Aquila Theatre is one of the foremost producers of classical theatre in the U.S. and has been bringing audiences world-class actors, captivating designs, innovative adaptations, and impactful direction since 1991. Aquila Theatre also provides extensive educational offerings and is an award-winning leader in the field of public arts and humanities programming. Aquila Theatre's mission is to create innovative interpretations of the classics for today’s audiences. By diversifying the classics and expanding the canon, Aquila seeks to enhance the plurality of our perspectives.

Aquila regularly produces in New York, most recently at The Brooklyn Academy of Music, GK Arts in DUMBO, and ART/NY. The company also visits 50–60 American cities per year with a program of two plays, workshops, and educational programming, and is under the Artistic Directorship of Desiree Sanchez. Aquila has been awarded numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Humanities, from which it received a Chairman's Special Award, the New York State Councils for the Arts and Humanities, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Aquila has performed at the White House under the Bush and Obama administrations and has performed for the U.S. Supreme Court and for the National Council on the Arts. Aquila was also recently invited by Lin-Manuel Miranda to perform at the U.S. Capitol in support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, for its groundbreaking theatre and humanities program: The Warrior Chorus.

PRODUCTIONS IN NEW YORK CITY: Aquila is a major part of New York's theatrical landscape, producing a regular season of plays. Aquila recently produced: The Trojan War: Our Warrior Chorus, based on the writings of Homer, Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, and reimagined through the experiences of modern day military veterans at Brooklyn Academy of Music; Romeo and Juliet, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and Philoctetes at GK ArtsCenter in Brooklyn; a staged workshop production of A Female Philoctetes at BAM Fisher’s Hillman Studio as part of our YouStories program; Euripides’ Herakles at BAM; Shakespeare’s Macbeth at the GYM at Judson; Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, Shakespeare’s As You Like It, and Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University; Joseph Heller’s Catch-22; and Homer’s The Iliad: Book One Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

A MAJOR ANNUAL NATIONAL TOUR: Aquila is the foremost producer of touring classical theatre in the U.S. visiting 50-60 American cities per year. Recent past touring seasons include: George Orwell’s 1984 and Homer’s Odyssey (2019/2020) Shelley’s Frankenstein and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2018/19); Hamlet and Austen’s Sense & Sensibility (2017/18); Much Ado About Nothing and Murder on the Nile, as well as The Trojan War: Our Warrior Chorus (2016/17); Romeo and Juliet and Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (2015/16); The Tempest and Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (2014/15); Twelfth Night and Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (2013/14); Taming of the Shrew and Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac (2012/13); Macbeth and Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (2011/12); A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author (2010/11); As You Like It and Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (2009/10).

INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCES: Aquila has appeared in numerous festivals and at venues around the world including performances in London, Holland, Germany, Greece, Scotland, Canada, Bermuda, and at the Festival of the Aegean in Syros, Greece and the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation in Athens. Most recently Aquila performed A Female Philoctetes in Athens, Greece and Shakespeare’s The Tempest at New York University’s campus, and La Pietra, in Florence, Italy as part of their summer event series.

EDUCATION PROGRAMS: Aquila is dedicated to theatre arts education and produces three 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 Hear Our Call!, a drama training program for NY-based teens from immigrant, refugee, asylee, and underserved families.

WARRIOR CHORUS: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: Staged readings, unity workshops, and a series of discussions around the meaning and future of democracy. The Warrior Chorus is a national initiative that trains veterans to present innovative public programs based on ancient literature, presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities. It will create national discussions around democracy led by the people who fight for it.

AQUILA STAFF

Executive Artistic Director: Desiree Sanchez
Founding Director: Peter Meineck
Company Management: Sophie Solomon
Accountant: Insight Ledger
Represented by OPUS 3 Artists