Aurora Theatre Company Extends METAMORPHOSIS Thru July 24

Critics and audiences alike are "bugging out" over METAMORPHOSIS. Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will add an additional week of performances of its current hit production of METAMORPHOSIS. Award-winning Bay Area director, performer, and playwright Mark Jackson (Salome and Miss Julie) helms the company's 19th season closer, the first professional American production of METAMORPHOSIS. Featuring Alexander Crowther, Megan Trout, Allen McKelvey, Madeline H.D. Brown, and PatRick Jones, METAMORPHOSIS plays at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley now through July 24 (added performances: July 19, 7pm, July 20, 8pm, July 21, 8pm, July 22, 8pm, July 23, 8pm, July 24, 2 and 7pm). For tickets ($10-45) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

Embodying the isolation of Franz Kafka's unsparing tale, METAMORPHOSIS is a masterful mix of horror and absurdity, telling the story of a traveling salesman's bizarre transformation from man to man-sized insect. This powerful exploration of alienation, a terrifying, yet comic, adaptation of Kafka's classic 1915 novella by British director David Farr and Icelandic actor-director Gísli Örn Gardarsson of Iceland's Vesturport Theatre, was hailed as "a parable for our times" by The Daily Telegraph (UK). Performed in London's West End, Dublin, Australia, and Hong Kong, "It's the story of a very ordinary family where something awful happens," Farr says. "But there is a lot of laughter in among the awfulness."

Vesturport Theatre's 2006 stage adaptation of METAMORPHOSIS played at the Lyric Hammersmith in London; the Lyric Theatre Company toured the UK and premiered their version of the production at BAM in New York City as part of the Next Wave Festival in 2010, accompanied by a unique soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Aurora Theatre Company's production is the first production of Farr and Gardarsson's adaptation performed by a professional company and an American cast.

The San Francisco Chronicle's Robert Hurwitt said of METAMORPHOSIS, "Yes, it's ominous. It's very funny, horrific, poignant and provocative, as well - often at the same time...And it all pays off in [director Mark] Jackson's Americanization," while Karen D'Souza at the San Jose Mercury News/Bay Area News Group declared "Jackson has an exquisite eye for tableaus and here he mesmerizes...sharply convey[ing] Kafka's insights into man's inhumanity to man." Georgia Rowe at the SF Examiner said of the production "the cast is outstanding...Jackson's ‘Metamorphosis' gives audiences plenty to gasp over - and think about," and Chad Jones at Theater Dogs noted "Mark Jackson is something of a name brand in the Bay Area. You know his shows are going to be original, compelling and rigorously produced... Jackson's ‘Metamorphosis' is as unsettling as it is poignant, as beautifully performed as it is fun to watch."

Following METAMORPHOSIS, Aurora Theatre Company opens its 20th anniversary season in September with Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning brutal comedy of manners A DELICATE BALANCE, featuring an extraordinary ensemble of acting luminaries from Aurora's past and present, and directed by Aurora Artistic Director Tom Ross. Aurora Theatre Company is also poised to present an innovative collaboration with former San Francisco Ballet dancer Muriel Maffre in November with a re-imagined production of THE SOLDIER'S TALE, followed by the Bay Area Premiere of Obie-winning playwright Annie Baker's BODY AWARENESS in January, directed by Joy Carlin. Founding Artistic Director Barbara Oliver returns to the company to helm Margret Schaefer's Aurora-commissioned World Premiere translation of Arthur Schnitzler's fin-de-siècle gem ANATOL in April. The 20th anniversary season concludes in June with Aurora Theatre Company's World Premiere play commission, SALOMANIA, written and directed by Mark Jackson.

Nominated for 15 and winner of 8 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for 2010, Aurora Theatre Company continues to offer challenging, literate, intelligent stage works to the Bay Area, each year increasing its reputation for top-notch theater. Located in the heart of the Downtown Berkeley Arts District, Aurora Theatre Company has been called "one of the most important regional theaters in the area" and "a must-see midsize company" by the San Francisco Chronicle, while The Wall Street Journal has "nothing but praise for the Aurora." The Contra Costa Times stated "perfection is probably an unattainable ideal in a medium as fluid as live performance, but the Aurora Theatre comes luminously close," while the San Jose Mercury News affirmed "[Aurora Theatre Company] lives up to its reputation as a theater that feeds the mind," and the Oakland Tribune declared "it's all about choices, and if you value good theater, choose the Aurora."

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