Aquila Theatre Returns to New York for One Week Only 4/20-23

Aquila Theatre (Peter Meineck, Artistic Director) is proud to announce their only NY appearances this season: four performances at NYU's Skirball Center (566 Laguardia Place). On Wednesday, April 20 at 8PM and Thursday, April 21 at 8PM, Aquila will present Luigi Pirandello's classic Six Characters In Search of An Author, directed by Desiree Sanchez with masks made by David Knezz: and on Friday, April 22 at 8PM and Saturday April 23 at 8PM, they will present one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Kenn Sabberton. Featured in both productions are Sarah Amankwah (Edinburgh Fesitival, UK National Theatre), Claire Cordier (Cheek by Jowl, Edinburgh Festival), Howard Crossley (Royal Shakespeare Company, ‘Midsummer' on Broadway), Andrew French (Royal National Theatre, Almeida Theatre), Emily Jordan (Casualty on BBC), Danny Seldon (Royal Shakespeare Company) and Owen Young (The Globe).

Nobel Laureate Luigi Pirandello's most famous drama, Six Characters in Search of an Author dares to ask fundamental questions about the very nature of art and entertainment, blurring the line between reality and artifice. The original audience in Rome erupted in cries of "manicomio!" (Madhouse!) during the first performance. Yet Six Characterswent on to be considered a groundbreaking work and one of the most important plays of the twentieth century. Charles Spencer writing recently for the London Telegraph described the work as "combining intellect with raw emotion and remaining highly influential". Aquila Theatre brings a top quality ensemble of International Artists to the stage for this historic play.

Six Characters is performed in mask, utilizing the mask acting technique developed by Peter Meineck, Aquila's artistic director. Meineck's research examines how the tragic mask operated in performance from the perspective of the spectator and its relationship to the surrounding environment, taking into consideration new research coming from the field of neuroscience, particularly the studies concerning the operation of mirror neurons in cognitive function and their relationship to imitation, empathy, spatial awareness, face recognition and vision. Please visit the following link to the Athens Dialogues E-Journal to read "The Neuroscience of the Tragic Mask" by Peter Meineck.http://athensdialogues.chs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/WebObjects/athensdialogues.woa/wa/dist?dis=82

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a timeless comedy that has delighted audiences for centuries, and Aquila's imaginative interpretation renews the magic of Shakespeare's plot. Set against a classical Athenian backdrop, A Midsummer Night's Dream deals with the universal theme of love, and its attendant complications: passion, lust, frustration, depression, confusion, and, of course, marriage. Aquila weaves a web of theatrical magic that will take an audience to the heart of an enchanted forest, the injustice of the Athenian court, and the political strife of the fairy kingdom. The plot focuses on the trials and experiences of two sets of lovers, the Fairy King and Queen and their servants, and a group of rude mechanicals attempting to stage a production of "Pyramus and Thisbe" for the wedding of the Duke of Athens. At the heart of the story is the Fairy King's servant, the impish Puck, whose magic creates an endless supply of mirth, mistaken identity, and inappropriate, if not absolutely ludicrous passions. Aquila's comedic mastery, physical ensemble techniques, and proven successes with their critically acclaimed productions of Shakespeare promise that this will be a Dream you won't soon forget.

Tickets are $45, visit www.aquilatheatre.com or www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu or call 212/352-3101 or toll-free 866/811-4111. You may also get tickets in person at the Skirball Center box office, located in the lobby at 566 LaGuardia Place (at Washington Square South), Tuesday through Saturday from 12 Noon to 6:00pm and two hours before show time. For more information, visit www.aquilatheatre.com.

Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello and translated by Carl R. Mueller, was directed and designed by Desiree Sanchez, with masks made by David Knezz, and lighting design by Kevin Shaw. Production Manager, Nate Terracio; Company Technical Director, Kevin Shaw; and Assistant Company Stage Manager Chantel King complete the production team. This production is performed with permission from Smith and Kraus, Inc.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare, was directed by Kenn Sabberton with production design by Peter Meineck & Kenn Sabberton and lighting design by Peter Meineck & Kevin Shaw. Production Manager, Nate Terracio; Company Technical Director, Kevin Shaw; Costumiers, Heidi Buckingham & Louise Handford; and Assistant Company Stage Manager Chantel King complete the production team.

Peter Meineck founded Aquila in 1991 and has directed and/or produced over 50 productions in NY, London and internationally in venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall, the ancient Stadium at Delphi, Lincoln Center and the White House, including Shakespeare's As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, King Lear, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest; Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest;Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrranus and Ajax; Aeschylus' Agamemnon; and Aristophanes' Wasps, Clouds, Frogs and Birds. Recent directorial projects include Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, Homer's The Iliad: Book One and Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. He has also written several literary adaptations for the stage including Catch-22, The Man Who Would Be King, Canterbury Tales and The Invisible Man. Peter has published several volumes of translations of Greek plays including Aeschylus' Oresteia which won the Lewis Galantiere Award for Literary Translation from the American Translators Association; Sophocles' Theban Plays (with Paul Woodruff), Philoctetes and Ajax; and Aristophanes' Clouds, Wasps & Birds. He is a regular contributor to Arion: A Journal of Humanities and The Classics, and is director of the National Endowment for the Humanities/Aquila Theatre Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives program. He has held teaching posts at Princeton and USC, was a fellow at the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, and is currently Clinical Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Studies at New York University. Peter is currently working on a book on the visual dimension of ancient drama.

Aquila Theatre's mission is to make classical works accessible to the greatest number. A play becomes ‘classical' because we recognize that after a time it transcends the original culture it was created for. It retains the power to provoke the central question of what it means to be human. As a company dedicated to the classics, we feel a responsibility to acknowledge and explore newfound classical works. Founded in London in 1991 by Peter Meineck, Aquila is now based in New York City. Aquila is a major part of New York's theatrical landscape, producing a regular season of plays. Last season, Aquila produced Ibsen's An Enemy of the People and Shakespeare's As You Like It at the NYU Skirball Center. Aquila is the also foremost producer of touring classical theatre in the United States, visiting 60-70 American cities per year. Aquila's 2009/'10 season of Shakespeare's As You Like It and Ibsen's An Enemy of the People began with The Festival of the Aegean on Syros, Greece and the Shakespeare Festival/LA. The 2011/'12 season will see Shakespeare's Macbeth and Wildes's The Importance of Being Earnest. Aquila is dedicated to theatre arts education and produces four major initiatives:Workshop America, a nationwide program that provides an opportunity for people to share in the art of Aquila; Theatre Breakthrough, which brings America's schools to the stage; and Shakespeare Leaders, an after-school program that enables inner-city students to perform the classics. Last season, at Frederick Douglas Academy in Harlem, NYShakespeare Leaders students performed Much Ado About Nothing. Aquila has begun a new initiative, Ancient Greeks / Modern Lives: Poetry, Drama, Dialogue which aims to inspire people to come together to read, see, and think about classical literature and how it continues to influence and invigorate American cultural life.

The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at NYU is the premier venue for the presentation of cultural and performing arts events for NYU and lower Manhattan. The programs of the Skirball Center reflect NYU's mission as an international center of scholarship, defined by excellence and innovation and shaped by an intellectually rich and diverse environment. Since 2003, the 860-seat Center has provided a unique venue for enhancing a sense of community while continuing the Greenwich Village traditions of creativity and artistic discovery with a broad range of compelling performance events at affordable ticket prices. Led by Executive Producer Jay Oliva (President Emeritus, NYU) and Director Michael Harrington, a natural and vital aspect of the Center's mission is to build young adult audiences for the future of live performance. www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu.