Philadelphia Weekly

Idyll hands: Now based in Philly, the New Orleans group EgoPo offers offbeat theater, such as this month’s Company.

Photo by Doug Greene

Most of Philadelphia’s theaters are homegrown enterprises—but not the trailblazing company EgoPo, which blew into town during the fall of 2005 on a decidedly ill wind.

Founded in 1991 by artistic director Lane Savadove—who attended Haverford College and has family in New Hope—EgoPo had established a reputation as one of New Orleans’ most innovative companies.

In September of 2005, EgoPo was at the Philly Fringe for the local debut of Maids X 2 , the company’s outrageously original adaptation of Jean Genet’s groundbreaking play. During final rehearsals, company members learned that their home theater in New Orleans had taken a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina. The roof collapsed and the theater was in shambles. The news would only get worse. Savadove discovered his home had been consumed by 10 feet of water. Most of the other company members lost everything.


What happened next renews one’s faith in the City of Brotherly Love.


Beads were sold at the festival’s cabaret to aid the distressed company. On the festival’s final day Savadove was presented with over $5,000 in cash. Instead of folding, EgoPo decided to begin anew in Philadelphia. “It was really the Philadelphia theater community that made the decision [to relocate] for us,” says Savadove. “We knew we were welcome. It was like we instantly had a new home base.”


EgoPo’s risky, avant-garde productions are driven by a unique style of acting (developed by Savadove) that unites the body and mind. It’s an impulsive and highly physical style that requires the actors to respond to the material on a guttural level. “It seeks to externalize a strong emotional chord,” Savadove says, explaining the style’s intent. The result of EgoPo’s acting style is intensely visceral productions that envelope you in the world of the play.


A perfect example of EgoPo’s immersive brand of drama is Savadove’s unique staging of Samuel Beckett’s short story Company , which opened at the Philly Fringe and runs through Sept. 26 in South Philadelphia.


Part of EgoPo’s season-long Samuel Beckett Festival, the autobiographical tale focuses on the memories of childhood. Originally produced by EgoPo as a radio play for NPR, in Company the audience doesn’t watch the action unfold, they live the story.


Blindfolded, each audience member is led into a room, where for the next 60 minutes they are guided by an angel as voices emerge and fade all around them. Initially bewildering, we react to the story physically as the angel gently touches us, whispers in our ear, and repositions our bodies. The angel is a comforting presence but the story is often disturbing, particularly in a simulation of death, when we lie supine and a blanket is pulled over our body and face as an organ plays. The effect of this imitated death is frightening at first, but also oddly liberating.


A strange story about physical forms and the impact of memory, Company is more concerned with spatiality than clear narrative. It’s a sensory piece that engages both our minds and bodies. However you categorize it, it’s undeniably memorable.


Because it’s such an unconventional production, Company won’t suit everyone’s tastes. However, appealing to the masses isn’t part of EgoPo’s mission. “What’s essential is that we speak deeply to the people we do speak to,” says Savadove. “I tell my student directors the most important thing is that you love your own show. There may be 10 people who share your taste or there may be 10,000 and you have no control over that because you can’t direct against your own tastes. I don’t really think about how popular the work is; I just do the work that makes me smile.” ■