Imagine being so close to the action that you can feel the heat of the stage lights, catch every subtle expression on the actors’ faces, and hear the nuance in every whispered line. Think of the visceral thrill of a performance so close that the nature of the stage pulls the audience into a transformational environment, and focuses their attention on the actors, the words, and the story. This is the promise of the Aurora Theatre Company’s Alafi Auditorium, where the audience is as much a part of the production as the actors themselves.
“The energy that the audience brings is tremendously effective in informing the choices the actors make,” says Artistic Director Josh Costello. Part of the effect of Aurora’s intimate stage is that the audience can see not only the action of the play up close, but also view the rest of the audience as it reacts to the performance. The result is special, and something Costello thinks is essential for healthy, connected communities: “Each show is a group of people coming together to experience something. I think that makes communities stronger. It does that by providing an opportunity for people of all different walks of life to come together and participate in an imaginative act: experiencing a story together. We don’t have a lot of times and places for that these days.”
Aurora Theatre Company’s upcoming 32nd season is set to showcase a diverse and compelling lineup of plays that shed light on our shared history and explore the issues that are important to the community at the local and national level. That is, after all, one of the things that makes Aurora stand out as a gathering place. “We tend to do plays that give you something to chew on, plays with big ideas, and without easy answers. That’s the resource we want to be, where we can explore issues that are important to the community in which we exist,” says Costello. Aurora’s new season makes good on that promise, with a lineup of exhilarating and thought-provoking productions that will give audiences plenty to chew on.
By StoryStudio on May 24, 2023
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Clockwise from main: Anna Marie Sharpe* and Titus VanHook* (background) in Dominique Morisseau's Paradise Blue. *Member, AEA. Photo by Kevin Berne; Stacy Ross* and Leontyne Mbele-Mbong* in Bryna Turner's Bull in a China Shop. *Member, AEA. Photo by David Allen; Josh Costello, Akilah A. Walker*, Emily Radosevich, Rafael Jordan*, and Halili Knox* after Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit '67. *Member, AEA.
Born With Teeth (Bay Area Premiere) | September 1-October 1
Against the backdrop of a paranoid England divided by partisan antipathy comes a high-stakes contest between two literary giants. Playwright Liz Duffy Adams, winner of the Will Glickman Award, imagines the great Kit Marlowe and newcomer Will Shakespeare together in the back room of a British tavern, where the two begin a collaboration shot through with artistry, seduction, and looming betrayal. The razor sharp script is a breathless tour-de-force—a spellbinding depiction of political and emotional intrigue. Aurora Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Josh Costello directs.
1984 (Bay Area Premiere) | November 10-December 10
In a ferocious adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian “1984,” Winston Smith struggles against the brutal totalitarianism of Oceania and inescapable surveillance by Big Brother. San Francisco playwright Michael Gene Sullivan casts the audience as silent witnesses to Winston’s interrogation, as the low-level party member is forced to confess his Thoughtcrimes to an unseen inquisitor. “1984" asks whether love and freedom of expression can stand up to the forces of oppression and imagines the effects of the systematic stripping of meaning from language. Sullivan’s adaptation is a chilling and provocative reworking of an ever-resonant classic.
Manahatta (Bay Area Premiere) | February 9-March 10, 2024
Wall Street trader Jane Snake grapples with the implications of her return to “Manahatta” (island of many hills in Lenape), the homeland her ancestors were violently forced to leave in 1626. While Snake’s career is ascendant, her family in Oklahoma struggles to preserve their culture, language, and home in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis. From celebrated Cherokee playwright, activist, and attorney Mary Kathryn Nagle comes this drama that explores the forced removal of Native people and loss of cultural identity as a consequence of commercial exploitation. This timely depiction of oppression and defiance brings past and present together with contrasting stories of colonization in the 17th and 21st centuries.
Blue Door | April 19—May 19, 2024
The brilliant Lewis, a Black mathematics professor, tangles with three generations of his ancestors in a feverish night that challenges his sense of personal and cultural identity. When his white wife leaves him for failing to embrace his heritage, Lewis embarks on a wild dream-journey to understand his cultural legacy, from the eras of slavery and Jim Crow to Black Power and beyond. From Lilly Award-winning playwright Tanya Barfield, “Blue Door” is a vivid, exhilarating play infused with sharp humor and interwoven with original music.
Lifespan of a Fact (Bay Area Premiere) | June 21—July 21, 2024
The season culminates with a Broadway hit that offers a comedic look at the battle between facts and truth. When a fresh-out-of-Harvard media intern is given the job of fact-checking a masterpiece by a legendary writer, he discovers that most of the work stretches the truth…or else makes it up altogether. “The Lifespan of a Fact” bares uncomfortable truths about journalism and examines the relationship between truth and accuracy. Is a nonfiction fabulist justified in swapping the two freely? Can creative license be more truthful than facts? Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell’s stage adaptation of John D’Agata and Jim Fingal’s book will have the audience reexamining their assumptions about fact and fiction.
Photo by David Allen.
Lisa Anne Porter*, Elizabeth Carter*, Rolf Saxon*, Teddy Spencer* and Charisse Loriaux* in Jonathan Spector's Eureka Day. *Member, AEA. Photo by David Allen
Sam Jackson* and William Thomas Hodgson* in Kait Kerrigan’s Father/Daughter. *Member, AEA. Photo by Kevin Berne.
Intimate, inclusive, inspiring:
Aurora Theatre Company’s new season challenges and excites
We tend to do plays that give you something to chew on, plays with big ideas, and without easy answers. That’s the resource we want to be.”
-Josh Costello, Artistic Director
2023-2024 Season
With a lineup that emphasizes the work of women and BIPOC artists, Aurora is setting the tone for a revitalized theatre-going culture in the Bay Area. “In addition to doing excellent work, we really want to demonstrate that everyone belongs here, not just people who have a cultural connection to the traditional forms of theatre. This act of telling stories as a community is valuable to everybody,” says Costello.
It’s clear that part of Aurora’s culture is their commitment to providing a platform for emerging Bay Area playwrights and underrepresented groups to showcase their work, but that’s not all. Their New Play Development initiative, Originate+Generate, is an incubator for new, forward-looking work. O+G is designed to provide extensive developmental support to Bay Area playwrights as they craft works that explore and illuminate our changing world—works that reflect the experiences of a wider range of voices. "Eureka Day," an uproarious and timely play written by Berkeley-native Jonathan Spector, is one such acclaimed work to have emerged from Aurora’s Originate+Generate initiative. The play would go on to be performed at London’s Old Vic theatre, highlighting the contribution of Bay Area voices to the international theatre repertoire.
Tickets for the 2023/2024 season are on sale now. Become a member and choose from several options, from traditional subscriptions to flex passes that allow you to choose your dates later. Subscribers enjoy a host of other benefits, including:
Priority Seating
Easy Exchanges
Missed Performance Discounts
Dining Partner Discounts
Special Event Access
Tim Kniffin*, Satchel André, Atim Udoffia*, and Calvin M. Thompson* in Marco Ramirez’s The Royale. *Member, AEA. Photo by David Allen.
One way Aurora stays grounded in the lives and culture of their community is by partnering with Bay Area organizations to share resources and learn about the cultural and historical context of where we live. Felicity Cowlin is the Director of Development in charge of fundraising and special events that Aurora hosts with community partners. “Aurora’s events are especially fun because they bring the community together and provide glimpses behind the scenes so that they can fall in love with and feel connected to the work that we do,” Cowlin writes. She thinks it’s important to remind people that Aurora, which enjoys a reputation of fair pay for Bay Area theatre professionals, is a non-profit company. “As is the case with many non-profits, our earned income (ticket sales, concessions, etc.) is only about 50 percent of our income. This means we rely heavily on contributed income and donations.” Click here to support Aurora with a donation.
Aurora Theatre Company is on a mission to revitalize the culture of theatre-going in the Bay Area. By offering singularly intimate performances, and producing a slate of relevant, thought-provoking plays from local playwrights and artists, Aurora acts as the storyteller for the community, and a place where everyone belongs.
SPONSORED BY AUROra theatre company
Clockwise from main: Anna Marie Sharpe* and Titus VanHook* (background) in Dominique Morisseau's Paradise Blue. *Member, AEA. Photo by Kevin Berne; Stacy Ross* and Leontyne Mbele-Mbong* in Bryna Turner's Bull in a China Shop. *Member, AEA. Photo by David Allen; Josh Costello, Akilah A. Walker*, Emily Radosevich, Rafael Jordan*, and Halili Knox* after Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit '67. *Member, AEA.