EgoPo Classic Theater Presents One-Woman A DOLL'S HOUSE, Now thru 9/22

EgoPo Classic Theater makes their return to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival for the first time since their Barrymore Nominated Marat/Sade, with their world premiere adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic A Doll's House, boldly reinvented by director Brenna Geffers and starring fourteen-year-old Barrymore-nominated actress Mackenzie Maula.

A Doll's House is the opening production of EgoPo's season long Henrik Ibsen Festival and will be staged at the Playground at the Adrienne Theater. Previews begin September 4th with Press Opening on September 6th; the show will run three weeks closing on September 22nd.

EgoPo carries on their tradition of producing yearlong festival seasons, this year taking on the great playwright, Henrik Ibsen. Considered the father of modern drama, Ibsen, was the first playwright to delve deeply into psychology, focusing much of his work on spiritual longing. One of the first to explore both realism and surrealism, Ibsen radically stripped the facade off our personal lives to reveal the secret reality of what happens behind closed doors. Because of his groundbreaking psychological depth, Ibsen remains the most performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Over the course of the 2013-14 Ibsen Festival, EgoPo will give you fresh, dynamic versions of Ibsen's classics, crafting his work to feel as fully relevant and as deeply moving as they were in their own time.

EgoPo's Ibsen Festival begins in the 2013 FringeArts Festival with the world premier version of A Doll's House like you've never seen it before: as a one-"woman" show. Armed with an odd collection of toys and magazine clippings, a 14 year old actress, brings Ibsen's feminist masterpiece to life in the context of a modern day girl on the precipice of adulthood. As she prepares to slam the door on childhood, we intimately examine the definitions and ideals of feminine identity with which this young woman has been armed.

A Doll's House premiered in 1879, shocking audiences with its powerful examination of feminine identity. When Ibsen's heroine walks out on her husband and children in search of self-knowledge, "the door slam heard around the world" ushered in a new discussion about gender roles and sexual identity.

EgoPo's topical exploration of this feminist classic re-awakens the gender politics debate for today's audience, focusing on a young girls' experience of being bombarded with images of the idealized female body and female role model.

The play dares to question: how far has the modern American woman really come in a male-dominated society? Are women still just pretty toys? Is the most valued characteristic of a woman still her level of attractiveness to the male gaze? Have we ever really the Doll's House?

Mackenzie Maula, the 14-year old star of this one "woman" adaptation, is already a Barrymore nominated actress and a veteran of the stage having performed with the Walnut Street Theater as well as a variety of theaters in the Bucks County and Delaware Water Gap area. Mackenzie will take on Ibsen's masterpiece, using her doll house to role-play each of the characters as she imagines life as an adult. Through Vogue Magazines, Legos, Barbie's, and more, Nora will come to life as she prepares to walk through a new doorway: into adulthood.

EgoPo Classic Theater's A Doll's House runs tonight, September 4th through September 22nd at the Playground Space at the Adrienne Theater. Tickets: $20.00 - $25.00 For full show times and ticket information, call 267-273-1414 or visit www.egopo.org.

CAST/CREATIVE TEAM:

Nora: Mackenzie Maula
Direction & Adaptation: Brenna Geffers
Costume Design: Robin Shane
Lighting Design: Matt Sharp
Stage Management: Wesley Reid

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