Meet Lane Savadove

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lane Savadove. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lane, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
It’s interesting – I never think about it in those terms. Once I pick a project to work on, it starts to drive me and I simply have to keep running creatively to keep up and steer it and to make sure it reaches full fruition. That said, I only pick projects that I feel are essential. Essential experiences for our audiences, our community, the field at large. Maybe sometimes essential for my next stage of growth. When I clearly know the purpose, and the significance of a creative project, it becomes very easy for me to stay alive creatively.

I am exhausted at the end of a creative process, but the moment I see the next possibility start to bloom on the horizon, I become excited to start hiking towards it. I am lucky to have, and have worked hard to orchestrate, a creative life in which I only work on creative projects I choose to work on. By founding a theater company, I chose to not have to take work for a paycheck. Now there’s lots of tradeoffs….teaching pays the bills… but in the end I get to lead a creative life which I get to choose each year with my collaborators.

I also have a team around me which keeps the theater going day to day and year to year and allows me to progressively put more and more of my focus on art making. Again, I’m lucky in this regard but also know its essential for sustainable creative energy.

Finally, I need to make sure my body and the bodies of my colleagues are invested. Our phsycial bodies are our source of energy, renewal and creativity. If we become divorced from our bodies, our creative and personal energy will start to wane. I can do better, but I always know that by returning to my body, I will always have a well of creativity waiting for me.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I founded EgoPo Classic Theater in 1993 as a theater company, as well as an acting method designed to bring emotional depth and physical commitment to classic literature – the name “EgoPo” derives from the French words Ego (the decision-making part of our mind) and Peau (pronounced “Po,” the skin), based on EgoPo’s commitment to kinesthetic awareness and physical presence in performance). Since that time, EgoPo has staged over 50 productions regionally, nationally, and internationally. EgoPo has been based in Philadelphia since 2005, celebrating 16 years of working with Philadelphia artists as a part of the city’s theatrical renaissance.

Since coming to Philadelphia, EgoPo has become known for boldly reinventing classics. The company is ambitious in the scale of the plays it presents, staging modernist and avant-garde works that are often under-produced because of their cast size and technical demands. EgoPo’s stagings are either world premiere adaptations or unique new visions of classics. This includes: world premiere retellings of the Jewish myth, The Golem, a re-visioning of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House featuring a single 14-year-old actress to tell the story, The Assassination of Jesse James told as a dime store novel, featuring an all-female cast, and 2018’s world premiere production of the 10-hour epic Lydie Breeze Trilogy.

EgoPo produces unique themed seasons to take the audience on in-depth explorations, including mainstage productions, a shorter-run performance event, and a themed site-specific Gala. Themes of the past have focused on a single playwright (Williams, Beckett, Ibsen) or genre (American Vaudeville, Expressionism). By devoting an entire season to one theme, EgoPo is able to provide cultural context for the work, deepen the audience’s engagement with that work, and introduce audiences to rarely produced plays alongside re-imaginings of well-known classics. EgoPo has been recognized nationally for this model, presenting at the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) national theater conference and appearing in American Theatre Magazine. EgoPo has been consistently honored critically and inside the industry. In 2017, EgoPo was awarded the June and Steve Wolfson Award for Best Evolving Theater, as well as the Barrymore awards for Best Production of the Year, and Best Set Design.

This year is EgoPo’s 30th Anniversary Season and we are producing the largest show in our history, The Ramayana, which is 28 years in the making. We are collaborating with 16 Indonesian artists, to create a modern retelling of this ancient Hindu epic with a mix of theater, dance, puppetry and music. The piece will performed outdoors under a massive tent in Philadelphia’s FDR Park in June 2024.

I am also a Theater Professor and the Head of Acting and Directing at Rowan University – a national known theater program known for cutting-edge training.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Interest in the Power of the Body: The body is at the core of our very being. It controls our emotions, our cognition, our sense of self. I believe that we can address the “self” directly by forming wisdom and knowledge of our body. Do whatever physical journey best fits you: Yoga, Meditation, Sports etc. etc. and follow its lead.

Staying Power: I always keep the big picture of my career and artistry at the forefront of my mind, and play the long-game. There will be ups and downs but there will always be a long-term trajectory forward if I can maintain patience and stay at my goals year to year.

Diligence and Work Ethic: I always believe that I have control over outcomes through my own inputs. The harder and more consistently I work, the more likely their will be professional breakthroughs. You can’t complain if there was more you could have done.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
Right now in my career, I am challenged by learning to share the workload and put my trust in my colleagues. I am getting older and cannot do all I used to. Also my theater has grown quite a bit. I need to trust others to carry the load both artistically and managerial. This is requiring me to re-evaluate my own sense of self-worth and to learn to be a trusting cheerleader and observer at times without feeling guilt or fear. Still in progress…

Contact Info:

Image Credits
EgoPo Classic Theater

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