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Library partnership with theater group brings free performance, workshop, more

Libraries part of 'Page and Stage' national program

The Newport News Public Library System is partnering with the Aquila Theatre of New York to host a new free program series, "Page and Stage: The Power of the Iliad Today."

Actors from the Aquila Theatre of New York present Homer’s “Iliad: Book One.” Actors from left are Richard Sheridan Willis, Natasha Piletich, John Lavelle, Desiree Sanchez and Nathan Flower.

The Newport News Public Library System is partnering with the Aquila Theatre of New York to host a new free program series. The series, "Page and Stage: The Power of the Iliad Today," is designed 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 program kicks off with a free performance and an acting workshop. Aquila Theatre's innovative production of Homer's "Iliad: Book One" will be performed live at 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the Ella Fitzgerald Theater of the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center, 2410 Wickham Ave., across the street from Pearl Bailey Library. The performance is followed by a discussion with local a scholar, Professor Vassiliki (Lily) Panoussi from the College of William and Mary. It is free and open to the public, and no registration is required.

This production premiered at Lincoln Center in New York and was hailed by the New York Times as "a performance of staggering power…stunning, stirring, and memorable theatrical experience."

In addition, actors from Aquila Theatre will present a free Classical Theatre Workshop for teens and adults, 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center. Registration is required for the workshop and may be completed online at www.nngov.com/library/custom/onlineregor by calling Pearl Bailey Library at 757-247-8677.

Other upcoming free events include a multi-session reading group and a public lecture by the local expert scholar.

The Newport News Public Library System is one of 16 libraries in seven states nationwide receiving grants to host "Page and Stage," a ground breaking in-depth partnership between the library and the theatre sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The partnership involves New York's acclaimed Aquila Theatre; the American Philological Association, which represents classics professors in the United States; the Urban Libraries Council; and New York University's Center for Ancient Studies.

Peter Meineck, artistic director of Aquila Theatre and clinical assistant professor of classics at New York University, is directing the program. "The themes that articulated the human condition in ancient drama were transmitted and interpreted by later poetry and literature. 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," Meineck said.

The schedule for the reading group and a public lecture soon will be available at www.nngov.com/library or www.pageandstage.org or calling 757-926-1350.

More on the Aquila Theatre and the performance of the “Iliad: Book One”

Aquila Theatre's mission is to bring the greatest theatrical works to the greatest number. By presenting a regular season of plays in New York, at international festivals, and touring to about 70 American towns and cities a year, Aquila provides access to excellent theater for people in under-served rural and inner city communities.

Aquila's groundbreaking production of the "Iliad: Book One" premiered at Lincoln Center, New York in 2000 and has been hailed by the New York Times as "a performance of staggering power…stunning, stirring, and memorable theatrical experience." Aquila's production is inspired by the cover of Stanley Lombardo's translation, which is a photograph of the D-day landings, titled, "Into the Jaws of Death." A disparate group of soldiers and refugees take refuge from a savage war and find solace and humanity in Homer's epic tale. Nine years after the start of the Trojan War, the Greeks are still unable to defeat their enemy. Agamemnon, the commander clashes with the best warrior, Achilles over the division of war-prizes and is forced to give back the girl Chryseis to her father after Apollo sends a terrible plague. Agamemnon claims Achilles' war-prize Briseis to save face and the furious Achilles withdraws from the fighting and asks the Gods to turn the war against the Greeks.

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