BroadwayWorld Chicago salutes Lookingglass Theatre Company Part Five

It was hardly the glamorous and magical moment One Dreams of when Lookingglass Theater Company's artistic director Andrew White first got word that the Chicago arts institution had been honored with the 2011 Regional Theater Tony Award. 

"[Lookingglass Theater Company Executive Director] Rachel Kraft called me as I was dropping my kids off at school," White recalls. "She told me she had to tell me something I would never believe and my first thought was honestly that the theater had blown up or caught on fire."

The American Theatre Wing's Howard Sherman had called Kraft to give her the news and while various theater boards had already been speculating that Lookingglass was a shoe-in for the award this year, White says it still took the company by surprise. 

"Yes, they had been chatting about it on BroadwayWorld and other theater sites before it became official, but we still couldn't believe it." 

And now that the award is a given, White says the company was  both ecstatic by it and humbled as well. 

"Generally, we all felt so thrilled about how this reflects on Chicago at large," White says. "The Fifth Regional Tony Award shows what an amazing theater city this is."

On Sunday, White says 21 of the 22 ensemble members will attend the presentation (Thomas J. Cox is the lone missing member; he's currently in Northlight's "Outgoing Tide" and the show must go on, as they say), along with staff and board members.

"We are a pretty democratic organization and flat on the top," White says. "A lot of people rightfully so feel a lot of ownership for the award."

And that even includes the audiences who have attended Lookingglass shows over the last 23 years.

"If there was a way we could bring the whole city on stage with us, we would," White says.

As for how the company plans to position itself post-Tony Award, White isn't sure.

"Since the Tony was for the most part surprise, we haven't had a lot of opportunity to ask that question of what it means and how we will best deploy it," White says. "At this point, our long term thinking and planning is more guided by the upcoming 25th anniversary in 2013."