Aurora Theatre Company Presents A DELICATE BALANCE, 9/8-10/9

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 20th anniversary season with renowned American playwright Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning brutal comedy of manners A DELICATE BALANCE. Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross helms a remarkable cast for A DELICATE BALANCE, including Aurora co-founder Ken Grantham and the company's first leading lady (Candida), Kimberly King. Jamie Jones makes her Aurora Theatre Company debut and Bay Area favorites Anne Darragh, Charles Dean, and Carrie Paff return to the Aurora stage, rounding out this spectacular ensemble.

Tobias and Agnes are a long-married couple living in the suburbs. With several bedrooms and a well-stocked liquor cabinet, their home provides a refuge of sorts, and a measure of comfort, to their friends and family. Over the course of two evenings however, the "delicate balance" of their uneasy existence begins to topple. Agnes' alcoholic sister, Claire, has already set up camp, and when their adult daughter comes home after her fourth failed marriage, and lifelong friends Harry and Edna arrive on their doorstep, frightened and seeking sanctuary from an unnamed terror, the many well-mannered and well-masked feelings finally erupt.

A DELICATE BALANCE is a sharp, witty examination on the limits of our responsibility to others, including family and friends, how hard it is to hold everything together, and how easily everything can all fall apart. Called "glorious...profoundly touching" by The New York Times in 2010, Variety also declared, " ‘A Delicate Balance' still retains its potency after 40 years...High class or low, there's surely a family on every block in which familiarity breeds contempt."

Coinciding with Aurora Theatre Company's production of A DELICATE BALANCE, San Francisco's Arion Press will print a limited edition handcrafted book of Edward Albee's script of the play; all copies of the limited edition printing will be numbered and signed by Albee. The edition will also feature original artwork by renowned California artist Tom Holland, as well as a forward written by Bay Area writer and critic David Littlejohn (The Wall Street Journal). The book will officially be made available for purchase when A DELICATE BALANCE opens at the Aurora Theatre.

DATES: Previews: September 2, 3, 7 at 8pm; September 4 at 2pm; September 6 at 7pm
Opens: September 8, 2011
Closes: October 9

SHOWS: Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 2pm and 7pm

WHERE: Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA

TICKETS: For tickets (Students $10-15; Previews $34; Regular Performances $30-48; Limited Opening Night Seating $55) the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. Half-off tickets for Under 30 and group discounts available.

Aurora Theatre Company gratefully acknowledges Sponsors Paul Templeton and Darrell Louie and Associate Sponsors Ellen and Barry Levine, Cindy and Steve Snow, Kathleen Garrison and David Wood, and Carol Emory and John Wingate for their support.

Aurora Theatre Company gratefully acknowledges the following foundations and government agencies for their support: Actors' Equity Foundation, Alameda County Arts Commission, Berkeley Civic Arts Program & Civic Arts Commission, Dramatists Guild Fund, East Bay Community Foundation , The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, National New Play Network, Bernard Osher Foundation, The Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Shubert Foundation, The Tournesol Project, The Wood Foundation, and The Zellerbach Family Foundation.

 

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