Shows & Events

Josh Costello (Adaptor and Director) is the Artistic Director of Aurora Theatre Company. Throughout his career, Josh has worked to make theatre more accessible for more people, sharing a passion for the visceral experience of live theatre with new audiences and underserved communities. He was the founding Artistic Director of Impact Theatre, which focused on audiences in their teens and twenties. As the Artistic Director of Expanded Programs at Marin Theatre Company, Josh created and administered several programs that built relationships with new audiences. At Aurora, Josh initiated student matinee and Community Partner programs and led a revision of Aurora’s mission to emphasize the theatre’s role as storyteller to the community. Josh has directed Exit Strategy, The Importance of Being Earnest, Detroit, Wittenberg, and The Heir Apparent for Aurora, as well as the world premiere of Eureka Day, which won every Bay Area new play award. His world-premiere production of Aaron Loeb’s Ideation with the San Francisco Playhouse in both SF and NYC won the Glickman Award for best new play in the Bay Area and the Theatre Bay Area Award for Outstanding Direction, and was named a New York Times Critic’s Pick. Other directing work includes My Children! My Africa! at Marin Theatre Company, House of Lucky at Magic Theatre, and his adaptations of Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother and Aphra Behn’s The Rover. Josh was the Education Director at Marin Shakespeare Company, and a faculty member at Cal Shakes, ACT, SF Shakes, UC Riverside, Cal State Long Beach, South Coast Rep, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Josh holds a BFA in Theatre from Boston University, and an MFA in Directing from the University of Washington, Seattle. 

Ron Campbell (Count de Guiche) At the Aurora Theatre, Ron performed the one person show The Thousandth Night, plus Salome and Benefactors. He was lead clown in Cirque du Soleil's Kooza and Cecil B. DeGrille at Teatro ZinZanni and has performed everywhere from the streets of Paris to the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Fuji Dome in Japan, the Theatre of Epidaurus in Greece, The Habima in Israel, The Mercury Theatre, (Chicago) Huntington Theatre, (Boston) The Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Rep, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks, and The Actors' Gang. Favorite roles include Don Quixote, Sherlock Holmes, Richard the Third and Cyrano. Other One Man Shows: R. Buckminster Fuller, How to Fail, Shylock, The Dybbuk, The Boneman of Benares and A Tale of Two Cities. Awards include Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles Critics Circle Awards, TBA Awards for Lead Actor and the Fox Fellowship for Distinguished Achievement. For more check www.soarfeat.org. 

Steven Flores (Christian) is a bi-coastal actor originally from Northern California. He originated the role of Seketemaqua/Luke in “Manahatta” for its world premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Yale Repertory Theater. He has performed as Menelaus in “Helen” and Master Puppeteer for “Puppets & Poe” at Theatre of Yugen as well as for The UC Berkeley production of “Daughters of Leda” Other credits: “Last of the Caucasians” (The Barrow Group Theater Company, NY) “Delusion: The Blood Rite” (Haunted Play, Los Angeles), Jakubei in “A Noh Christmas Carol” (T. of Y. San Francisco) and Ba’Homa in “Pueblo Revolt” Alter Theater. TV/Film: The Monster Project, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Studied at the Herbert Berghof Studio, NY.

William Thomas Hodgson (Cyrano) is returning to the Aurora stage after Father/Daughter (2021). William is an artist and educator based out of Oakland, CA. After earning his MFA from UCSD, William became a founding member, and Co-Artistic Director of Oakland Theater Project. In 4 years at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival he played Romeo (R&J), Ferdinand (Tempest), and Stokes (How to Catch Creation) among others. Other shows include An Octoroon and Gloria (Mixed Blood Theater), It Can't Happen Here (BerkeleyRep), As You Like It (CalShakes), Calligraphy (TheatreWorks), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (La Jolla Playhouse), El Henry (SDRep), Shrek (Sierra Rep Theater), Seussical (Berkeley Playhouse), Every Brilliant Thing and I Am My Own Wife (Oakland Theater Project). William also choreographs (Tempest/OSF, Little Shop/TheatreWorks, Red Bike/CenterRep) and directs (Passing Strange/Shotgun Players, Fun Home, Ragtime/Berkeley Playhouse, Is God Is/OTP). 

Leontyne Mbele-Mbong (Roxane) was last seen at the Aurora in Bull in a China Shop, Temple and Breakfast with Mugabe. Recent shows: Fefu and her Friends at A.C.T., Lear at CalShakes. Some favorites: title role in Medea (TBA Award), and Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra (TBA Award Finalist) with African-American Shakespeare Company; The Half-Life of Marie Curie (TheatreSquared, Fayetteville, AK); Watch on the Rhine (Berkeley Rep/Guthrie Theatre), Top Girls, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Fences; Andromache, Candide, Richard III (3 times), Twelfth Night, and Intimate Apparel (Mayme; ARTY Award, best supporting actress).

 www.leontynembele-mbong.com

Adrian Roberts (Le Bret) is thrilled to be back working at the Aurora. Mr. Roberts was last seen at the Aurora as Willie in Master Harold And The Boys and The Bodyguard in Breakfast With Mugabi. Other Bay Area credits include Prospero/Caliban at Oakland Theater Project, Bob in Becky Nurse at Berkeley Rep, Macbeth in Macbeth at African American Shakespeare Co., Steve in A Lesson From Aloes at Z Space Below. Regional credits include three seasons at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ken in Playboy of The West Indies at Lincoln Center. Has appeared in such television shows as Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Chance, among others.