Aurora Theatre Extends Bay Area Premiere of DETROIT Through July 26

Critics and audiences agree - DETROIT is smashing! Aurora Theatre Company announces that it will add an additional six performances of the Bay Area Premiere of Lisa D'Amour's (Anna Bella Eema, Airline Highway) wicked Obie-winning satire.

Josh Costello (Wittenberg) directs this explosive dark comedy, featuring Amy Resnick (Body Awareness, Collapse), Jeff Garrett, Luisa Frasconi, and Patrick Kelly Jones (Metamorphosis), that brilliantly captures our current economic moment.

DETROIT plays now through July 26 (added performances: Tuesday, July 21, 7pm; Wednesday, July 22, 8pm; Thursday, July 23, 8pm; Friday, July 24, 8pm; Saturday, July 25, 8pm; Sunday, July 26, 2pm) at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-50) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

In a first-ring suburb just outside of an unnamed city, barely middle class Ben and Mary welcome Sharon and Kenny, who have just moved into the long empty house next door. The neighborly connection they find threatens Ben and Mary's notion of the values that have long kept them on the straight and narrow middle class path as it is revealed that Sharon and Kenny met at rehab, neither is employed, and they don't own a stick of furniture. As the foursome bonds over backyard barbecues and remembered dreams, the quintessential American backyard party turns dangerous and threatens to destroy more than their friendship. Challenging assumptions about status, comfort, ambition, and community, DETROIT, called "A sharp X-ray of the embattled American psyche as well as a smart, tart critique of the country's fraying social fabric" by The New York Times, was a finalist for both the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Following DETROIT, Aurora Theatre Company opens its 24th season in August with the Bay Area Premiere of Marisa Wegrzyn's MUD BLUE SKY, directed by Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross, followed by the Bay Area Premiere of Pulitzer Prize-nominee Amy Freed's THE MONSTER-BUILDER, directed by Art Manke. Award-winning Bay Area auteur Mark Jackson returns to Aurora with the World Premiere of his play LITTLE ERIK in January, followed by the West Coast Premiere of Sarah Treem's THE HOW AND THE WHY, directed by Joy Carlin and staged in the company's second stage performance space, Harry's UpStage, located in the Nell and Jules Dashow Wing. The season continues in April with the West Coast Premiere of David Ives' THE HEIR APPARENT directed by Josh Costello. Timothy Near makes her Aurora directing debut with the company's season closer in June, Athol Fugard's modern classic "MASTER HAROLD"... and the boys.

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," and the Oakland Tribune stated "it's all about choices, and if you value good theater, choose the Aurora."

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