Photo Flash: First Look at Aurora Theatre Company's RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN, Begin. 8/29

Aurora Theatre Company opens its 23rd season with the Bay Area Premiere of Obie-winning playwright Gina Gionfriddo's (After Ashley,Becky Shaw) RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN. Can any woman have it all? After graduate school, Catherine and Gwen chose different paths. Catherine built a career as a rock star academic and media darling, writing books linking Internet pornography with 9/11, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other's life. When Catherine returns home to look after her ailing mother, a risky game of musical chairs begins as three generations of women struggle with feminism's foibles.

A finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN premiered at Playwrights Horizons in 2012. Called "An intensely smart, immensely funny new play" by The New York Times and hailed as Gionfriddo's "most gleefully heedless and hilariously uncalculated foray into the un-politically-correct thus far" by New York Magazine, this sharp, witty comedy examines the pursuit of happiness in the wake of 20th century feminist ideals. Desdemona Chiang (The Hundred Flowers Project) makes her Aurora directing debut with this unflinching look at modern gender politics, featuring Gabriel Marin (This Is How It Goes), Rebecca Schweitzer (A Delicate Balance, The First Grade),Marilee Talkington (Salomania), Lilian Bogovich, and Nicole Javier.

For tickets (Previews $35; Regular Performances $32-50; Limited Opening Night Seating $60) the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. Half-off tickets for Under 35, student, and group discounts available.

Photos by David Allen