Aquila Theater Company

New York, New York

The Aquila Theatre Company is a company of British and American artists dedicated to developing innovative productions of classical drama, particularly Greek and Shakespeare. Since 1991, Aquila has toured extensively throughout the United States from September to April to an average of 65 cities per year with a repertory of two plays and an extensive national education program. Aquila is now based in New York City and is a major part of New York's theatrical landscape producing a regular season of plays. Aquila also partners with major American theaters in the presentation of its work and collaborates with notable artists from other disciplines including dance, music, and opera. The Aquila Theatre for Young Audiences Company tours special educational productions of Shakespeare to New York City area schools in conjunction with the Lincoln Center Institute. Aquila runs a Shakespeare after school education program at the Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem, supported by the Charles Hayden Foundation. Aquila’s acclaimed education program will also be presented alongside our National Touring program, developing new audiences for exciting, excellent, and innovative classical drama. Aquila’s mission is to bring innovative, challenging and high quality classical drama to the widest possible audience. They stage bold and relevant works that empower audiences, young and old alike, to appreciate classical plays as live, visceral, and above all entertaining theater. Aquila invigorates the art form, educates and builds audiences, and makes Shakespeare and classical drama accessible and relevant to Americans today.

In 2007-08, Aquila will present a new production of Julius Caesar, reaching approximately 600 schools and 41,000 students and teachers all across the United States. This will include Guided Tours and full performances for middle- and high-school students, as well as a full complement of workshops and masterclasses. The Guided Tours are the backbone of Aquila’s national education program. Organized in conjunction with local arts and education presenters, Guided Tours are special, one-hour school performances presented with the full production values by the entire acting company, featuring selected scenes from the full production woven together with clear narration, and followed by a question and answer session. Communities also have the option of offering their students a full production during school hours. Aquila also works with local education presenters to organize meet and greets with the actors and backstage tours for interested schools. In addition, Aquila presents a diverse program of workshops and masterclasses across the nation. Workshops are fully participatory, encouraging students to explore the theatricality of classical drama and experience these plays as exciting and relevant performances. Workshops are taught to an increasingly diverse student audience in schools, community centers, and juvenile detention centers, from Alaska to rural Virginia to inner city Los Angeles. In addition, and now in its 6th season, Aquila Young Audiences Company will work in conjunction with The Lincoln Center Institute to present special one-hour educational performances of Romeo and Juliet.  The program is presented in two parts: productions at Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theatre (giving students the experience of going to the theater, often for the first time), and on-site productions at inner city middle- and high-schools in New York City and the Tri-state area.

http://www.aquilatheatre.com/