Aurora Theatre Company re leaving their decade-long home at the Berkeley City Club in 2001 by saying good-bye with a production of A Life in the Theatre. The David Mamet drama runs June 8-July 15 with an opening June 14.

The 1977 play is the story of two actors, the experienced, disillusioned actor Robert and an anxious young beginner, John. The youngster meets Robert with excitement but soon finds that his mentor has found nothing in theatre, but meaninglessness. Mamet's best-known works are Sexual Perversity in Chicago, American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross and Oleanna.

Warren Keith and Michael Shipley star as Robert and John, respectively. Keith previously appeared at the Aurora in Death Defying Acts, as well as several Coen Brothers films ("Raising Arizona," "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski"). Shipley recently played Orsino in Twelfth Night and Greg in The Sum of Us at the New Conservatory Theatre Center.

Nancy Carlin directs. She recently directed Proposals for Center Repertory Company and performed in the Aurora Theatre Company's Rocket to the Moon and Nora, an adapation of A Doll's House.

Tickets are $26-$30. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Avenue. For tickets, call (510) 843-4822. The Aurora Theatre Company is on the web at http://auroratheatre.org. *

In the fall, the Aurora Theatre Company will open its new space in Berkeley's Arts District, having raised one half of the $2 million needed for the project. When the company moves, Tom Ross will assume the role of producing director, sharing artistic resposibilities with co-founder Barbara Oliver.

— By Christine Ehren