AURORA THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS WEST COAST PREMIERE OF OFF-BROADWAY HIT SATELLITES January 25-March 2, 2008 BERKELEY, Calif. (18 December 2007) Aurora Theatre Company proudly presents the West Coast Premiere of Diana Son s (Stop Kiss) recent Off-Broadway hit SATELLITES. Called an engrossing, unpredictable, and believable portrait by Newsday, SATELLITES finds humor and fulfillment in the most unexpected places. Kent Nicholson, who directed Aurora Theatre Company s acclaimed production of Small Tragedy, helms this incendiary piece starring Michael Asberry, Darren Bridgett, Lisa Kang, Julie Oda, Michael Gene Sullivan, and Ayla Yarkut. SATELLITES plays January 25 through March 2 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets and information ($28-50) the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. In SATELLITES, Nina and Miles, a couple who have just moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn with their newborn daughter, find no stability in their new home. When they move into a predominantly black neighborhood undergoing gentrification, the Korean-American architect and her African-American husband are welcomed by a brick thrown through the front window. The hole it creates opens the house up to a host of unexpected problems as they discover a 21 st century world in which tradition, social order, and economic and sexual boundaries are still constantly in flux. Hailed as tough-minded, softhearted and very likable by The New York Times, SATELLITES details a complicated American social order struggling to rearrange itself.
2-2-2-2-2-2-2 SATELLITES will be produced as the fully-staged production in The Global Age Project (GAP), an Aurora Theatre Company initiative that encourages playwrights and directors to explore life in the 21 st century and beyond. In addition, several new plays dealing with global age concerns will be chosen from an international pool of playwrights and presented in a series of developmental readings during the run of SATELLITES. Aurora Theatre Company has assembled an outstanding ensemble for SATELLITES. Michael Gene Sullivan makes his Aurora debut as Miles. Sullivan most recently starred in TheatreWorks production of Twelfth Night; additional credits include productions at A.C.T. (A Christmas Carol), Magic Theatre (Drifting Elegant), Berkeley Repertory Theatre (The Good Person of Szechuan), Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (Servant of the People) and San Francisco Shakespeare Festival (The Tempest, As You Like It), among others. Sullivan is a long-time member, head writer, and director with San Francisco Mime Troupe. Julie Oda makes her Aurora debut in SATELLITES as Miles wife, Nina. A regular at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where her credits include productions of As You Like It, The Importance of Being Earnest, and the World Premiere of Octavio Solis Gibralter, Oda has also appeared in regional productions at TheatreWorks (Joy Luck Club), A.C.T. (Hamlet, Charley s Aunt, Good with William Hurt), and Huntington Theatre (As You Like It). She appeared off- Broadway in The Winter s Tale, and has garnered roles on the daytime dramas One Life to Live and As the World Turns. Also featured in SATELLITES are Darren Bridgett as Eric and Michael Asberry as Reggie. Bridgett s credits include productions at TheatreWorks (Twelfth Night, The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue), Marin Theatre Company (The Good German, The Last Schwartz), and Magic Theatre (Drifting Elegant), among others. Asberry s credits include roles at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (Crumbs From the Table of Joy), Shotgun Players (There Will Be No Trojan War), and California Conservatory Theatre (I m Not Rappaport).
3-3-3-3-3-3-3 Rounding out the cast are Lisa Kang and Ayla Yarkut. Kang s previous credits include roles at Word for Word, Theatre Rhinoceros, and Calaveras Repertory Theatre; Yarkut s credits include productions at The Old Globe, San Diego Repertory Theatre, and North Coast Repertory Theatre. Director Kent Nicholson returns to Aurora Theatre Company, where he helmed the company s critically heralded production of Small Tragedy, to direct SATELLITES. Recent directing credits include the West Coast Premiere of The Good German at Marin Theatre Company and the World Premiere of We Are Not These Hands at Crowded Fire Theatre Company. Nicholson is the co-artistic Director of Crowded Fire Theatre Company and the head of TheatreWorks New Works Initiative; for TheatreWorks, he most recently directed Ambition Facing West, Vincent in Brixton, and an acclaimed revival of Arthur Miller s All My Sons. Additional directing credits include Sacrament! with Dave Eggers at Campo Santo, Five Flights starring Alice Ripley at the Rattlestick Theatre in New York, the World Premiere of Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue, and the American Premiere of Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones, both for the Magic Theatre, where he served as Associate Artistic Director. Nicholson has also directed notable productions of Barrio Hollywood for Borderlands Theatre and Swimming in the Shallows by Adam Bock (winner of Bay Area Critics Circle Awards for Best Production, Best New Play, and Best Ensemble) for Shotgun Players, where he also directed David Mamet s The Water Engine. New play development credits include pieces for TheatreWorks, Theatre of NOTE (LA), Playwrights Horizons (NY), and The Lark (NY). Playwright Diana Son s most recent work for the stage is SATELLITES, which received its World Premiere at The Public Theater in 2006. She is the author of Stop Kiss, which premiered at The Public Theater in 1998, and went on to win the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding New York production and a Berilla Kerr Award for Playwriting. Other plays include Fishes, Boy, R.A.W. (Cause I m a Woman), Stealing Fire, 2000 Miles, and Happy Birthday Jack. Son is currently a Supervising Producer for the hit NBC drama Law & Order: Criminal
4-4-4-4-4-4-4 Intent, and was previously a writer for NBC s The West Wing. She was a playwright-in-residence at the Mark Taper Forum and a visiting lecturer in playwriting at the Yale School of Drama; Son is an alumnus of New Dramatists. On the heels of a multi-record breaking 15 th season, 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, just steps away from BART, Aurora Theatre Company has been called One of the most important regional theaters in the area by the San Francisco Chronicle. 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. Following the West Coast Premiere of SATELLITES, Aurora Theatre Company presents the Professional World Premiere of Ellen McLaughlin s adaptation of the Greek tragedy THE TROJAN WOMEN in April, directed by Aurora Theatre Company founding Artistic Director Barbara Oliver. Keith Bunin s stirring THE BUSY WORLD IS HUSHED, directed by Robin Stanton, closes Aurora Theatre Company s 16 th season in June.
5-5-5-5-5-5-5 FOR CALENDAR EDITORS: WHAT: Aurora Theatre Company proudly presents the West Coast Premiere of Diana Son s (Stop Kiss) recent Off-Broadway hit SATELLITES. When they move into a predominantly black neighborhood undergoing gentrification, a Korean- American architect and her African-American husband are welcomed to their new home by a brick thrown through the front window. The hole it creates opens the house up to a host of unexpected problems as they discover a 21 st century world in which tradition, social order, and economic and sexual boundaries are still constantly in flux. Called an engrossing, unpredictable, and believable portrait by Newsday, SATELLITES finds humor and fulfillment in the most unexpected places. Kent Nicholson, who directed Aurora Theatre Company s acclaimed production of Small Tragedy, helms this incendiary piece starring Michael Asberry, Darren Bridgett, Lisa Kang, Julie Oda, Michael Gene Sullivan, and Ayla Yarkut. SATELLITES will be produced as the fully-staged production in The Global Age Project (GAP), an Aurora Theatre Company initiative that encourages playwrights and directors to explore life in the 21 st century and beyond. In addition, several new plays dealing with global age concerns will be chosen from an international pool of playwrights and presented in a series of developmental readings during the run of SATELLITES. DATES: SHOWS: WHERE: TICKETS: PHOTOS: Previews: January 25, 26, 30 at 8pm; January 27 at 2pm Opens: January 31, 2008 Closes: March 2, 2008 Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 2pm and 7pm Aurora Theatre 2081 Addison Street Berkeley, CA 94704 For tickets (previews $28, regular performances $40-42, limited opening night seating $50), and information, the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org. High-resolution art digital art can be found at http://www.cb-pr.com/press/satellites.html --30--