Moving into its 16th season, Lawrenceville’s Aurora Theatre survives by accepting certain realities: people love ghost tours; season ticket holders are not the sole path to longevity; elementary-school kids will not come to see plays on field trips unless they are planned carefully around the three separate runs bus drivers have to make twice a day in Gwinnett County.
These may seem some of the less romantic elements of the arts, but that kind of practicality is a job requirement for keeping theater alive in the suburbs during tough economic times.
Aurora serves and supports the unique culture of Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County in numerous ways. It hosts 300 different events a year. Those events include the popular Lawrenceville Ghost Tours, Funny Fridays comedy, Aurora Academy summer camps, discounted tickets and partnerships with local businesses and the Gwinnett County Library, and performances in Spanish.
The children’s series, Learning Library, incorporates the county’s Academic Knowledge & Skills (AKS) standards that shape the curriculum with study guides and talk-backs before and after each performance.
“Sometimes children’s theater consists of an actor dressed in jeans and white shirt pretending to be a lot of different people in the cafeteria auditorium before lunch,” said Associate Producer Ann-Carol Pence.
“There’s a place for that, but I think children need to walk into a building that is beautiful. They need to sit down and listen and observe and let all their senses be a part of learning."
Aurora is heading into the fall season with a new National Endowment for the Arts grant that is picking up the tab on one additional children’s show this year, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” aimed at third and fifth graders.
“We try to speak to every member of our community,” Pence said. “One of our Funny Fridays performers was a group called ‘The Muslims Are Coming.’ It was about religious tolerance.
"When I ask our visiting elementary school students how many of them speak a second language, about 50 percent of the hands go up. That’s why we present plays in Spanish. It’s how we bring our audience along. I really think theater and seeing plays is the only way to becoming the best citizen you can be.”
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