Aurora Theatre Company Extends TALLEY'S FOLLY Into June

Due to popular pre-sale demand, Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will again extend Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning TALLEY'S FOLLY, the second fully staged production to be performed in the company's second stage performance space, Harry's UpStage. The company will add an additional two weeks of performances to the previously added sixth show to performance weeks and two-week extension. Aurora Theatre Company pays homage to Lanford Wilson with "The Talley Trilogy." Acclaimed Bay Area actress and director Joy Carlin (After the Revolution, Body Awareness, Jack Goes Boating, Awake and Sing!) directs the first entry in this series of three interrelated plays, featuring Lauren English (Seminar at San Francisco Playhouse) and Rolf Saxon (After the Revolution).

TALLEY'S FOLLY will be the second Harry's UpStage production in a row to extend during ticket pre-sale since the space opened last April with John W. Lowell's political thriller THE LETTERS. The company was not expecting such a response to the Harry's UpStage shows; TALLEY'S FOLLY sold out a year in advance warranting a second two-week extension to be added. TALLEY'S FOLLY now plays April 2 through June 7, 2015 (Tues at 7pm, Wed-Sat at 8pm) at Harry's UpStage, located in the Nell and Jules Dashow Wing at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

In a season dedicated to his memory, Aurora Theatre Company pays homage to one of the most prolific and revered American playwrights of the 20th century, Lanford Wilson, with "The Talley Trilogy." The first entry in this series of three interrelated plays is TALLEY'S FOLLY. It's the Fourth of July, 1944 in Lebanon, Missouri. Matt Friedman, a Jewish accountant from St. Louis, has arrived to plead his love to well-to-do gentile Sally Talley. A rocky courtship the previous summer might have ended when Sally stopped replying to Matt's letters, but Matt never gave up hope and has showed up unexpectedly at Sally's home, refusing to accept her rebuffs and fears that her family would never approve of their marriage. Charming and indomitable, Matt steadily presses his case and overcomes Sally's defenses, telling her his innermost secrets and, in return, learning hers as well. Gradually he awakens Sally to the possibilities of a life together where two wounded hearts can become whole.

Joy Carlin, who played Sally Talley in American Conservatory Theater's 1979 production of Wilson's Fifth of July, directs this romantic theatrical waltz about which the New York Post said, "It is perhaps the simplest, the most lyrical play Wilson has written...funny, sweet, touching and marvelously written," and which The New York Times called "a play to savor and cheer." TALLEY'S FOLLY premiered on Broadway in 1980 and received a critically acclaimed off Broadway revival in 2013.

Veteran Bay Area actress and director Joy Carlin helms TALLEY'S FOLLY. Carlin attended the Yale School of Drama and is an original member of Chicago's Playwrights' Theatre; she has been a leading actress, director, and teacher in the Bay Area since 1969. Carlin served as the Associate Artistic Director of the American Conservatory Theater from 1987-1992, was an actor and resident director at Berkeley Repertory Theatre from 1981-1984, and served as its Interim Artistic Director from 1983-1984. For Aurora Theatre Company, Carlin most recently directed After the Revolution at Aurora; she directed last season's hit production of Annie Baker's Body Awareness, as well as productions of Clifford Odet's Awake and Sing!, Bob Glaudini's Off Broadway hit Jack Goes Boating, Terry Johnson's Hysteria, John Guare's Bosoms and Neglect, Arthur Miller's The Price, Conor McPherson's Dublin Carol, David Mamet's The Old Neighborhood, and Michael Frayn's Benefactors. In addition to starring in Aurora Theatre Company's productions of Our Practical Heaven, Thérèse Raquin, and The Belle of Amherst, she has appeared in multiple stage roles at American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, and San Jose Repertory Theatre, among others. Carlin is the recipient of numerous Bay Area Critics Circle Awards and Dramalogue Awards for both acting and directing.

Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937 - March 24, 2011) was an American playwright who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. He was nominated for three Tony Awards and has won a Drama Desk Award and five Obie Awards. In 1962, he moved to New York and began to write plays for Off-Off-Broadway theaters. He worked at odd jobs before finding a job in the subscriptions office of the New York Shakespeare Festival and began his professional career as a playwright writing one-act plays for Caffe Cino, a coffeehouse and small theater run by Joseph Cino, a pioneer of the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. In 1965, Wilson also began writing plays for Ellen Stewart's La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, where his first full-length plays premiered. Wilson was a co-founder of Circle Repertory Company, for whom he wrote many plays in the 1970s. His play Fifth of July was first produced at Circle Rep in 1978; for its Broadway production opening in 1980, he received a Tony Award nomination. A prequel, Talley's Folly (1979 at Circle Rep.), opened on Broadway before Fifth of July and won him the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and his first Tony nomination. Wilson's works for the stage include: Home Free! (1964); The Madness of Lady Bright (1964); Balm in Gilead (1965); Ludlow Fair (1965); Wandering (1966); The Rimers of Eldritch (1967); The Gingham Dog (1968) (Wilson's first Broadway production in 1969); Lemon Sky (1968); Serenading Louie (1970); The Hot l Baltimore (1973); The Mound Builders (1975); Fifth of July (1978; Broadway 1980-82); TALLEY'S FOLLY (1979; Broadway 1980); A Tale Told (1981, later revised and renamed Talley & Son); Angels Fall (1982; Broadway 1983); Burn This (1986; Broadway 1987-88); Abstinence (1989); Redwood Curtain (1992; Broadway 1993); A Sense of Place (1996); Sympathetic Magic (1998); Book of Days (2000); Rain Dance (2002). Lanford Wilson died on March 24, 2011, at the age of 73, from complications with pneumonia.

Located in the Dashow Wing at Aurora Theatre Company, Harry's UpStage is the company's second stage performance space. Longtime Aurora subscriber and supporter Harry Weininger passed away in May 2010; his family, who knew of his dedication to Aurora, wanted to honor him and made a generous donation to Aurora to outfit the Dashow with a new lighting package, curtains, a stage, and furniture. Harry's UpStage is used for live cabaret and second stage events at Aurora.

Aurora Theatre Company continues its 23rd season in January with the Bay Area Premiere of Nicky Silver's viciously hilarious Broadway hit THE LYONS directed by Barbara Damashek. The company pays homage to Lanford Wilson with "The Talley Trilogy" in April with the Pulitzer Prize-winning TALLEY'S FOLLY, directed by Joy Carlin in the company's second stage performance space, Harry's UpStage, followed by FIFTH OF JULY, helmed by Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross. As a special addition to the 23rd season, and completing the trilogy, Aurora will present readings of Wilson's rarely performed play TALLEY & SON in April, directed by Jennifer King. Aurora Theatre Company closes its 23rd season in June with the Bay Area Premiere of Lisa D'Amour's wicked Obie-winning satire DETROIT, directed by Josh Costello.

Voted Best Theater Company in 2012 by SF Weekly, Aurora Theatre Company continues to offer challenging, literate, intelligent stage works to the Bay Area, each year increasing its reputation for top-notch theater. Located in the heart of the Downtown Berkeley Arts District, Aurora Theatre Company, declared "one of the best regional theaters around" by 7x7 magazine, has been called "one of the most important regional theaters in the area" and "a must-see midsize company" by the San Francisco Chronicle, while The Wall Street Journal has "nothing but praise for the Aurora." The Contra Costa Times stated "perfection is probably an unattainable ideal in a medium as fluid as live performance, but the Aurora Theatre comes luminously close," while the San Jose Mercury News affirmed Aurora Theatre Company is "arguably the finest small theater in the Bay Area," Stark Insider said "The Aurora excels at smart theatre that takes you out of your world without wasting your time," and the Oakland Tribune stated "it's all about choices, and if you value good theater, choose the Aurora."

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