Aurora Theatre Company presents A NUMBER By Caryl Churchill

Aurora Theatre Company presents the West End hit A NUMBER by influential British playwright Caryl Churchill with Barbara Damashek to direct. Set in the near future, the play explores human cloning, personal identity and the age-old debate of nature versus nurture.

A NUMBER plays March 9 through May 6, opening March 15, in Aurora's Second Stage performance space, Harry's UpStage, located in the Nell and Jules Dashow Wing.

The always inventive Churchill (Escaped Alone, Love and Information, Cloud Nine, Top Girls, Far Away, Bliss, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?) wrote A NUMBER during a period of intense public debate about the ethics of human cloning.

The play delves into the issue through the relationships between an aging father and his three adult sons; the second and third a clone of the first. When son Bernard discovers that he's not the only Bernard, a series of questions ensue that will take him and his father on a compelling psychological journey.

Barbara Damashek (Splendour, American Buffalo, Fat Pig) directs this unsettling study of family, identity and guilt that features, in his Aurora debut, Joseph O'Malley (Kennedy Center, Guthrie Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Cal Shakes), and Paul Vincent O'Connor (American Buffalo, Death Defying Acts).

Raising big ethical issues while exploring personal identity and second chances, A NUMBER had its world premiere in 2002 at London's Royal Court Theatre. The Evening Standard called the work an "An astonishing event." Said The Daily Telegraph: "...tremendous, moving, thought-provoking and dramatically thrilling."

Previews: March 9 - March 14. March 9, March 10 at 8 pm. March 11 at 2 & 7 pm, March 13 and 14 at 7 pm. Opens: March 15 at 8 pm. Closes: May 6. Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 pm; Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm. Sunday at 2 & 7 pm. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA

For single tickets ($33-$65) or subscriptions ($99-$360), the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. Half-off tickets for Under 35; student, and group discounts available. Pay-what-you-can previews: PWYC tickets available 30 minutes before curtain. Cash only. Subject to availability.

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