stories in and about its community 
is spiritual gold."
"Story can often be the difference between sanity and despair."
"We need story and beauty and wit and
imagination like we need food and air."
"I pay homage to Lookingglass Theatre for their beautiful persistence"
"in this utterly impractical and altogether necessary pursuit."
So, I wanted to share those beautiful words....
(applause)
