Festival of the Aegean - Peter Meineck & Aquila Theatre

Peter Meineck has directed and/or produced over 40 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 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: Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, Julius Caesar, and Romeo and Juliet, and Homer's The Iliad. 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) and Philoctetes and Ajax and Aristophanes' Clouds, Wasps & Birds. He is a regular contributor to Arion, a journal on The Classics and the Humanities, and is director of the National Endowment for the Humanities/Aquila Theatre Page and Stage program. Mr. Meineck is a faculty member at the Classics Department and the Center for Ancient Studies at New York University.

Aquila Theatre was founded in London in 1991 by Peter Meineck and is now based in New York City. Combining the techniques of British and American theater and following a philosophy of theatrical utilitarianism, Aquila believes that "the greatest works should be seen by the greatest number." With precision and unity of ensemble, Aquila articulates the human essence inherent in classical drama.

Aquila is the foremost producer of touring classical theatre in the United States, visiting 60-70 American cities per year. Aquila's 08/09 tour consisted of: Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors and Homer's Iliad: Book One. Aquila is also a major part of New York's theatrical landscape, producing a regular season of plays. Their recent New York season included Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Homer's Iliad: Book One off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

In addition to their American tours, Aquila has presented work internationally at Shakespeare Festivals in Neuss, Germany; Gyula, Hungary; and Gdansk, Poland in addition to the Festival of the Agean in Syros, Greece and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Aquila partners with major American theaters in the presentation of its work, and collaborates with notable artists from other disciplines including dance, music, and opera. In recent seasons, Aquila collaborated with choreographer Doug Varone on its New York production of The Invisible Man, with MidAmerica Productions on Cherubini's opera MEDEE at Carnegie Hall, and performed Much Ado About Nothing at the White House.

As You Like It
By William Shakespeare

"All the world's a stage..." in As You Like It, one of Shakespeare's greatest comedies. Join Aquila Theatre in the Forest of Arden where love comes in all shapes, sizes, and disguises.

As You Like It tells the story of power hungry men exiling their brothers, girls playing guys, and finding love in unexpected places. Frederick exiles his brother, Duke Senior, so he can reign over a French Duchy. Simultaneously, Orlando, who has been forced from his own town by a bloodthirsty brother, finds himself in the Forest of Arden. Dressed as men, Rosalind and her best friend and cousin, Celia, run from Frederick's regime and seek shelter in the forest where they are fated to find the exiled Orlando and Duke Senior. Shakespeare's comic brilliance is wrapped in gender-confused, unrequited love.

Aquila infuses As You Like It with their unique blend of fun and entertaining theatricality. The production is both faithful to Shakespeare and relevant and accessible to a modern audience. Aquila's previous Shakespearean comedies have been described as "Gleefully engaging ... almost unbearable fun ... directed with inspiration and a beautiful use of physical humor" by The New York Times and "Beautifully spoken, dramatically revealing and crystalline in effect" by The New Yorker.