Aurora Theatre Company

We just saw Born With Teeth, what an amazing work! The actors were spectacular, two men on stage for about an hour and a half, I couldn't take my eyes off them for the entire show. It was a fascinating look into the period of time when Marlowe and Shakespeare were living, but also a mirror to our modern world, with similarities that were stunning. Go see it, it is wonderful.

During my college days, I used to see shows all the time with a friend. You could call him my theater buddy. When he invited me to a show at the Aurora, I said yes please! He bought tickets about a month prior for Everything Is Illuminated on Friday, December 14th at 8pm. I believe tix were $35 each.The space is small and intimate. Great for the show we watched. I was in Section South, Row C, Seat 101. Even though it was kind of in a corner, I still had a nice view of everything. I've actually been to several shows in the theatre and they have all been wonderful. It seats a modest amount of people which I prefer as I feel less removed from the action. You can really see the actors and their nuances.Amazing theatre company.

Utterly shocking that in this current wake of significant increase in violence and discrimination against AAPI community, that such a racist and ignorant play is showcased at such a beloved theatre of Aurora. DO NOT recommend wasting time on coming to see 'colonization is terrible but pho is delicious'. The play's satire is so nauseating rude that I'm not even going to give it the proper capitalizations in its title. The play lacks even the most basic elementary research - It is offensively ignorant to the cuisine and history of Vietnam, Pot o feu is not pho or is remotely close to it. Which unsophisticated fool thought this is such an enlightening show that they must eat a bowl of pho after, should really pick up a comic book to read instead of recommending such a racist play. Disgusting. The writer and producer instead of taking the educational awareness of food culture appropriation, they choose the most insulting and childish stereotyping way. They are so tone deaf to the current outcry.

Today's ROTD was of the Aurora Theatre and it reminded me that I hadn't reviewed it, primarily because I haven't attended a performance here since I've been Yelping. It's a marvelous, intimate theatre. We first attended their performances at the Berkeley City Club before they built this theatre on Addison. We saw "Dear Master", an epistolary play about the relationship between Gustave Flaubert and Georges Sand at least once, maybe twice. There were 3 or 4 rows of seats surrounding the performance space. I had seen a lot of theatre, but this was the most intimate experience I had ever had. When I cried I felt as if the actors could see me. When they built this theatre we had season tickets for a few seasons and then we stopped going, probably because we saw a couple of plays we didn't like and stopped subscribing. Our loss, because their play selections and reviews have been good.

If you like intimate, local theatre, then you will like seeing performances at this Berkeley theatre.You have to be prepared to be just a few feet away from the actors! If it's your first time experiencing this, it's quite engaging, as you are drawn right into the play : )For those who have attended small stagings at San Francisco local theatre companies, this East Bay theatre is worth a visit.Each season is different from the next. They even host special engagements.If you need discounted tickets, there are opportunities for students, teachers, military, and more to receive reasonably priced seating. Just check on their website.They are located on Addison Street within walking distance of Downtown Berkeley BART and right across the street from a public parking garage. There is also street parking available.

This community theater is so cozy and inviting you might think it's an amateur affair but on the contrary it is quite impressive. I've attended two productions here and both have demonstrated emotive depictions of real world experiences. To my liking both plays also had a tone of advocacy which clearly presents and represents a treasured Berkeley vibe. Two things I appreciate most is that the theater is dedicated to sharing their artistic talent and venue with local students, and the uncustomary design of the stage which is surrounded by the audience on three sides (providing a small amphitheater effect). A play well done in such an intimate venue helps the audience be slightly more than a spectator, you're more like the proverbial "Fly on the Wall" being privy to every sensational nuance. This is my favorite space within the Berkeley theatre enclave.

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Once upon a time, Downtown Berkeley's Aurora Theatre prided itself on its intimate space: a small stage flanked by limited seating on three sides, actors passing back and forth so that with front row seats you often had to draw your feet in to let them pass. The chamber orchestra-like setting was its selling point, and distinguished it from other local theaters, like the much larger Berkeley Repertory Theatre down the street.No longer. Aurora is suffering from Covid-trauma, and fretting over its worrisome, possibly germy, claustrophobic confines, at a time when most cultural venues, like theaters and museums, are having major difficulties getting people back inside their doors, and are cutting back budgets or even closing. Too many former attendees discovered the ease of at-home streaming, at less cost and without having to drive or bus.Aurora management's response to this crisis has been counter-intuitive. Long after other local theaters like Shotgun Players (which staged a widely successful 2022 bacchanalian production of "Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812," serving mixed drinks, food and even constructing a temporary stage to place the actors in the midst of the audience) and Berkeley Rep ended mask mandates, not to mention local museums, even Kaiser Hospital (!), Aurora kept their mask policy firmly in place.Even in the upcoming season, two performances a week will be mask mandatory, despite local, state, and federal governments having long since announced the pandemic was over and Covid becoming an endemic problem like the flu, largely manageable with vaccine and self-isolation of the unwell.Perhaps this outlier rigidity--theater not as entertainment and fun but spinach and liver good for you, like it or not--is a nod to Aurora's decidedly senior audience, or an ingrown management unable to shift gears, and digging in its heels. (This rigidity is reflected in the Yelp posting by Rae S. who found the theater doors locked at 8:02, even thought the performance hadn't yet begun.)Other cultural venues have found innovative ways to grow audiences in these trying times, from discounted tickets to perks like refreshments. The New Parkway movie theater, in Oakland's Temescal neighborhood, is thriving with meals, drinks, and friendly staff, while Berkeley is down to one remaining movie theater.And in the town where the Free Speech Movement was birthed, Aurora kept detailed, critical records on long-time (since 2015) season ticket holders and donors, like yours truly, who dared to question their orthodoxy and complain in emails and in person about Aurora's inability to adjust their protocols with the changing reality, and on the basis of the best science.Too bad for Aurora and the actors and support staff who depend upon robust ticket sales, word of mouth, and the goodwill of patrons. Aurora occupied a unique position in local theater: not as edgy or provocative as Shotgun, with its own small theater, or as commercial and hit-driven as Berkeley Rep, but with a record of good, often excellent, always professional, productions, showcasing local talent.Aurora management is loving their small theater with dwindling attendance to death.

Excellent venue and often excellent plays.We went again today for "born with teeth". It was amazingly good. the place is small enough that you really enjoy the play almost as living it in person.The staff is super-nice, easy to get by BART and you are in the middle of Berkeley.Abolutely recommended!

We saw Born with Teeth Sunday afternoon and were spellbound. The acting was especially dynamic and convincing, most especially Dean Linnard, who plays Christopher Marlowe. His body language was perfect. Great dialogue, intriguing plot and fascinating relationship between the two men. My husband is blind so we only go to the one- or two-person plays where the play is mostly dialogue and he will be able to follow without my filling in what is going on. He was totally caught up in it as well.Thanks to everyone involved. It's a real winner!