Mark Bergren

Hi everybody! Well, what can I say? I am so sad I'm not with you tonight, but so very happy I know you are there celebrating. I feel blessed – you are my friends, my family, my compatriots. Thank you, Chris Oyen for bringing me into the fold eighteen years ago, thank you all for making me laugh so hard, and making me feel so good. It was sometimes tough to walk the line between being a director and being a friend – many of you helped me walk it, and some of you yanked me across it into debauchery, late night gut-busting laughs, boozy whispered conversations in the Royal Plaza parking lot, dinners in Montreal, poker on the Mississippi, midnight swims in shark infested waters, brownies and two illegitimate children. You know who you are. I loved each minute of it, and treasure each memory. Oh, and then there's your talent. Every night. Every rehearsal, every workshop, every year. I am in awe, and so proud. (Except for you, Detmar.) I'm honored to have been able to play a bit part. I miss you all, I'll think of you often, I raise my glass to you – Here's to us. Here's to us.... And Stevie P...... Uncle Monkey has left the zoo. Love, Mark Bergren