A Birthday Wish for Steppenwolf on the Occasion of Her 30th
Posted by Jeff Perry on 4/18/2006
On Saturday, April 8th, Steppenwolf celebrated its ensemble of 35 actors, directors, playwrights, and adaptors of text with the annual Black Tie Gala. The evening began with a performance of Love Song in the Downstairs Theatre and proceeded into the large tent that had been constructed over the parking lot for cocktails, a delicious dinner by Wolfgang Puck, and dancing to the rocking sounds of Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band.
Before dinner, co-founder Jeff Perry addressed the assembled guests with typical feeling, humor, and wit. Here is what he said:
Like the majestic Statue of Liberty or the warming alcoholic glow of our dear Gaslight, or our never to be forgotten O’Rourke’s, may Steppenwolf continue to exclaim “bring me your self involved, your conspicuously talented, your thespians huddled in packs yearning to confront.”
Let these hallowed halls of courageous and shameless hammery always embrace audience and artists judging them not by the color of their skin or the peculiarities of their childhoods (see Pendleton, Malkovich and Metcalf to name but three), but by the content of their collaborative passion.
Like Leonard Cohen’s ‘birds on a wire or drunks in a midnight choir’ may we – in, please god, politically incorrect ways - try always to be free, of choice, of spirit, of voice.
May Steppenwolf always seek to create a more perfect union of artistic trust, respect and challenge so that ensemble work of the artists, by the artists and for the artists – sorry, the audience - shall not perish from this earth.
Dearest Steppenwolf may your efforts to borrow from dear William Saroyan add not to the sorrow and misery of the world, but help us all smile at the infinite delight and mystery of it.