Tom Ross News

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company announced today the official completion of the company's Addison Street expansion wing, The Nell and Jules Dashow Wing, named in honor of lead donor Deborah Ruth's parents.

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company announced today the official completion of the company's Addison Street expansion wing, The Nell and Jules Dashow Wing, named in honor of lead donor Deborah Ruth's parents.

Cow. Slob. Pig. Size does matter. Aurora Theatre Company continues its 18th season with FAT PIG, bad-boy playwright Neil LaBute's exploration of body consciousness in contemporary America, the second play in a trilogy that began with The Shape of Things (produced by Aurora and directed by Tom Ross in 2003).

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company is proud to announce a call for submissions for its fifth season of the Global Age Project (GAP) festival of new works. The company will choose four new plays to be presented as staged readings with professional directors and actors during the GAP festival in February of 2010; the festival will coincide with the company's fully-staged World Premiere of 2009 GAP finalist Joel Drake Johnson's new play, The First Grade.

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 18th season, focusing on 'family and fortune,' with Clifford Odets' classic Depression-era drama AWAKE AND SING! Bay Area theater veteran Joy Carlin (Jack Goes Boating, Hysteria, The Price), who first directed this play for Berkeley Repertory Theatre 24 years ago, revisits this landmark drama for Aurora.

Aurora Theatre Company has selected the directors for the company's fifth Global Age Project festival of new works: Margo Hall - an award winning actor/director/playwright, Hall most recently directed The Story, by Tracy Scott-Wilson, a SF Playhouse/Lorraine Hansberry Co-Production, and Sonny's Blues, a story by James Baldwin, for Word for Word.

Closing Aurora Theatre Company's 17th season is the Bay Area Premiere of Bob Glaudini's (A View from 151st Street) Off-Broadway hit JACK GOES BOATING. Bay Area theater veteran Joy Carlin (Hysteria, Bosoms and Neglect, The Price) helms this quirky romantic comedy, featuring Amanda Duarte, Gabriel Marin, Beth Wilmurt, and Danny Wolohan. JACK GOES BOATING plays at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley June 12 through July 19

Berkeley?s acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company presents the final Aurora Script Club meeting of the season with Samuel Beckett?s Waiting for Godot. Aurora Theatre Company Education Director Michael Mansfield hosts this moderated discussion about what we do while we wait/live and what?s worth waiting/living for, examining the upcoming Aurora Theatre Company production of Bob Glaudini?s Off-Broadway hit Jack Goes Boating, written in 2007, and Beckett?s absurdist masterpiece, penned in 1948.

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company is proud to announce a call for submissions for its fifth season of the Global Age Project (GAP) festival of new works. The company will choose four new plays to be presented as staged readings with professional directors and actors during the GAP festival in February of 2010; the festival will coincide with the company's fully-staged World Premiere of 2009 GAP finalist Joel Drake Johnson's new play, The First Grade.

Berkeley?s acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company presents the third Aurora Script Club meeting of the season with Edward Albee?s Who?s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Aurora Theatre Company Education Director Michael Mansfield hosts this moderated discussion about two modern dramatists who were considered by many to be ahead of their time, examining the social-sexual parallels of the upcoming Aurora Theatre Company production of August Strindberg?s Miss Julie, written in 1888, and Albee?s seminal drama, penned in 1962.

Closing Aurora Theatre Company's 17th season is the Bay Area Premiere of Bob Glaudini's (A View from 151st Street) Off-Broadway hit JACK GOES BOATING. Bay Area theater veteran Joy Carlin (Hysteria, Bosoms and Neglect, The Price) helms this quirky romantic comedy, featuring Amanda Duarte, Gabriel Marin, Beth Wilmurt, and Danny Wolohan. JACK GOES BOATING plays at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley June 12 through July 19

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company presents the third Aurora Script Club meeting of the season with Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Aurora Theatre Company Education Director Michael Mansfield hosts this moderated discussion about two modern dramatists who were considered by many to be ahead of their time, examining the social-sexual parallels of the upcoming Aurora Theatre Company production of August Strindberg's Miss Julie, written in 1888, and Albee's seminal drama, penned in 1962.

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company proudly announces the lineup for its 18th season. The company will present a season focusing on "Family and Fortune," opening in August with AWAKE AND SING!, Clifford Odets' legendary Depression-era drama, directed by veteran Bay Area actress and director Joy Carlin.

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company announces the four plays chosen as winners for the Global Age Project (GAP), the company's new works initiative that promotes the creation of forward-looking theatre: The First Grade by Joel Drake Johnson; Birnham Woods by Wendy MacLeod; Right? by Dan Hoyle; and and when we awoke there was light and light by Laura Jacqmin. The selected plays will be presented as staged readings in a four-week festival at the Aurora Theatre, Mondays, February 2-23, 7:30pm, coinciding with the company's fully-staged West Coast Premiere of George Packer's provocative Lucille Lortel-winning play Betrayed (January 23-March 1).

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company announces the four plays chosen as winners for the Global Age Project (GAP), the company's new works initiative that promotes the creation of forward-looking theatre: The First Grade by Joel Drake Johnson; Birnham Woods by Wendy MacLeod; Right? by Dan Hoyle ; and and when we awoke there was light and light by Laura Jacqmin. The selected plays will be presented as staged readings in a four-week festival at the Aurora Theatre, Mondays, February 2-23, 7:30pm, coinciding with the company's fully-staged West Coast Premiere of George Packer's provocative Lucille Lortel-winning play Betrayed (January 23-March 1). Each GAP reading will be followed by an audience discussion of the contemporary issues raised in each work. Additionally, the company announces that it has received a $20,000 grant from the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation to support the Global Age Project. For information on GAP events (free and open to the public) an d Betrayed, the public may call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company, now in its 17th season, celebrated both the company's start of construction on its expansion and the commencement of the public phase of its $2.1 million capital campaign with a wall-breaking ceremony held on January 12, 2009. Over 100 VIPS and local luminaries attended the event, including Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz, and City Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin, Laurie Capitelli and Kriss Worthington. After enjoying cocktails and a sumptuous buffet of Ahi tuna tartar, Saumon Poch?e, and Quenelle Souffl?, courtesy of Bistro Liaison, guests watched lead donor Deborah Ruth, hammer in hand, break through the ceremonial brick wall constructed especially for the event; the expanded space will be named The Nell and Jules Dashow Wing in honor of Deborah Ruth's parents. The new expansion is the final project of the late acclaimed theater architect Gene Angell (with his partner Brian Rawlinson). Construction by general contractor Oliver & Company, Inc., with construction management by Edward Van of E.J. Van Company, Inc., began January 13. After opening remarks from Aurora Theatre Company Board President and co- capital campaign committee chair Robert B. Hetler, guests listened to heart-warming speeches about the history and future of the Aurora from Artistic Director Tom Ross and founding Artistic Director Barbara Oliver, as well as an enthusiastic proclamation from Mayor Bates officially declaring January 12th 'Aurora Theatre Company Day.' Aurora Theatre Company Technical Director/Production Coordinator Chris Killion led guests on a tour of the new space, where co-campaign committee chair Carolyn Weinberger gave a rousing champagne toast. On hand to lend their support were Rawlinson along with Gene Angell's widow, Pat Angell. Also attending were campaign committee members John Caner, Alison Teeman, and Muffy Thorne, as well as Board Vice President and President-elect Ellen Levine and Board members Joel Altman, Fred Feller, Jim Fowler, Tony Hawthorne, Wendy Markel, Carol Neil, Hillary Reinis, Leigh Robinson, Cindy Snow, and Diane Verducci.

Currently celebrating its 17th season, Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company announced today the company's plan to expand its Addison Street space. More than halfway through a $2.1 million capital campaign, Aurora will officially break through the wall connecting its current space to an adjacent space during a ceremony to be held on January 12, 2009. Once completed, the expansion space will add 2,600 square feet to the 7,200 square feet the company currently occupies, and will house a new rehearsal space for main stage productions, readings, and workshops of new productions, as well as artistic offices; the expansion will also increase space for in-house set-building. The projected completion date of the expansion project is summer 2009.

Berkeley's acclaimed Aurora Theatre Company announces the four plays chosen as winners for the Global Age Project (GAP), the company's new works initiative that promotes the creation of forward-looking theatre: The First Grade by Joel Drake Johnson; Birnham Woods by Wendy MacLeod; Right? by Dan Hoyle; and and when we awoke there was light and light by Laura Jacqmin. The selected plays will be presented as staged readings in a four-week festival at the Aurora Theatre, Mondays, February 2-23, 7:30pm, coinciding with the company's fully-staged West Coast Premiere of George Packer's provocative Lucille Lortel-winning play Betrayed (January 23-March 1).

AURORA THEATRE COMPANY SCRIPT CLUB New edition examines Shaw and Miller's versions of America Monday, November 24, 2008, 7:30

AURORA THEATRE COMPANY SCRIPT CLUB New edition examines Shaw and Miller's versions of America Monday, November 24, 2008, 7:30