Shows & Events

GEORGE ORWELL (Novelist) was an English novelist, essayist, and critic most famous now for his novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Born Eric Arthur Blair in British-occupied India in 1903, Orwell was educated in England and spent time as a policeman in Burma before returning to England to begin his writing career as an occasional journalist and the publication of some of his lesser-known novels. In the late 1930s, Orwell fought and was wounded in the Spanish Civil War, which he recounted in his Homage to Catalonia (1938).  During the Second World War, his growing reputation as an essayist and journalist allowed him to serve as a correspondent and broadcast supervisor for the BBC from 1941 to 1943, and in 1945 Animal Farm was published to great acclaim. In the last years of his life, Orwell wrote hundreds of articles and published a collection of his Critical Essays, while working on his final novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. After many years of poor health, Orwell passed away in January 1950 at the age of 46, barely six months after the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

MICHAEL GENE SULLIVAN (Playwright) is an actor, writer, director, blogger, and teacher committed to developing theatre of social and economic justice, of political self-determination, and, of course, musical comedy. Michael is also an alum of the nationally-acclaimed Playwright's Foundation, a Djerassi Center Artist Fellow, and in 2022 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

An accomplished veteran of Bay Area theater, with credits from American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Theatreworks, The Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Denver Center Theater Company, The California, San Francisco and Marin Shakespeare companies as well as many others, Michael is also a Collective Member and Resident Director of the Tony and OBIE award-winning, always revolutionary, and never, ever silent San Francisco Mime Troupe, where he has written, acted in, and/or directed over thirty plays.

As a playwright Michael's work has appeared across the United States, as well as in Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, The Netherlands, Argentina, Australia, the United Kingdom, Columbia, Hong Kong, Canada, China, and Ukraine.

Michael's directing credits include work with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and The African-American Shakespeare Festival.

BARBARA DAMASHEK✝ (Director and Composer) is happy to be back at Aurora after her production of The Children, which was the last before the Covid hiatus. For the past year she has been creating new project under an Aurora commission and last September she directed a staged reading of Bad Roads by Natalya Vorozhbyt for the Ukrainian Worldwide Playreading Relief Initiative at the theater. Other Previous Aurora productions include: Creditors, A Number, Splendour, The Lyons, American Buffalo, Fat Pig and Private Jokes Public Spaces. An award winning director, she has worked at many of the country’s leading regional theaters including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, A.C.T., Berkeley Rep, South Coast Repertory Theatre, the Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory, The Mark Taper Forum, the Denver Center, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and at International Theater Festivals and at the Little Globe Theater in Kirovohrad, Ukraine. She has taught at many of the nation’s leading Theater Conservatories and more recently was a professor at San Francisco State University. She is best known nationally as the Director, Composer-Lyricist and Co-Author of Quilters which received 6 Tony Nominations in 1985 including 3 for Ms. Damashek for Best Direction, Best Original Score, and (with co-author Molly Newman) Best Book Of A Musical.

DAVID BRYANT* (Fourth Party Member, u/s O’Brien) has performed on Broadway in Amadeus, Sunday in the Park with George and Showboat. He also starred as the original Marius in Les Misérables on Broadway. He can be heard on the Broadway cast recording, and notes that he has sung more Empty Chairs at Empty Tables for benefits than he can remember.  He also appeared in the Off-Broadway play, Appear and Show Cause, for which he won an Audelco Award for Best Actor. Recent film works include Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with a Twist. Television: Stars in the House, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Sex in the City. He is the voice of Sebastian Shaw in the X-Men cartoon series.

Since moving back to the Bay Area, Bryant has performed in productions of Noises Off, Enchanted April (PCRC), David Copperfield,  Breaking the Code (Jewel Theatre), and Rags (TheatreWorks). Spanning an acting career of over 30 years in stage, film and television, Bryant has had the pleasure of working with Sir Peter Hall, Ian McKellan, Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine, Sir Trevor Nunn, Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Hal Prince, Frank Langella, Elaine Stritch, John McMartin, Jeremy Northam, Vincenzo Natali, Marissa Haggerty among others.

DANIEL DUQUE-ESTRADA* (First Party Member) makes his Aurora debut. In the Bay Area, Duque-Estrada has worked with the Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, CalShakes, Shotgun Players. Other theaters include The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (two seasons), The Dallas Theatre Center (Brierly Resident Acting Company Member), and Trinity Repertory Company, where he is currently a Resident Company Artist. Off-Broadway: The Woman’s Project and PlayCo. He holds an MFA in Acting from Brown University/Trinity Rep.

WARREN DAVID KEITH* (O’Brien/Voice) is delighted to return to Aurora Theatre where he has previously been seen in G.B.Shaw’s Widower’s Houses, The First Grade, The Devil’s Disciple, Hysteria, A Life in the Theater and Death Defying Acts. His Bay Area theater credits also include: Macbeth, As You Like It, Henry IV (pts 1&2), Much Ado About Nothing and The Winter’s Tale for California Shakespeare Theater; King Charles III, War Music, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Mary Stuart, Machinal and Arcadia at A.C.T.; Heartbreak House and Rhinoceros at Berkeley Rep; An Uncommon Vision, The Rules of Charity, Mauritius, and What We’re Up Against at Magic Theater, The Nether and The Christians at S.F. Playhouse and extended runs at The Marsh Berkeley and The Marsh San Francisco of Acid Test: The Many Incarnations of Ram Dass. His screen credits include: The Last Black Man in S.F., Haiku Tunnel, Love and Taxes, Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski and A Serious Man.

BRADY MORALES-WOOLERY* (Third Party Member) was most recently seen at Aurora Theatre Company in Born With Teeth in the role of Will Shakespeare. He trained at the University of California at Berkeley. Select theatre credits include Private Lives (Victor Prynne, Arizona Theatre Company), Clue (Wadsworth, Center Rep), Romeo y Juliet (Benvolio, Cal Shakes), The Curious Case of the Watson Intelligence (Watson, Shotgun Players), Twelfth Night (Cal Shakes), Once (42nd Street Moon), Retablos (Word for Word), Bright Shining Sea (SF Playground), Barefoot in the Park (Paul, Willows Theatre Company) The Kentucky Cycle (Patrick, Willows Theatre Company), and FSM (Mario Savio, Stagebridge). Feature films include Quitters, Pushing Dead, The Internship, and the upcoming Avenue of the Giants. He sends love to his family and friends for their continued support.

JOSEPH PATRICK O’MALLEY* (Winston) returns to Aurora having previously appeared in Colonialism is Terrible, but Pho is Delicious, Creditors, and A Number. Other Bay Area productions: War of the Roses, Macbeth, King Lear, Nicholas Nickleby at Cal Shakes; Ms. Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Charlotte's Web at Marin Theatre Co.; Spamalot!, Measure for Measure at Marin Shakespeare Co., The Liar at Center Rep. 

O’Malley has been seen regionally in The Gift of Nothing at the Kennedy Center, The Tall Girls at La Jolla Playhouse, Seminar at B Street Theatre. Motion Capture: NBA2K, Mafia: Definitive Edition, Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge, Fortnite. O’Malley earned an MFA from USC and a BA from Santa Clara University. "For L+R"

MEGAN SOLEDAD (Second Party Member) makes her Aurora Theatre Company debut. Recent credits include A Chorus Line (San Francisco Playhouse), The Woman in The Turn of the Screw (Town Hall Theatre Company), and Dancing Home at the San Francisco Fringe Festival, where she performed with the San Francisco Youth Theatre. Other Bay Area credits include In the Heights (Berkeley Playhouse), The Sound of Music (Throckmorton Theatre), and Silent Sky (Summer Repertory Theatre). Soledad recently earned her master’s in opera from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and has a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University.  When not performing in a show, Megan loves to sing with her salsa band! @meganmateosky

CASSIDY BROWN* (u/s First Party Member, Winston) is very happy to return to Aurora Theatre, where he has previously appeared in Safe House and Bosoms and Neglect. Other Bay Area credits include Berkeley Rep, SF Playhouse, Center Rep, Word for Word, Golden Thread, SF Shakes, and Theatreworks. His most notorious achievement is performing in 5 different productions of the 39 Steps as both Clowns as well as Richard Hannay. Beyond the Bay, he has been seen in several shows at both Capital Stage (Sacramento) and Pacific Repertory Theatre (Carmel). He is also the co-host of the spiritual comedy podcast "All the Answers".

CARLA GALLARDO (u/s Second Party Member) is a Bay Area actor, and is beyond honored to have an opportunity to work with the Aurora Theater for the first time as an understudy! Her previous credits include : Doméstica Realidad and Las Azurduy (La Lengua Teatro), Exodus to Eden and Book of Sand (a fairytale) (Oakland Theater Project), References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot (Custom Made Theater), The Tempest (Oakland Theater Project), The Box (Pulitzer Center/Marin Shakespeare), & Retablos (Word 4 Word), just to name a few. Through acting, she has worked with many programs surrounding education & awareness on a myriad of topics with students all over Northern California with NCTC’s YouthAware, Word 4 Word’s Youth Program, the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Youth Theater Project & Kaiser Permanentes’ Educational Theater. On her down-time, she enjoys quality time with her loved ones, sipping on a cafecito, exploring beaches on warm, sunny days, and dancing to anything that makes her move & groove.

DOV HASSAN* (u/s Third Party Member, Fourth Party Member) grew up in the Bay Area where he has been working as an actor, musician, director and teacher for many years. Hassan is very excited to be working with Aurora Theatre Company for the first time. He is a co-founder and member of Theatre Cultura and a company member with Oakland Theater Project. Recent acting work includes The Dignity Circle (Central Works), Lear (CalShakes), Vinegar Tom (Shotgun Players), Hamlet (Oakland Theater Project), and CHEER: Story of a Dreamer (Theatre Cultura). Hassan received his MFA in Acting and Directing from University of Missouri – Kansas City and currently is head of the Theater Arts Department at Chabot College.