LEWISTON — On Friday, Sept. 28, the Lewiston Public Library, L/A Arts and Bates College will host a staged reading by the Aquila Theatre Company focusing on Greek drama.
The reading is part of “Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives: Poetry-Drama-Dialogue,” a major national humanities program touring 100 public libraries and art centers across America.
Five professional actors will present a 90-minute program with a repertoire of scenes from Greek drama such as Homer’s “Odyssey,” Sophocles’ “Ajax,” Euripides’ “Herakles” and Aeschylus’ “Agamemnon.”
The goal is 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 free presentation will be at 7:30 p.m. in Callahan Hall at the library.
Besides the Aquila Theatre Company, the collaborative effort involves the Urban Libraries Council, American Philological Association, Center for Ancient Studies at New York University and Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C.
“A play becomes ‘classical’ because we recognize after a time that it transcends the culture it was created for. It has the power still to provoke that central question of what it means to be human,” said program director Peter Meineck, also Aquila Theatre artistic director and clinical associate professor of classics at New York University.
There will be an introduction, performed readings, a post-show discussion and a town hall-style meeting, including audience comments. Before the show, an “Ancient Greeks /Modern Lives” national program scholar will speak about the program and how it relates to the show. The scholar will then facilitate a town hall-style discussion encouraging audience participation.
The performance and workshop are in conjunction with The National Endowment for the Humanities Project in which Aquila Theatre will conduct a workshop with veterans in the community on staging classical plays.
For more information regarding the scheduling of a monthly reading group and a public lecture with a local scholar, visit www.ancientgreeksmodernlives.org.
The Aquila Theatre Company, based in New York, was founded by Meineck with the intent of bringing the works of Shakespeare and ancient Greek playwrights and adaptations of both these and new American classics to the masses.
Aquila has won acclaim worldwide and regularly appears at international festivals with performances in places as diverse as Carnegie Hall, the Ancient Stadium at Delphi, the Los Angeles Cathedral Plaza and the White House.
The presentation is in conjunction with Art Walk Lewiston Auburn. For more informatiion, call 782-7228 or www.laarts.org.
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