This year our country will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence here in Philadelphia. At this pivotal moment for our nation’s identity, it is essential for the arts to play a role in framing the Semiquincentennial and in forging a vision for our country’s future. EgoPo is dedicating our entire 2025-26 season to tracing theater’s role in our nation’s history through the lens of Philadelphia playwrights.

Philly has long been at the epicenter of theatrical innovation, challenging the status quo and instigating some of our country’s most impactful social movements. This city was the birthplace of American theater and home to the first play produced by an American playwright. Over the years, Philly theater helped inspire the anti-monarchy sentiment of the mid-1700’s, the abolitionist movement of the 1800’s, the vision for a new American middle-class in the early 1900’s, the labor movement of the 1930’s, the Black Arts Movement of the 1960’s, the fight for Queer acceptance in the 1980’s, and continues to this day as a force for envisioning a just and equitable future for all Americans.

As one of the oldest forms of public art, theater has the power to inspire change and hold us to our founding ideals. This season we honor six groundbreaking Philadelphia playwrights, spanning over 250 years of American history, who helped create our national identity as a beacon of liberty and freedom, and one playwright who is carrying this legacy forward. These theater-makers are models of American courage and resilience.

Our country is an ever-evolving narrative. Sometimes we can lose ourselves in that story and must revisit our birth to remember who we are, rededicate ourselves to our founding ideals, and re-envision a new path forward. Now is that time.

I remember the Bicentennial celebrations and the childhood pride I felt in the American experiment and the democratic ideals we all recited in the school room: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As a 9-year-old watching the fireworks over the Statue of Liberty, I imagined myself 50 years later watching the country’s next anniversary with my own child, brimming with excitement over the American utopia my child would get to experience. This year my 10-year-old daughter will watch the fireworks with a different sense of our country’s future…

We must not stop striving to fulfill our founders’ vision for America. Though the word ‘patriotism’ carries new weight today, the tradition of advocating for our ideals, even when it means holding those in power accountable, is no less noble than it was at our country’s founding. Fighting for an America that provides equal opportunities for all its residents IS patriotism at its very best.

This year, Philadelphia will be at the center of the national celebrations with tourism at an alltime high. With the spotlight on, let’s honor our city’s historic and artistic role in defining, challenging, and reimagining our county’s vision. Let’s take the lead in ensuring that the Semiquincentennial is a celebration for ALL Americans. Our history is not a singular narrative; it is an infinitely complex quilt made of up interwoven threads, each with its own story. Only when all are invited to the table can we fulfill our nation’s promise. Hopefully 50 years from now, my daughter can look up at the fireworks once again, feel pride in this remarkable country, and dream of a future without limits.

Lane Savadove, EgoPo Artistic Director

Peter Schmitz, Season Curator