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March 2024 by Ray Archie
Blue Door at Aurora will be amazing!!! It's opening on April 19th, 2024 for Previews.
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December 2023 by Anton Chuvakin
Loved the play, we will definitely be back
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December 2023 by Dallas Cook
Wonderful production, excellent acting, exquisitely choreographed.
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December 2023 by Michael Rosenblum
Intense theater in a small venue.
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November 2023 by Wilson G.
Attending the Tribute to Lady GAGA.Waste of time and money. The music was too loud, the singer couldn't be heard, and lacked costumes, not at all like the YouTube promo for this group. Some people walked out and a small crowd. A real disappointment.One star at most.
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October 2023 by Robert B.
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.
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September 2023 by Lu La
Just saw Born with Teeth and it was SUCH a treat—incredibly written play, superbly acted. The Aurora is a lovely, intimate venue without a bad seat in the house.
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September 2023 by Gail E.
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!
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September 2023 by Luca R.
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!
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September 2023 by Christine F.
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.
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July 2023 by Diana Krampf
Hurricane Diane was excellent, funny, sexy, and thought provoking. So much fun!
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July 2023 by Richard Elliott
What a treat it was to attend the Aurora Theater company's production of Hurricane Diane this past weekend the intimacy of the space is its strength with four rows of seats in a semicircle thrust pattern around the playing area the audience is never more than 10 or 12 feet from what's going on on stage. The production values of the theater company are first class scenery lighting costuming it's a little Jam in downtown Berkeley right next to Berkeley Rep on Addison making a little theater row for those of us in the East Bay the road theater company has got a number of discount pricings for their tickets depending on the group you may fit into students seniors teachers returning ticket holders friends of ticket holders you name it so if you plan to go which I highly encourage check out their website or talk to someone who has a ticket in that case $10 off but go help keep Live Theater thriving as it is in downtown Berkeley
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June 2023 by Samuel Murray
Love it
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June 2023 by gregory pearson
Great place to see a play: small, close to the action, fun. Witnessed the public reading of a play in the works of a friend. Very cool environment, inclusive in the best sense. Check it out.
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May 2023 by David Gluss
We saw Cyrano here; it was excellent.
