EgoPo crafts epic 'BLUE'
Chris Sannino
Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
The latest Mandell Professionals in Residence Project group was the center of attention at the Sept. 25 reception as they ignited the hype for EgoPo.
Having relocated to Philadelphia after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, EgoPo has staged over two dozen shows over their 15 years in action. Adept in translating the old into the contemporary and projecting truth through movement, this time EgoPo will produce an epic adaptation of Maurice Maeterlinks's "The Bluebird," entitled "BLUE," at Drexel with the assistance of the award-winning Orchestra 2001.
"It's going to be a huge visual piece with live music, and it's basically trying to put life back into what was considered one of the greatest plays ever written over a hundred years ago," EgoPo Founder and Artistic Director Lane Salvadove said. "When the opportunity to use the Mandell came along, I had been dreaming of doing "Bluebird" for years, and now I had a big enough state of the art place to do it in."
With a script adapted by Molly Rice, "BLUE" is a modern fairytale about two children on a journey to find "the blue bird of happiness" layered with symbolism and metaphor. The eight-piece Orchestra 2001 will collaborate with EgoPo to provide live music. Based in Swarthmore Pa., the group celebrates their 20th anniversary this year and was present at the reception.
Orchestra 2001 Artistic Director and pianist James Freeman introduced everyone to the work of Pulitzer-Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer George Crumb whose original pieces will underscore "BLUE."
One look at the featured piece, "Dream Sequence," purveyed the avant-garde nature of Crumb. Not only was the piece handwritten on one huge quad-folding spread of music, but individual parts advanced very uniquely. The separate instrument parts literally trail off into their own artistic swirls and fall into circular vamps until all meeting up for the last few lines of the song. Even the voicings were completely unconventional with various parts of the piano being played on, tuned percussive goblets, and a spacey underlying glass harmonica.
In addition to staging "BLUE," EgoPo will instruct their physical theater intensive as a class at Drexel.
The workshop known as "Viewpoints" focuses on following physical impulses in acting to obtain a greater emotional truth in performance."
"It's a way of building character through movement," Director of Mandell's Professionals in Residence Projects, Nicholas Anselmo, said. "There were so many students involved last year and there will probably be more this year."
Last year, the in residence company New Paradise Laboratories hosted their own class while producing the now Barrymore Award nominated "PROM" and the same buzz is back for EgoPo's "BLUE." The show will run for twelve performances in the Mandell Theater and opens April 25, 2009.
Having relocated to Philadelphia after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, EgoPo has staged over two dozen shows over their 15 years in action. Adept in translating the old into the contemporary and projecting truth through movement, this time EgoPo will produce an epic adaptation of Maurice Maeterlinks's "The Bluebird," entitled "BLUE," at Drexel with the assistance of the award-winning Orchestra 2001.
"It's going to be a huge visual piece with live music, and it's basically trying to put life back into what was considered one of the greatest plays ever written over a hundred years ago," EgoPo Founder and Artistic Director Lane Salvadove said. "When the opportunity to use the Mandell came along, I had been dreaming of doing "Bluebird" for years, and now I had a big enough state of the art place to do it in."
With a script adapted by Molly Rice, "BLUE" is a modern fairytale about two children on a journey to find "the blue bird of happiness" layered with symbolism and metaphor. The eight-piece Orchestra 2001 will collaborate with EgoPo to provide live music. Based in Swarthmore Pa., the group celebrates their 20th anniversary this year and was present at the reception.
Orchestra 2001 Artistic Director and pianist James Freeman introduced everyone to the work of Pulitzer-Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer George Crumb whose original pieces will underscore "BLUE."
One look at the featured piece, "Dream Sequence," purveyed the avant-garde nature of Crumb. Not only was the piece handwritten on one huge quad-folding spread of music, but individual parts advanced very uniquely. The separate instrument parts literally trail off into their own artistic swirls and fall into circular vamps until all meeting up for the last few lines of the song. Even the voicings were completely unconventional with various parts of the piano being played on, tuned percussive goblets, and a spacey underlying glass harmonica.
In addition to staging "BLUE," EgoPo will instruct their physical theater intensive as a class at Drexel.
The workshop known as "Viewpoints" focuses on following physical impulses in acting to obtain a greater emotional truth in performance."
"It's a way of building character through movement," Director of Mandell's Professionals in Residence Projects, Nicholas Anselmo, said. "There were so many students involved last year and there will probably be more this year."
Last year, the in residence company New Paradise Laboratories hosted their own class while producing the now Barrymore Award nominated "PROM" and the same buzz is back for EgoPo's "BLUE." The show will run for twelve performances in the Mandell Theater and opens April 25, 2009.
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