Wortham Center Presents
“A More Perfect Union”: Workshop with Aquila Theatre
February 5, 2022 at 11 a.m.
Tina McGuire Theatre
“A more perfect union” — A workshop on unity.
This participatory workshop developed by Aquila’s artistic director Desiree Sanchez and taught by the members of the company explores the ancient Greek concept of Omonoia or “unity,” where the English term harmony is derived.
This is a physical movement-based workshop based on a short reading of an ancient Greek text, such as Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, Aeschylus’ Suppliant Women, or Sophocles’ Antigone. Participants will join a group warm up and then explore these themes with a series of enjoyable interactive, exercises on relationality, kinesthetic empathy, embodiment and non-verbal communication. These are techniques designed to highlight our ability to cooperate and create together without diminishing what makes each person unique.
This workshop will also include mask work, using Aquila’s specially designed Greek drama masks, made by David Knezz and based on the published research of Peter Meineck.
Admission: $15. Space is limited to 30 participants; first come, first served. Approx. one hour. Sign up by emailing boxoffice@worthamarts.org or by calling 828-257-4530.
More about “A More Perfect Union” Workshop
As the philosopher and program consultant Paul Woodruff has written “without harmony, there is no democracy. Without harmony, the people have no common interest. What good could ‘government FOR the people’ mean, if the people are so badly divided that there is nothing that they want together?” Omonoia is an ancient idea that the state is a collection of peoples of different types that are merged into one collective democratic citizen body, what we might call today diversity or plurality. This workshop puts these concepts into practice.
The “A More Perfect Union” workshop is offered as part of Aquila’s National Endowment for the Humanities supported American Democracy program, which explores the origins and ideas of democracy from the ancient Greeks to America today.
