Aquila Theatre presents 'Fahrenheit 451' (CANCELED)

The plot centers around a fireman named Guy Montag, whose job is to burn forbidden books and the houses of those who dare to retain them. In this oppressive society, science, thought, logic and intellectualism are considered public threats. In their place, mindless entertainment transmitted through “seashell” earpieces and giant television “parlor walls” anesthetizes the uncultured and unenlightened populace. Ultimately, Montag flees the city (where everyone else is killed by bombs) and becomes the leader of a small community of survivors dedicated to memorizing books.

The book ends with a quote from the Book of Revelation: “And on either side of the river was there a tree of life, which bare 12 manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Despite its grim portrayal of this cruel, ignorant society, the novel offers a final message of hope in the wisdom that history, books and art can provide.

Aquila’s productions are “beautifully spoken, dramatically revealing and crystalline in effect,” says The New Yorker, and this production of “Fahrenheit 451” will offer audiences the opportunity to examine this timeless commentary on the indispensable and fragile nature of history and learning.

Aquila Theatre Company was founded by Peter Meineck in 1991 with a production of Aeschylus’s “Agamemnon” at the Bridge Lane Theatre in London before touring universities in the United States. The company, along with its founder, moved to the United States in 1994, and in 1998, Aquila Theatre became a U.S.-based nonprofit theatre company.

It went on to build up an extensive international touring circuit while becoming an established part of the New York City theater scene with its productions of “Iliad: Book One” at the Clark Studio at Lincoln Center, followed by long running Off-Broadway productions of “Comedy of Errors” and “Much Ado About Nothing.” Aquila has also had the pleasure of working with the acclaimed Olympia Dukakis and Louis Zorich in its 2004 production of “Agamemnon.”

The company is now one of the foremost producers of classical theater in the United States, visiting 50 to 60 cities per year with a program of two plays, workshops and educational programming, and is under the artistic directorship of Desiree Sanchez since 2012. The company 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 the National Council on the Arts. With its groundbreaking theatre and humanities program The Warrior Chorus, 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.