Aurora Theatre Company

Aurora Theatre Company
Name	Aurora Theatre Company
Type	Regional theatre
City	Berkeley, California
Country	United States
Founded	1992
Founders	Barbara Oliver, Christopher Ozaki
Artistic director	Carey Perloff (former), Michael Lohmann (former)
Capacity	400 (approx.)

Aurora Theatre Company is a regional professional theatre company based in Berkeley, California, known for contemporary American plays, new work development, and classical revivals. Founded in the early 1990s, the company established a reputation for commissioning playwrights, producing West Coast premieres, and cultivating actors and directors linked to major institutions in the Bay Area and nationally. The company’s programming, staff, and facilities have interacted with notable theatre, film, and literary figures and institutions throughout California and the United States.

History

Aurora Theatre Company was founded in 1992 by Barbara Oliver and Christopher Ozaki during a period of expansion in Bay Area arts organizations when institutions such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Shotgun Players, and American Conservatory Theater were prominent. Early seasons featured collaborations with artists associated with Yale Repertory Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, LA Theatre Works, and university programs such as UC Berkeley and Stanford University. The company moved into a permanent home in downtown Berkeley in the late 1990s, joining a cultural corridor that includes Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Over subsequent decades Aurora established relationships with playwrights and directors who had worked at Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, and the Public Theater.

Productions and seasons

Aurora’s repertory has balanced premieres, contemporary American plays, and classics from the canons of Tennessee Williams, August Wilson, William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, and Arthur Miller. Seasons frequently included West Coast premieres of works by playwrights associated with David Mamet, Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, Neil LaBute, Laurence Boswell, and Judith Thompson. Productions have featured actors linked to film and television such as alumni of The West Wing, NYPD Blue, Grey’s Anatomy, and Modern Family, as well as stage performers with credits at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theater, and Seattle Repertory Theatre. The company has mounted musicals and adaptations involving composers and librettists from Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jason Robert Brown, and dramatists who have premiered work at Humana Festival of New American Plays and Oklahoma City University conservatories.

Leadership and artistic staff

Over time Aurora’s leadership roster included artistic directors, managing directors, and resident designers drawn from institutions such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, and San Francisco Ballet. Collaborators have included directors and dramaturgs who worked at Lincoln Center Theater, Geffen Playhouse, Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Geva Theatre Center. Resident designers have affiliations with Carnegie Mellon University, Juilliard School, Yale School of Drama, and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Guest artists have come from ensembles like The Wooster Group and Cleveland Play House, and playwrights-in-residence have had relationships with The Public Theater, Sundance Institute, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Venue and facilities

The company’s primary performance space sits within Berkeley’s downtown performing-arts district alongside venues like Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall. The theatre houses a flexible black-box or proscenium stage accommodating roughly 200–400 seats, similar in scale to theatres at Magic Theatre and Aurora Theatre Company (other)-scale companies across the United States. Backstage facilities and rehearsal rooms echo standards at regional houses such as Geva Theatre Center and Goodspeed Musicals, while technical capacities support lighting and sound systems comparable to installations at ACT (A Contemporary Theatre) and American Conservatory Theater.

Education and community outreach

Aurora has offered educational programming, workshops, and talkbacks modeled after outreach initiatives at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and San Francisco Opera. Programs have included youth workshops, playwright labs, and community partnerships with institutions such as UC Berkeley, Berkeley High School, Berkeley Public Library, and local arts councils. The company’s new-works development pipelines have echoed program structures at Sundance Institute, National New Play Network, and New Dramatists, facilitating staged readings and developmental productions that engaged playwrights connected to Writers Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, and university playwriting departments.

Awards and recognition

Aurora’s productions and artists have been recognized by regional and national awarding bodies and critics from outlets like San Francisco Chronicle, Berkeley Daily Planet, and arts organizations such as the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and the Dramalogue. Company members and alumni have received nominations and awards from entities including the Obie Awards, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, and fellowships from National Endowment for the Arts, Graham Foundation, and MacDowell. The theatre’s contributions to new play development and regional arts programming have been cited alongside peer institutions such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, and American Conservatory Theater.

Category:Theatre companies in California