MEREDITH BEAN McMATH - artistic director / producer / instructor
McMath has garnered a reputation for producing high-quality theater in the area.
"McMath Brings Alcott Story to Life" - Anne Keisman Loudoun Times-Mirror, Nov. 10, 2004
Founding Artistic Director Meredith Bean McMath is a published author, prize-winning playwright and award-winning historian whose living history plays have been produced in a variety of museums, including The Newseum, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and the National Trust's Oatlands Plantation. Other of her plays have appeared up and down the east coast and "The Drinking Gourd: Songs and Stories of the Underground Railroad" has been produced across the country as well as in The Philippines. Her most recent work, an adaptation of Libbie Harrover Johnson's The Several Secrets of Will Monroe, was commissioned by The Gray Ghost Theatre Company of Manassas, Virginia and received an August 2007 staged reading directed by Rick Davis, Artistic Director of the Theatre of the First Amendment. Meredith is in post-production on her independent film Waterford's War, and recently directed the very first production in the new Franklin Park Performing and Visual Arts Center: Loudoun County's Very Special Arts production of of "Homeplace" by Alice Power.
Meredith is responsible for maintaing Aurora's high artistic quality and stands as producer of every Aurora offering, and directs and teaches, as well. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Arts Management at Shenandoah University.
While in college, Mike was trained in live TV direction by Bob Rippen (producer-director of the Howdy Doody Show) and became Rip’s assistant director. After graduating Rutgers in 1970, he became involved with Fluxus, the neo-Dadaist art conspiracy most well known for creating “Happenings” and other performance art, as well as for contributing to the break-up of the Beatles (both John Lennon and Yoko Ono were members of Fluxus in New York). Mike’s video documentation of one of the Fluxus group’s most striking performance pieces, Geoff Hendrick’s 1971 “Body/Hair,” was featured at the 1991 Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival at the Museum of Natural History in New York and can still be seen in certain, extremely avant-garde, art galleries around the world. While in New York City in the 1970s and early 1980s, Mike freelanced as a writer and editor, and as a voice-over artist in radio and TV and directed over a dozen political infomercials for radical causes, most of which were nationally broadcast. In 1988, he directed his last music video, a concert of Mozart and Beethoven by Norbert Brainin, the first violinist of the world-famous Amadeus Quartet. He has appeared in the Aurora productions of The Odd Couple as Oscar Madison and in Iron S’Kill-It as Furio Salvatorae and directed Aurora’s critically acclaimed fall 2007 production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap.
Directors Meredith Bean McMath and Diane El-Shafey gave us the glass slipper, and so much more, as Aurora Studio Theatre presented the Rodgers and Hammerstein version of CINDERELLA.
"Theatre Review" - David Sackrider Purcellville Gazette, May 5, 2006
Diane honed her musical theatre, acting, writing, directing and producing skills in California before arriving in Virginia nine years ago and has since directed The Growing Stage main stage production of The Fantastiks as well as youth theatre productions of Bye, Bye Birdie,Anything Goes, The Wizard of Oz, and Fiddler on the Roof. She's also served as Musical Director for The Growing Stage's Fame, West Side Story and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She has worked with students at Waterford Elementary School for several years, directing several original musical plays for which she wrote both music and libretto. Local acting credits include Mrs. Paroo in the The Growing Stage's Music Man and Mrs. VanDaan in The Diary of Anne Frank. She most recently appeared as Marmee in Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN. A well-known voice and piano instructor, Diane also acts as Artistic Director for the 1940's-era singing troupe Swingin' by a Star, who recently performed for the 2007 White House Christmas Tour. Diane has served as Musical Director for Aurora's The Pajama Game, Cinderella and Treasures: The Musical Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
A music teacher at Waterford, Hillsboro and Round Hill Elementary Schools in Loudoun County, Virginia, Carma serves as Assistant Musical Direcor for Aurora Studio Theatre, Inc. and plays piano and leads the worship team at Christ Community Lutheran Church in Leesburg, Virginia. A 1993 graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia, Carma played keyboard, flute, clarinet and saxophone for three summers with the Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre Orchestra. Shows included Candide, The Murder of Edwin Drood and Annie. She is also a singer and accompanyist for Swingin' by a Star. As Assistant Musical Director for Aurora Studio Theatre, Inc., she worked on the 2005 spring musical The Pajama Game, the spring 2006 production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella and Treasures: The Musical Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
James directed Aurora's first dinner theatre show, IronS'Kill-Itat Grandale Farm Restaurant and will co-direct Aurora's summer 2008 production of GuysandDolls. Previous directing credits include La Droit's Home Team at the Rosslyn Spectrum, You Can't Take it With You and Ten Little Indians. But James has been involved with all aspects of theater for the last twenty years. From acting to set design, lighting and sound, fight choreographer to stage manager, he has put his hand to just about every facet of the stage production. His interest in fight choreography and swordsmanship caused him to study with Society of American Fight Director Masters Michael Johnson, Brad Waller, and Robb Hunter. He co-taught Aurora's summer 2007 class "Swords and Stunts" with Stuntwoman Carolyn Christensen.
In his acting guise, James was last seen as John Hancock in 1776. He performed in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Dracula, and BarefootinthePark. His training in stage combat has given him opportunities for lead roles in RobinHood and The Three Musketeers. It has also led him to participate in the Maryland Renaissance Festival, the Arlington Waterfront Festival and The Washington Opera's production of Tristan and Isulde performed at the Kennedy Center.
CAROLYN CHRISTENSEN - instructor / fight choreographer / actor
Carolyn, a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University's theater performance program, has been working in theatres in Loudoun and Richmond for the past ten years. Carolyn's love of dance and theatre led her to finally focus her career in stage combat and stunt work. She was certified in six weapon forms by Dueling Arts International in 2003 and is listed as an Apprentice with the United Stuntsman's Association. She has choreographed contemporary violence for TheatreVCU, The Found Theater, Run Rabbit Run Productions, and numerous workshops and classes. Carolyn is a founding member of Blondes with Bladez and some of her favorite stunt disciplines include the iron fan, saddle falls, full body burns, quarterstaff and double rapier. She co-taught Aurora's summer 2007 class "Swords and Stunts" with Swordsman James Campanella. She is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Arts Administration at Shenandoah University.
Phil's career in improv had its roots in political street theatre in the 1970s and 80s in support of Richmond, Virginia neighborhood organizations and includes two seasons as n historical interpreter for the National Park Service where he portrayed the typical camp life of the Union Civil War soldier. He was co-founder of the Wise Guys, Inc. Comedy Auction Team in Richmond, a rag-tag group that combined fundraising for non-profit agencies with irreverent comedy. He has appeared locall in live radio productions such as The Tally Ho Radio Show's Arsenic and Old Lace and Nickelodeon, the Lincoln Preservation Foundation's 2003 production of All for the Union, Professor Bhaer in Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN, Hines in The Pajama Game, Officer Brophy in Arsenic and Old Lace and Frederick in Arms and the Highlander . His inspiration comes from classic radio comedians such Bob and Ray, as well as a broad array of public figures, and his favorite venue was the now-defunct Main Street Grill in Richmond, where politics, comedy and music were served alongside vegetarian food.
Artist Penny Hauffe grew up in South West Africa (now Namibia) where she expressed her enthusiasm for art by painting clothes on her toy bunny and shoes on to her bare feet. Encouraged by family and friends over the years, she attended art classes in California and the United Kingdom. Hauffe began her freelance art career in the United States in 1997 and has been busy painting ever since. She has lent her artistic talents to virtually every one of Aurora's sets. She began her work as an actor in Loudoun theatre with a turn in Blythe Spirit at Oatlands Carriage House Theatre and has since appeared in Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN, The Pajama Game, Officer Klein in Arsenic and Old Lace, and Mrs. Littlebone in Arms and the Highlander. Her most recent appearance was as Miss Roberta in The Gray Ghost, produced by Gray Ghost Theatre Company, a professional theatre company located in Manassas, Virginia.
Ben began acting while a high school sophomore playing the role of Flute, The Bellows Mender in Not Just Shakespeare, Inc.’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Since that time, he's appeared as Don John in Much Ado About Nothing, Count Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well, and as Laertes in Hamlet. Beyond the Bard's works, he's portrayed John Brooke in Little Women, Lieutenant Milbrowe in both the stage version (All for the Union!) and the independent film (WATERFORD'S WAR) based on a story by Meredith Bean McMath, and last summer starred as Colonel John Singleton Mosby in The Gray Ghost Theatre production of The Gray Ghost, produced at the Johnson Amphitheatre, Manassas, Virginia.
With an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and training at The William Esper Studio in New York, Bolton’s professional acting career includes a host of Shakespearean roles including work with La Mama ETC in New York City, and several productions of The Washington Shakespeare Company. In a February 6 Washington Post review, Bolton was singled out for praise for his work in Harold Pinter’s The Collection at Rep Stage in Columbia. A Loudoun native now living in Purcellville with wife Melissa Martin-Marsh and their three children, Bolton has been teaching High School Shakespeare workshops in Ann Arundel County for several years.
Drama Teacher, playwright, set designer and published author. Stoneberger is a 1986 MFA graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and teaches drama at Loudoun Valley High School in Purcellville, VA. His play list includes many pieces that break the ranks of typical high school theatre: they include Max Frisch’s The Chinese Wall, Konstanty Iidefons Gaiczynski’s The Little Theatre of the Green Goose, C. G. Bond’s The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Jean-Claude van Itallie’s “Interview” from America Hurrah.
While theater director (1988 - 1994) at Greenville, South Carolina’s Fine Arts Center, his drama casts won various state awards and he was honored with the 1992 Teacher of the Year award by the Center. In 1980, while teaching at Loudoun Valley High School in Purcellville, VA, his own one-act play, A Game won the right to perform at the Virginia High School League State Drama Festival at the University of Virginia Culbreth Theatre. His scene designs for Music Was His Mistress were used in the televised concert commemorative of Duke Ellington by Virginia Commonwealth University in 1983. He designed the scenery for Marvin’s Room and directed Eric Bogosian’s Drinking in America for Greenville’s Warehouse Theatre under the command of Jack Young, Artistic Director.
As an NYU Arts Scholar, he was chosen to participate in the first assemblage of arts researchists sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts at Tisch School of the Arts. Soneberger has done major work as a director/designer/actor and a presenter of workshops in various schools, colleges, universities, and theatres throughout the southeast. Among other original plays, he has created an adaptation of Barbara Robinson’s The Best School Year Ever, a new translation of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Rex, and an original two-act comedy entitled Here Comes the Sun. His essay, "Character and Keats” was published by Harvest literary magazine in 1976.
