Aurora Theatre Company's AWAKE AND SING! Opens Its 18th Season On 8/27

Aurora Theatre Company sets the tone for its 18th season, a season focusing on ?family and fortune,? opening with Clifford Odets? classic Depression-era drama AWAKE AND SING! First produced in 1935 by The Group Theatre, AWAKE AND SING! covers a year in the life of an extended Jewish family that does whatever it takes to survive life in the Bronx. Written at the height of the Depression, this stirring family portrait depicts the too true-to-life economic hardships confronted by working-class families during the 1930s, documenting their dreams and disappointments, hopes, fears, and follies in the face of the American dream.

AWAKE AND SING! garnered two Tony Awards for its 2006 Broadway revival, called a ?stirring . . . still pungently funny play . . .[that] reminds us, the song of human aspiration is always sweet to hear? by The New York Times, and about which Variety said, ?the drama?s power creeps up on you. . . the rough-hewn poetry of Odets? idiomatic language . . . remains intoxicating.? Bay Area theater veteran Joy Carlin (The Price, Hysteria, Jack Goes Boating), who first directed this play for Berkeley Repertory Theatre 24 years ago, revisits this landmark drama for Aurora, featuring acclaimed actor Charles Dean (The Best Man, The Price, The Entertainer).

Previews: August 21, 22, 26 at 8pm; August 23 at 2pm
Opens: August 27
Closes: September 27, 2009

SHOWS:
Tuesdays at 7pm; Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 2pm and 7pm

Aurora Theatre
2081 Addison Street
Berkeley, CA

For single tickets ($15-$55) or subscriptions ($130-$235), the public can call
(510) 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org.

Aurora Theatre Company gratefully acknowledges the following Associate Sponsors for their support: Alison Teeman and Michael Yovino-Young.

Aurora Theatre Company gratefully acknowledges the following foundations and government agencies for their support: Actors? Equity Foundation, Alameda County Arts Commission, Berkeley Civic Arts Program & Civic Arts Commission, Dramatists Guild Fund, The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, and The Zellerbach Family Foundation.