Aquila Theatre Receives $350,000 NEH Grant for Warrior Chorus Program

The Aquila Theatre Company is proud to announce a two-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities of $350,000 for its Warrior Chorus program.

Warrior Chorus is a major new national humanities program that will train 100 veterans in four regional centers to present scholar-led public programming based on classical literature. Programming performed by veterans will focus on critical social issues including war, conflict, comradeship, home, and family and will include veteran-led readings, discussions and the innovative use of New Media.

Events will occur at 20 locations and will run through April of 2017. The Warrior Chorus will build upon Aquila's extensive experience in implementing award-winning humanities based programming and provide a new model for veteran engagement in public programming.

Partners for Warrior Chorus include: the Society for Classical Studies, the Society of Artistic Veterans, the Center for Ancient Studies at New York University, the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University, the Department of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida and NeoPangea, Inc. The four regional centers will be in New York City, New York; Los Angeles, California; Austin, Texas; and West Palm Beach, Florida.

The Aquila Theatre Company was founded in London in 1991 and is now one of the foremost producers of touring classical theater in the United States. Aquila presents regularly in New York City, visits 50 - 60 cities per year with a program of two plays, community workshops and educational programming, and is known for its public humanities programming. Since 2003, the company has been an active participant in the National Endowment for the Arts Shakespeare in American Communities program and has performed at the White House on two separate occasions. Aquila has also received a Chairman's Special Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its innovative applied theater public programming.

Peter Meineck PhD, Program Director, founded Aquila Theatre in 1991 and has worked extensively in theatre in London and New York. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Classics at New York University where he specializes in ancient performance and the application of the cognitive sciences to the study of the ancient world. He is also Honorary Professor of Classics at the University of Nottingham and has held fellowships at Harvard, Princeton, the University of California and the Onassis Foundation. He has published numerous translations on ancient drama with Hackett and widely on ancient drama. He has produced and/or directed more than 50 professional productions of classic drama and directed the National Endowment for the Humanities YouStories, Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives and Page and Stage public programs.

Desiree Sanchez, Aquila Artistic Director, has directed the past four seasons for the Aquila Theatre Company, including the most recent productions of A Female Philoctetes at BAM's Hillman studio in 2014; Twelfth Night and Fahrenheit 451 (2013/14 touring); The Taming of the Shrew and Cyrano de Bergerac (2012/13 touring); and Herakles (2013 BAM Fisher). Desiree had a 20-year dancing career including working as a principal dancer for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Desiree directed this year's productions of The Tempest and Wuthering Heights.

Erika Pierce, Aquila Arts Administrator, has a Bachelors in Literature from Barnard College with a specialty in Medieval Literature, and has a Masters in Teaching, English Language and Literature, from Manhattanville College. She additionally has a background in the arts and in financial administration.

For more information on Aquila Theatre, visit AquilaTheatre.com or call 914-401-9494. For more information on the NEH grant, click here.