'THE COVERLETTES COVER CHRISTMAS' Brings the Jingle to the Aurora 12/15 - 12/27

Bee-hive yourself for the holidays. The jingle bells will rock again this holiday season when THE COVERLETTES COVER CHRISTMAS returns to the Aurora. Featuring three of the Bay Area's finest female vocalists (Darby Gould of Jefferson Starship, Katie Guthorn from A Karen Carpenter Christmas, and Star Search winner Carol Bozzio Littleton) with live musical accompaniment under the direction of Randy Craig, THE COVERLETTES COVER CHRISTMAS plays for 11 performances only, December 15-27, at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($25-28) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

Following in the great tradition of 1960's girl groups like The Ronettes, The Marvelettes, The Crystals, and The Shangri-Las, THE COVERLETTES COVER CHRISTMAS finds legendary (and fictitious) singing sensations The Coverlettes dusting off their harmonies and their bee-hives to celebrate the season. Featuring some of pop music's greatest girl group hits and holiday classics, including "He's A Rebel," "You Keep Me Hanging On," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and "White Christmas," and a tribute to songwriter Ellie Greenwich ("Leader of the Pack," "River Deep, Mountain High," "Da Doo Ron Ron"), this new edition of last season's tuneful yuletide treat is sure to bring down the house again.

Singer Darby Gould has been performing for 30 years. In 1992, she was invited to join Jefferson Starship the Next Generation, replacing Grace Slick as the lead singer; she appears on their most recent recording, "Jefferson's Tree of Liberty," released in September 2008. Additional credits include a featured role in the popular stage production Tony & Tina's Wedding, and her voice can be heard in the Sims 2 Nightlife computer game. She continues to tour with Jefferson Starship and various other bands throughout the Bay Area.

Katie Guthorn started singing in her first cover band, Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra (later Big Bang Beat), in 1983. As a background vocalist, she performed with Ronnie Spector, Bonnie Raitt, Eddie Money, Martha Reeves, The Doobie Brothers, and members of the Grateful Dead. Additionally, she sang and co-wrote a number of songs that topped the Billboard dance chart for the group Modern Rocketry. From 1992 to 2002, Guthorn starred in A Karen Carpenter Christmas in San Francisco and Seattle, for which she earned a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical.

Carol Bozzio Littleton topped the Billboard dance charts performing as part of the all girl group Modern Rocketry; as a singer and songwriter, she performed on Star Search and MTV. She has recorded and toured nationally, often as a featured soloist, with a 200-member gospel choir under the direction of Reverend James Cleveland, and with the Bud E. Luv Orchestra. She is currently a principal singer, actor, and dancer for Scandur and Company Productions.

Musical Director and pianist Randy Craig has written more than 40 scores for the stage and 16 scores for feature films. He has participated in two Obie Award-winning plays and scored an Academy Award-nominated feature film. His work has been seen and heard at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, among others. A recipient of a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Score, Craig has worked with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, was a founding member of The Pickle Family Circus, and has been a composer and musical director at many San Francisco theatres.

Drummer Vince Littleton can be heard playing on CDs featuring such artists as Dr. John, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, Rick Danko, Trey Anastasio, John Popper, Big Bang Beat, Molly O'Brien, Michael Mannering, and Johnnie Johnson. Currently a member of Super Diamond, Littleton spent seven years touring and recording with Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band, and three years with The Mermen.

Bass player MaurIce Tani is a songwriter, musician, vocalist, record producer and native San Franciscan. He has toured and recorded three albums with seminal punkabilly group Roy Loney & The Phantom Movers, and has been singer/guitarist with R&B party bands Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat for 15 years. Tani has produced CDs for Americana artists such as Calamity & Main and Misisipi Mike Wolf; he currently leads the group 77 El Deora, for whom he has produced 2 CDs.

Following THE COVERLETTES COVER CHRISTMAS, Aurora Theatre Company Artistic Director Tom Ross helms the World Premiere of Joel Drake Johnson's THE FIRST GRADE in conjunction with this year's GAP new works festival in January. Aurora Theatre Company founding Artistic Director Barbara Oliver returns in April to direct Henrik Ibsen's masterwork John Gabriel BORKMAN. Closing the season is the Bay Area Premiere of Stephen Karem's innovative comedy SPEECH & DEBATE directed by Robin Stanton in June.

Aurora Theatre Company continues to offer challenging, literate, intelligent stage works to the Bay Area, each year increasing its reputation for top-notch theatre. Located in the heart of the Downtown Berkeley Arts District, Aurora Theatre Company has been called "one of the most important regional theaters in the area" 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] lives up to its reputation as a theater that feeds the mind," and the Oakland Tribune declared "it's all about choices, and if you value good theater, choose the Aurora."

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, Koret Foundation, Norway House Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Shubert Foundation, The Tournesol Project, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, The Wood Foundation, and The Zellerbach Family Foundation.

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