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For Immediate Release: Contact: Lane Savadove
phone: 646-325-7373
Email: producer@egopo.org

A Festival of the Cruelest Intents EgoPo to produce a season long celebration of the French Avant-Garde

Philadelphia, PA – Aug 3, 2010 - EgoPo Classic Theater is thrilled to announce our 2010/2011 season: Theatre of Cruelty; a celebration of the French Avant-Garde. Featuring a season long series of productions, readings, cabarets and world premieres, EgoPo’s Theatre of Cruelty Festival will give audiences an intimate understanding of the controversial theatrical artistry of Antonin Artaud, who changed the face of western theater with his ideas for a Theater of Cruelty. Theatre of Cruelty demands that theatre throw off the falsity of daily life and expose the human soul in all its glory and shame. EgoPo will give Philadelphia audiences a rare chance to explore theater as Artaud intended; a profound ritual experience which envelopes and transforms its audiences.

Opening the festival will be The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade by Peter Weiss. The show will open as part of the Philly Fringe Festival in addition to marking the beginning of EgoPo’s season long festival celebrating The Theatre of Cruelty. Marat/Sade transports the audience to France 1808, inside the walls of the Charenton Asylum. EgoPo recreates the Marquis De Sade’s post-revolutionary world in the crumbling beauty of the Sanctuary Space at the Rotunda, September 3- 18. Marat/Sade is considered to be the most spectacular contemporary display of Artaud’s theories. The great director, Peter Brook, made Marat/Sade famous during his Theater of Cruelty season in 1964 with the Royal Shakespeare Company. A year later it opened on Broadway where it won a host of Tony Awards including Best Play. Marat/Sade will be directed by Brenna Geffers, EgoPo’s literary manager. Brenna most recently directed EgoPo’s highly acclaimed productions of Waiting for Godot and Woyzeck. Featuring a new score composed by Mat Wright, Barrymore award winner for his Musical Direction of Mum Puppettheater’s The Fantasticks. Marat/Sade will be performed with a live quartet of instruments and over a dozen of Philadelphia’s most exciting performers.

Continuing the season-long celebration of the French Avant-Garde will be Artaud Unbound. Artaud Unbound is an evening of four never-before-seen short works by the master of the Theater of Cruelty. Audiences will be given the rare chance to see Artaud’s ground-breaking film scenarios, radio plays and manifestos that led to his censorship- in all-new world premiere productions. Created in collaboration with Brat Productions, Artaud Unbound will invite audiences to explore the visceral world of Artaud in his own words. With a limited run of only five performances, Artaud Unbound will perform February 16- 20th at the Latvian Society.

EgoPo’s Theatre of Cruelty festival will conclude with the exciting world premiere of Hell. Hell is a world premiere adaptation of the novel by Henri Barbusse. It is one of the most profound, detailed studies of solitude ever written and one of the most read and debated French books of all time. Hell tells the story of a man who looks through a hole in the wall of his boarding house room to uncover the secrets of life. A theatrical event like no other, EgoPo will bring audiences through the peep hole and into the most private human moments. EgoPo’s artistic director Lane Savadove will direct and adapt Hell’s world premiere. Lane’s most recent world premiere adaption was the blazingly imaginative Bluebird, which brought together cast of 30 performers with live music performed by Orchestra 2000. Hell promises to deliver an equally all-encompassing experience, immersing the audience into a multi-media world where life’s most intimates moments are brought to life with excruciating detail. Hell will premier at the historic German Society Library, April 27 through May 15. EgoPo will continue its commitment to giving Philadelphia the fullest exploration of a genre or playwright with our EgoPo Salon Series. We relish this opportunity to bring together the extraordinary theatrical talents of Philadelphia to further explore the influences of Artaud. Audiences are invited to experience the most important modern playwrights born out of Artaud's Theater of Cruelty. This year we will offer 3 staged readings of playwrights Barker, Berkoff and Shaffer throughout the season, all staged at the beautiful L’Etage. With a full year of events, EgoPo looks forward to bringing Philadelphia audiences to the brink of the Avant- Garde with one of the most passionate and debated theatrical thinkers to grace the stage. Truly a celebration of the most influential theatre movements of the modern era, EgoPo’s Theatre of Cruelty Festival is sure to be a theatrical season unlike any other.

Fact Sheet
Marat/Sade By Peter Weiss
Directed by Brenna Geffers
September 3-18, 2010
The Sanctuary at the Rotunda 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia PA

Artaud Unbound Film and Radio Scenarios by Antonin Artaud
February 16-20, 2011
The Latvian Society 531 N. 7th Street, Philadelphia PA

Hell Based on the novel by Henri Barbusse
Directed by Lane Savadove
April 27- May 15, 2011
The German Society 611 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia PA

EgoPo Salon Series
Sunday Nov 28 - Scenes from an Execution by Howard Barker, featuring EgoPo's festival ensemble.
Sunday Jan 9 - East by Steven Berkoff, featuring Andrew Gorell
Sunday April 10- Equus by Peter Shaffer, featuring the Philadelphia Acting Collective 7pm, L'Etage, 624 S. 6th Street, Philadelphia PA

Cast, director and design team are available for phone or email interviews; please contact Lane Savadove at 646-325-7373 to schedule.