FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                            PRESS CONTACT: (213) 228-7555

“From Homer to Hip Hop: Reinventing the Classics” features
acting workshop, performance of “The Iliad” and
post-show discussion at Central Library, Saturday, March 14

Event Part of the Nationwide Program
“Page and Stage: The Power of the Iliad Today”

Contemporary Trojan warriors spring to life at the Los Angeles Public Library as part of New York’s Aquila Theatre company’s free, live performance of Homer’s classic, Iliad: Book One, at the Central Library, 630 W. Fifth Street, downtown on Saturday, March 14. An acting workshop will be held in Meeting Room A at 12:30 p.m., followed by the performance of Homer’s Iliad: Book One at 2:30 p.m. with a post-performance discussion. All three programs are free and open to the public. Reservations are required for the performance and acting workshop and are available at (213) 228-7226.

In a departure from the usual Trojan warrior attire, Aquila's stage version of
Homer’s Iliad: Book One features soldiers with modern, WWII era uniforms. The play’s look was inspired by a book cover used for classics scholar Stanley Lombardo's translation of the Iliad. That book cover features a photograph of the D-day landings titled "Into the Jaws of Death." In the play, a disparate group of soldiers and refugees take shelter from a savage war and find solace and humanity in Homer's epic tale.

When Aquila Theatre’s production of the Iliad premiered at New York City’s Lincoln Center in 2000, it was hailed by the New York Times as “a performance of staggering power…stunning, stirring, and memorable theatrical experience.”

Prior to the performance, the library will host an acting workshop at 12:30 p.m. in Meeting Room A. The workshop is open to the public and will examine how a classical performance text develops from the page to the stage. Workshop participants will be introduced to methods of classical acting.

Following the performance of Homer’s Iliad: Book One, Dorota Dutsch, associate professor of Classics at University of California, Santa Barbara, will moderate a discussion.

The performance is part of a partnership between the Los Angeles Public Library and New York City’s acclaimed Aquila Theatre to promote the new program series, Page and Stage, which is based around Homer’s Iliad.

Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Page and
Stage series is designed to place live theatrical events, reading groups, and lectures in public libraries to inspire people to come together and read, see and discuss classical literature and how it continues to influence and invigorate American cultural life.

In addition to being funded by the NEH, Page and Stage involves New York’s acclaimed Aquila Theatre, the American Philological Association which represents Classics professors in the US, the Urban Libraries Council and New York University’s Center for Ancient Studies.

All Page and Stage programs are free and open to the public. Reservations
are required for the performance and acting workshop. To make reservations,
please call (213) 228-7226. For information about the Page and Stage program series, please contact Dan Dupill at (213) 228-7241.

More information about the program series is also available on the Library’s
Web site, http://www.lapl.org/events/Iliad.pdf, and you can visit the official Page and Stage site, http://pageandstage.org/participating-libraries/los-angeles-public-library/.

The Los Angeles Public Library serves the largest urban population of any
library in the country. Its Central Library, 71 branch libraries, six million books and
state-of-the-art technology provide everyone with free and easy access to
information and the opportunity for life-long learning. For further information visit
the Library’s Web site at www.lapl.org.