Aurora Theatre Company continues its dynamic 27th season with EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, based on the best-selling, critically acclaimed novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Tom Ross directs the West Coast premiere that features Adam Burch, Lura Dolas (Abigail's Party, The Persians) Jeremy Kahn (Dry Powder, Wittenberg), Marissa Keltie and Julian Lopez-Morillas (The Heir Apparent, The Homecoming). EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED runs November 9 - December 9 (Opens: November 15).
The stunning stage adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel by Simon Block tells the story of a young Jewish-American writer (also named Jonathan Safran Foer) who sets out for Ukraine to find the woman who he believes saved his grandfather from the Nazis, and the town they wiped off the map. Jonathan's tour guides are a pair of flamboyant Ukrainians, a grandfather and grandson with limited English skills and secrets of their own. As they travel into the unknown, along with the dog Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., they meet increasingly surreal characters, both fictional and real, as the past and present merge into an unforgettable journey.
Broadway World called EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED "RIVETING...MASTERFUL...THE JOURNEY AND THE PAYOFF ARE HUGE."
British playwright and screenwriter Simon Block's work for theatre includes Not a Game for Boys, Everything is Illuminated, and A Place at the Table. His television work includes Home Fires (ITV).
Jonathan Safran Foer is an American writer best known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and for his non-fiction book Eating Animals. His most recent novel, Here I Am, was published in 2016.
Tom Ross, Aurora's long-time artistic director, has staged 30 productions at Aurora, including Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance; Betrayal, and the USA premiere of Temple. He wrote and directed the long-running A Karen Carpenter Christmas, and for eight years was a producer of San Francisco's legendary Solo Mio Festival. Before coming to the Bay Area, Ross spent eight years at New York's Public Theater as executive assistant to Joseph Papp and co-director of play and musical development.
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