For their astounding work the judges have awarded
a Special Obie Citation to the creative team
and ensemble of A Strange Loop.
[piano music]
Hi, everyone.
Thank you so much. We thank you so much for this award.
It is so meaningful that it is
an award that encompasses the entire amazing
ensemble of A Strange Loop and the incredible creative
team to be honored in this large,
amazing way, feels really incredible.
And it's such an amazing, amazing,
amazing group of artists.
So thank you for the recognition for everybody.
I think I can speak for everybody in that we showed
up to rehearsal wanting
to honor the amazing Michael Jackson
as fully as we possibly could.
It was a group—a group and a room full of
fans who loved, loved,
loved this man for his incredible
brain and his overwhelming heart.
Right? And we just made a goal for ourselves
to try to represent him as fully as
possible, to represent all of his
intellect, his unbelievable point of view
of the world and his aching, beautiful
humanity.
And I think that something really beautiful emerged
out of that is that in stepping
up and wanting to honor somebody so singular,
we all felt, I think in various ways
really represented and seen on that stage.
And it was sort of the alchemy of those two things of not
wanting to screw this up for Michael Jackson, but also
feeling really personally invested
in what we were putting
on that stage, created a really
dynamic and kind of explosive
collaboration, one that I have never felt
before in my entire career.
And so it feels really amazing to be honored
for the multiplicity of voices in that room
that were standing up to present this show.
We have had a long journey to the stage,
and I wanted to make sure that
we recognized specifically
the Musical Theatre Factory for providing
a home for so much development of this musical.
Shakina really provided our
first safe space to develop this show.
Many of us have been with the show for seven years of
development and that really fostered
an incredible intimacy amongst the group
that we really utilized on that stage.
With Shakina's help, we found Kent Nicholson, who
helped us gain a larger audience for the show
when we met the singular and most amazing Barbara
Whitman, who stood up and said, "How can
I help this show be seen?" And it
was with her help that we found an incredible home
with both Page 73 and Playwrights Horizons,
who treated this show with respect
but also tenderness and love,
and provided the most amazing, solid
platform for us to bounce off of, reverberate
within that theatre.
I wish that I was with all of these amazing
collaborators in the same room so that
we could hug and squeeze and celebrate.
But it's in these few moments of being together,
albeit on computer screens, that makes me love
and remember my community.
And I can't wait to be back in the room with
all of you, hopefully, really, really, really soon.
[cheers]