Aurora Theatre Company Presents The Bay Area Premiere Of Anna Ziegler's ACTUALLY

Aurora Theatre Company continues its dynamic 27th season with the Bay Area premiere of Anna Ziegler's ACTUALLY. Tracy Ward directs this powerful "he said/she said" that explores the intersection of race, gender, and sex on college campuses. Michael Curry and Ella Dershowitz each make their Aurora debut.

Aurora Theatre Company will add 13 performances to its Bay Area premiere of ACTUALLY, extending performances through May 5. There is no show Tuesday, April 23.

ACTUALLY runs March 8 - May 5 (Opens: March 14).

Investigating the hot-button topics of gender and race politics, Anna Ziegler ("newly and justly hot" -New York Times) tells a story about our crippling desire to fit in. Amber and Tom, both freshmen at Princeton, spend a drunken night together. Soon after, they find themselves testifying at a sexual misconduct hearing. As the two students, one black and one white, tell their stories, we are left wondering how to find certainty and justice when there are three sides to every story.

TheatreMania said ACTUALLY is "crafted with compassion, intelligence and insight."

Anna Ziegler is an award-winning American playwright. Her widely produced play Photograph 51 was selected as a "Best of the Year" play by The Washington Post (twice) and The Telegraph. Her play Boy was nominated for the 2016 John Gassner Award by the Outer Critics Circle, and ACTUALLY is the winner of the Ovation Award in Los Angeles for Playwriting of an Original Play. Her work has been produced on the West End, The Old Globe, Seattle Rep, and The Ensemble Studio, The Magic, and City Theatres, and developed at the Sundance Theatre Lab, The O'Neill Playwrights Conference, NY Stage & Film, amongst others. Anna is developing a television series for HBO and a screenplay for Scott Free Productions

Director Tracy Ward returns to Aurora with ACTUALLY, where she was previously a member of Aurora's Global Age Project Director's Council. Other directing credits include New Conservatory Theatre, Shotgun Players, Theatre Rhinoceros, Thick House, AlterTheater, Theater Artaud, Oakland Public Theater at Mills College, Word for Word, Z Space, and the Playground and Marin Fringe Festivals. She is an adjunct professor at the Academy of Arts College, San Francisco. She is a proud company member of Playground.

Aurora has assembled a talented cast for ACTUALLY.

Oakland-based actor and writer Michael Curry makes his Aurora debut with ACTUALLY. He was recently seen in the 2018 re-mount of Black Odyssey at Cal Shakes last year and was nominated for a TBA award for his work in Ubuntu Theater Project's production of Topdog/Underdog.

Ella Dershowitz also makes her Aurora debut. Locally, her stage credits include Capital Stage, City Lights, Marin Theatre Company. She's performed off-Broadway at Vineyard Theater, 59E59, The New Group, Clubbed Thumb, Attic Theater, and Theater Three, and regionally at Hudson Stage and Martha Vineyard Playhouse, among others. Her formal training is from Yale University and London Academy of Music & Art.

The creative team for ACTUALLY includes: Giulio Perrone--Set; Ulises Alcala--Costumes; Jim Cave--Lighting; and James Ard--Sound.

For single tickets ($35-$70) or subscriptions ($111-$396), the public can

call (510) 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org

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