History
Stage Aurora is incorporated in the State of Florida (59-3666871) and NYC (84-4352359).
Stage Aurora Theatrical Company, Inc., theatre that enlightens, launched its Mainstage of Theatre, Dance, and Music in 2000 under the leadership of Darryl Reuben Hall. Stage Aurora began as an opportunity to provide the underserved community of Jacksonville’s Northside with professional theatre reflecting the Black experience. We aim to build bridges of understanding between cultures in relation to the human experience.
Stage Aurora works have been performed nationally in various states. In New York City, Stage Aurora is quickly making its mark with original productions The Dinner (2015 Midtown International Theatre Festival), and Drawn from the Water (St. James Presbyterian Church/ Harlem and Renew Queens in Astoria, NY), having received some support from the Dramatists Guild Fund, Actor's Equity Association, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and the Queens Council on the Arts. Also, Darryl Reuben Hall's Frat House (Atlanta Black Theatre Festival).
The Main Stage has produced 200+ productions including Pulitzer Prize Winners The Color Purple, Fences, Driving Miss Daisy, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Piano Lesson; and Tony Award Winners For Colored Girls Who..., Dreamgirls, The Wiz, and A Raisin in the Sun. Other favorites include Steel Magnolias, Crowns, Miss Ever's Boys, Mama, I Want to Sing, and Disney's High School Musical.
Original works include Dinner with Booker T. (Premiered in the 2019 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC); Sinner Man by Roumel Reaux, Trent Armand Kendall's Louis and Ella, Noble Lee Lester's Apostasy 360, Alzheimer's and Darryl Reuben Hall's Frat House, The Dinner, Harlem of the South, A Very Merry Jacksonville Christmas, and the upcoming Drawn from the Water. Children's include Brown vs. The Board of Education; FRIENDS: James, Mary, and George, SONG AND DANCE, and Field Trip Safari.
Critical success abounds: Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun ‘was both splendid and captivating', Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity 'All color and life and unbelievable, this is a miraculous spectacle of Biblical and artistic proportions'; Tom Stolz’s Mahalia as ‘an exceptional masterpiece’, and Darryl Reuben Hall’s Frat House 'Impressively choreographed, energetic, and lots of fun.'
Local, Statewide, and National recognition is seen through a variety of awards: State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs' Diversity and Inclusion Award, Rosetta LeNoire Award Nomination for Diversity from Actors' Equity Association; the Onyx Award, Individual Arts Award from the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, among others.
National celebrities who've graced our stage at Stage Aurora include: Ella Joyce, Tony Award Winner Melba Moore, T'Keyah Crystal Keymah, Daniel Beaty, Kim Coles among Artistic Associates: Angela Robinson (Tyler Perry's The Haves and The Have Nots, Broadway’s The Color Purple), Sondra Bonitto (Broadway’s Ragtime), Jannie Jones (Broadway’s The Full Monty), Roumel Reaux (Broadway’s The Wiz), and Natasha Yvette Williams (Broadway's The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess).