The Investigation: Depicting the Holocaust
December 2, 2011; by Lane Savadove
On the eve of our presentation of The Investigation, EgoPo Dramaturg, Glenn Odom, and I held a panel on The Holocaust and Theater at Rowan University this week. We discussed and debated the purpose and efficacy of depicting, describing, dramatizing the Holocaust. Should we attempt to make the Holocaust universal and relatable? Should we be telling the same stories over and over? What does the telling of these stories accomplish?...
Our conclusion (and what drives present our entire season): The Holocaust should not be diminished or packaged to make it digestible or relatable. It is crucial that in describing the experiences of both victims and survivors, we maintain their individuality, their Jewish-ness, their moment in time. We must maintain the details and specialness of their experience. As both artists and audience, it is our job to make the leap through time and to stand in their shoes (both victims and perpetrators) not to imagine that their shoes are like ours. The value of re-telling the Holocaust narrative is that we learn to experience it in our own bodies through imagining ourselves in that moment. Theater allows us to transport ourselves, and for a moment, to become the other, then to return home and make sure we never become them in actuallity. This is how we stop a Holocaust from ever happening again.
This Monday, Dec. 5, we present Peter Weiss' The Investigation. This powerful script is rarely presented because of the intensity of the content (the Auschwitz trials) and the size of the cast (23). EgoPo is proud to bring it to you at the beautiful new National American Jewish History Museum. I welcome you to come and experience our theories in action.
Tags: Investigation, Peter Weiss
Anne Frank is an artistic success
October 27, 2011; by Lane Savadove
Anne Frank is now open and I can sit back and watch the show and talk to audience members about their experiences. I am struck by how proud I am of what we created.
I believe the real success of this show lies in the moment to moment reality created by both the cast and designers. In terms of acting, its one of the most meticulously acted shows I have ever seen. At any one moment there is three, four, even five, different moments occuring on stage. Each actor is fully filled by their experience of listening/living in the moment. In each room on stage, a different scene is occuring that makes the scene of focus that much more rich. The result is that the audience remains rivetted and absorbed by the resulting reality on stage.
More than anything, I wanted the audience to be able to imagine themselves in the attic: to think that this could have been, or might one day, be them. I dreamed in the beginning of this process of a physical space that reeked of reality. Matt Sharp (lights), Matthew Miller (set), and Jay Wojnarowksi (Tech Dir) gave us this. This space textural, real, warm and human. This is not easy to accomplish esp. with our budget. But their meticuluous, uncompromising work paid off.
Our greatest risk, was the decision to put the play in an extreme thrust configuration, have no walls on stage, and most important that the actors would never exit the stage. This is a very bold choice, very different than the average production, and very hard to execute. Most of the credit here goes to Natalia De La Torre (costumes). I asked her to make costumes another character in this play and she did just that. Each actor has 5-6 changes at least and each change is a FULL change - meaning dozens of costume pieces - each kept on stage and changed in plain sight of the audience. The result is a clutter of texture and colors that causes this play to burst to life. I think the result is astounding.
The actors have fully taken on their characters, turned them into full 3-dimensional figures, and made them even more complex than they may have been in Anne's writing. Sara Howard is seamless in the lead and does an amazing job alllowing it to be an ensemble play without ever being shy at taking center stage.
The largest star though is the real Anne. This is HER writing - HER story. We are so very lucky that this document survived so that we may come to know the holocaust through a first person Jewish experience. This diary is a treasure. It needs to be shared over and over again for decades to come. Ethnic hatred and anti-semitism are far from dead. There is a signficant strain in american politics that looks an awful lot like the 1930's in Germany. We must be vigilant. And most importantly, we must share our stories with non-jews so that mutual-understanding and empathy can flourish.
-Lane Savadove, Artistic Director
Tags: Anne Frank, Jewish, Lane, Artistic Director
The Diary of Anne Frank opens tonight!
October 20, 2011; by Michael Chittenden
Tonight is opening night for the first production of our 2011/2012 season: The Diary of Anne Frank! We're very proud of the work we've done on this powerful adaptation, and we can't wait to show it to you.
In this new and powerful adaptation by Wendy Kesselman, this Pulitzer Prize winning drama comes to life like never before. Enter into the lives of two families hiding from the Nazis in a tiny attic that is both their sanctuary and their prison. This deeply personal account of the Holocaust will bring you a story you only thought you knew with EgoPo's intimate and highly realistic staging.
Won't you join us?
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The Diary of Anne Frank
Written by Wendy Kesselman
Directed by Lane Savadove
Running October 19 - November 6, 2011 at The Prince Music Theatre Cabaret
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You can buy tickets at our box office or by calling (800) 595-4TIX.
Tags: The Diary of Anne Frank
Welcome to the EgoPo Blog!
July 19, 2011; by Michael Chittenden
Quite a lot goes on "behind the scenes" here at EgoPo Classic Theatre, from the shows that you see onstage every year, even to this website, which very recently got a complete overhaul. The overwhelming concensus seems to be that people are interested in all these "behind the scenes" elements...so we made this blog! Expect to hear a great deal from us in the future, by means of this very site.
Our staff is diligently working these days, getting ready for the upcoming season (and trying to deal with the heat!). We've got a really exciting one coming up, starting off with the well-known and extremely powerful The Diary of Anne Frank. Later in the year, we'll bring you the world premiere production of The Golem, a moving show based on stories, myths, and folkore, passed down by a group of Prague Jews, bound on a train to who-knows-where in 1940. This new and interesting show will incorporate elements of movement, puppetry, and music. And to close out our season, we have the not-to-be-missed A Dybbuk, a new adaptation of one of the greatest Jewish plays ever written, about a wedding celebration interrupted by a supernatural presence.
We're also bringing back a number of special events this year. We're starting off in December with The Investigation, a staged reading of the Auschwitz Trials. Then we'll be throwing a party in January with An Evening on the Other Side, where you're free to come and eat, drink, and have a good time. You may even hear some behind-the-scenes information about The Golem! And speaking of The Golem...be sure not to miss our EgoPo Seders which take place concurrently with the mainstage show. These Seders will of course take place during Passover, on April 6th and 7th. Come celebrate with Jewish and non-Jewish friends alike in the theatre itself, then watch the show. And what EgoPo season would be complete without our Annual Gala? Mark June 24th, 2012 on your calendars. It's sure to be a fun night.
So as the world outside continues to change, EgoPo continues to stick to its one purpose--to bring cutting edge classic theatre to you, our audience, our family. Thanks as always for sticking with us, and we hope to see you soon (at the shows and...of course...here now, too!).
Tags: Blog, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Golem, The Dybbuk, Salon Series
