Aurora Theatre Company provides a nurturing environment for theatre artists and artisans to produce and develop plays that place a high value on substance, intelligence, and craft.  We strive to enrich the lives of our audience by producing high-quality, thought-provoking work that shines in an intimate setting.

History

The founders of Aurora Theatre Company came together around the development and production of a new play: Dorothy Bryant’s Dear Master. Following the success of that production, their desire was to continue to produce plays “about something important; ideas mediated by language and people, which are assisted by other elements like sets, lights and costumes,” not dominated by them.

A defining characteristic of Aurora Theatre Company is its intimate performance space and its emphasis on subtlety, shadings of feeling and ensemble responsiveness. Aurora Theatre Company is often referred to as “chamber theatre.” In 19 years of operation, it has won 21 awards from the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle in the areas of acting, directing, ensemble and costume work. Aurora Theatre Company received the coveted $25,000 Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation award in 2000 for new play production and the San Francisco Weekly named Aurora Theatre Company Outstanding Bay Area Theatre Company.

Aurora Theatre Company offers acting opportunities to talented Bay Area performers. We operate under a Tier 3, Year 3 BAT contract with Actor’s Equity Association. Currently, more than one-third of the budget is allocated to acting salaries and Aurora Theatre Company has been commended for the high percentage of equity actors in its productions.

GRANTS AWARDED

In 2010, the Foundation supported the workshop of The Soldier’s Tale, a new fully staged, multidisciplinary adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat in collaboration with San Francisco Ballet’s former prima ballerina, Muriel Maffre.