History of Aurora Theatre Company

The founders of Aurora Theatre Company came together around the development and production of a new play: Dorothy Bryant's Dear Master. Following the success of that production, their desire was to continue to produce plays "about something important; ideas mediated by language and people, which are assisted by other elements like sets, lights and costumes," not dominated by them.

A defining characteristic of Aurora Theatre Company is its intimate performance space and its emphasis on subtlety, shadings of feeling and ensemble responsiveness. Aurora Theatre Company is often referred to as “chamber theatre.” In 19 years of operation, it has won 20 awards from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle in the areas of acting, directing, ensemble and costume work. Aurora Theatre Company received the coveted $25,000 Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation award in 2000 for new play production and the San Francisco Weekly named Aurora Theatre Company Outstanding Bay Area Theatre Company.

Aurora Theatre Company offers acting opportunities to talented Bay Area performers. We operate under a Tier 4 BAT contract with Actor’s Equity Association. Currently, more than one-third of the budget is allocated to acting salaries and Aurora Theatre Company has been commended for the high percentage of equity actors in its productions.

In addition to a five-play performance season, Aurora Theatre Company conducts a number of other related activities including Free Preview Performances for low-income seniors and students. $20 rush , the Education Project in collaboration with Bay Area public schools, the Family Theatre Initiative, Aurora Script Club and the New Play Development Project.

Aurora Theatre Company is uniquely positioned in downtown Berkeley is surrounded by a diverse and active urban community. Audiences consist of theatregoers from the East Bay and San Francisco, and is quickly expanding in the Greater Bay Area.

 

Production History

2009-2010
Awake and Sing! - Clifford Odets
Fat Pig - Neil LaBute
The Coverlettes Cover Christmas
The First Grade - Joel Drake Johnson (world premiere)
Global Age Project 2010 (world premiere workshops)
John Gabriel Borkman - Henrik Ibsen/David Eldridge
Speech & Debate - Stephen Karam (bay area premiere)

2008-2009
The Best Man - Gore Vidal
The Devil's Disciple - George Bernard Shaw
The Coverlettes Cover Christmas (world premiere)
Betrayed - George Packer (west coast premiere)
Global Age Project 2009 (world premiere workshops)
Miss Julie - August Strindberg/Helen Cooper
Jack Goes Boating - Bob Glaudini (bay area premiere)

2007-2008
Hysteria - Terry Johnson
SEX - Mae West
Satellites - Diana Son (west coast premiere)
Global Age Project 2008 (world premiere workshops)
The Trojan Women - Ellen McLaughlin/Euripides (professional world premiere)
The Busy World is Hushed - Keith Bunin (west coast premiere)

2006-2007
Salome - Oscar Wilde
Ice Glen - Joan Ackermann (west coast premiere)
A Little Cole in Your Stocking - starring Meg Mackay and Billy Philadelphia
The Birthday Party - Harold Pinter
Private Jokes, Public Places - Oren Safdie
Global Age Project 2007 (world premiere workshops)
Bosoms and Neglect - John Guare

2005-2006
The Price - Arthur Miller
Marius - Marcel Pagnol, translated by Zack Rogow (world premiere translation)
A Little Cole in Your Stocking - starring Meg Mackay and Larry Dunlap
The Master Builder - Henrik Ibsen, translated by Paul Walsh (world premiere translation)
Small Tragedy - Craig Lucas (west coast premiere)
Global Age Project 2006 (world premiere workshops)
Permanent Collection - Thomas Gibbons

2004-2005
The Persians - Aeschylus, new adaptation by Ellen McLaughlin (west coast premiere)
Emma - Michael Fry, from the novel by Jane Austen (west coast premiere)
Dublin Carol - Conor McPherson
Blue/Orange - Joe Penhall
The Thousandth Night - Carol Wolf
The Play of Daniel - Traditional

2003-2004
The Old Neighborhood - David Mamet
Lobby Hero - Kenneth Lonergan
The Man of Destiny - George Bernard Shaw
Antigone Falun Gong - Cherylene Lee (world premiere)
Betrayal - Harold Pinter
The Play of Daniel - Traditional

2002-2003
The Shape of Things - Neil LaBute
Alarms and Excursions - Michael Frayn (west coast premiere)
The Chairs - Eugene Ionesco, translated by Jim Lewis
Partition - Ira Hauptman (world premiere)
Thérèse Raquin - Emile Zola, translated by Pip Broughton

2001-2002
Saint Joan - George Bernard Shaw
The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek - Naomi Wallace
Knock Knock - Jules Feiffer
The Entertainer - John Osborne
Benefactors - Michael Frayn

2000-2001
The Philanderer - George Bernard Shaw
The Weir - Conor McPherson
Tough! - George F. Walker
Hedda Gabler - Henrik Ibsen (adapt. Jon Robin Baitz)
A Life in the Theatre - David Mamet

1999-2000
The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams
Transcendental Wild Oats - LeClanche DuRand (world premiere)
The Comedy of Errors - William Shakespeare
The Homecoming - Harold Pinter
Split - Mayo Simon (world premiere)

1998-1999
Death Defying Acts - Mamet, May, Allen (west coast premiere)
The Belle of Amherst - William Luce
A Flea in Her Ear - Georges Feydeau
The Second Man - S.N. Behrman
The Dance of Death - August Strindberg

1997-1998
Widowers' Houses - George Bernard Shaw
Dear Master - Dorothy Bryant
Nora - Ingmar Bergman (Henrik Ibsen)
Abigail's Party - Mike Leigh (American premiere)
Posing for Gauguin - Dorothy Bryant (world premiere)

1996-1997
Seascape - Edward Albee
The Aspern Papers - Michael Redgrave (Henry James)
Gunplay - Frank Higgins (west coast premiere)
The Mystery of Irma Vep - Charles Ludlam

1995-1996
La Castrata - Eugene Scribe (trans. Norman R. Shapiro)
The Panel - Dorothy Bryant (world premiere)
A Kind of Alaska - Harold Pinter
Intimate Exchanges - Alan Ayckbourne

1994-1995
Mrs. Warren's Profession - George Bernard Shaw
Bailegangaire - Tom Murphy
A Place With the Pigs - Athol Fugard
Rocket to the Moon - Clifford Odets

1993-1994
Holiday Memories - Truman Capote
No Man's Land - Harold Pinter
Ghosts - Henrik Ibsen
How He Lied to Her Husband - George Bernard Shaw
Box & Cox - John Maddison Morton

1992-1993
Candida - George Bernard Shaw
Mea Culpa, Chuck Connors - Charles Dean
The Gin Game - D.L. Colburn

1991-1992
Dear Master - Dorothy Bryant (world premiere)