Shows & Events

TANYA BARFIELD (Playwright) Tanya Barfield's plays include: Of Equal Measure (Center Theatre Group), Blue Door (Playwrights Horizons, South Coast Repertory; Seattle Repertory, Berkeley Repertory and additional theaters), Dent, The Quick, The Houdini Act and 121 Degrees WEST. She wrote the book for the Theatreworks/USA children's musical: Civil War: The First Black Regiment. Ms. Barfield was a recipient of the 2003 Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, 2005 Honorable Mention for the Kesselring Prize for Drama, a 2006 Lark Play Development/NYSCA grant and she has been twice been a Finalist for the Princess Grace Award. She has been commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, Primary Stages and Geva Theatre Center. She is a member of New Dramatists and serves on the membership committee at The Dramatist Guild.

DARRYL V. JONES (Director) directed, co-wrote, and performed in the world premiere of Halie! The Mahalia Jackson Musical for Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in 2022. Other directing credits include: The Great Kahn (SF Playhouse), The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith (Center Rep), and the Shotgun Players production of Kill Move Paradise in collaboration with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Here at Aurora Theatre, he directed Detroit ‘67 and the award-winning production of The Royale, which he also co-choreographed. Other directing credits include: Off-Broadway & National Tour of We Are Your Sisters, his Dominican-American version of A View From The Bridge (Source Theatre, DC); Spunk (African Continuum Theatre Co); The Minneola Twins (Woolly Mammoth) and The Brothers Size (Theatre Rhino). As an actor in 2023, Jones appeared as the Tin Man in A.C.T.’s production of The Wizard of Oz. He followed that by appearing as The Man in Crowns at Center Rep. And then returned to A.C.T. to understudy Scrooge and Marley in A Christmas Carol and going on as Marley. Jones was TBA Award-nominated for best supporting actor in Theatre Rhino’s first production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Jones holds a BM in Vocal Performance from Catholic University, and an MFA in Directing from Boston University. He is a member of Actors Equity Association.

MICHAEL J. ASBERRY* (Lewis) returns home to the Aurora (Paradise Blue, The Bluest Eye, Exit Strategy, and Satellites) on the heels of his most recent performance in The Merry Wives of Windsor with the Elm Shakespeare Company (New Haven, CT). Regional Theatre credits include Sacramento Theatre Company; Orlando Shakes (Orlando, FL); San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; San Francisco Mime Troupe; American Conservatory Theatre;  Center REPertory Company;  Capital Stage; Artists Repertory Theatre (Portland, OR); Lorraine Hansberry Theatre; TheatreWorks; and the 6th Street Playhouse. Film appearances include San Andreas, FreeByrd, and Mr. Incredible and Pals. Television credits: Chance, Trauma, and Nash Bridges. Asberry has voiceover spots with Pixar Animation, Pine Sol and Clorox, and appears as characters in the video games Watchdogs 2 and Battlefield Vietnam. Social media handles are: michaeljasberry (Instagram) and Michael J. Asberry (Facebook).

JAMES MERCER II* (Simon/Rex/Jesse) is a Black American multi-hyphenate artist originally from Philly-adjacent making their Aurora debut. Bay Area and regional theatre credits include American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, African-American Shakespeare Company, Irish Rep, and Arden Theatre Company. Mercer has also worked as a national touring physical theatre artist with Theater Unspeakable based in Chicago, and has workshopped plays with A.C.T., Penumbra, National Black Theatre, Playwrights Foundation, and Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor. School at Steppenwolf Group 21; MFA American Conservatory Theater. www.jamesmercerii.com IG @jmercer_ii

RON CHAPMAN* (u/s Lewis, Simon/Rex/Jesse) is an artist who believes in the power and necessity of storytelling. He last appeared as Cymbeline in Cymbeline with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival where he is a Resident Artist.