Theater Director & Actress Barbara Oliver: 1927-2013

Barbara Oliver's death at age 85 at her Berkeley home on Monday was memorialized in several obituaries this past week.

Ms. Oliver is remembered for many things, not just the large number of works she performed in and directed in Berkeley and the East Bay but also her drive, dignity, cheerful disposition, talent and a demeanor that conveyed a keen understanding and a readiness to be delighted by life's surprises.

She may be best known for her seminal role in founding Berkeley's Aurora Theatre Company, which grew originally out of collaboration on a new play by Dorothy Bryant, Dear Master, premiered in 1991 at Berkeley City Club.

The San Francisco Chronicle's obituary on Thursday noted that she was sometimes called "the leading lady of the Berkeley stage.

The San Jose Mercury News called her "a pillar of the Bay Area theater scene and the founder of Berkeley's celebrated Aurora Theatre" and a "silver-haired dynamo with a keen intellect and a quick wit."

Berkeleyside referred to her as "an instrumental figure in Bay Area theatre for more than 40 years."

Ms. Oliver was born in Ohio and studied theater at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University), where she met her future husband, William Oliver. The couple moved to Berkeley in 1958 when William took up a position teaching theater at UC Berkeley.

The Museum of Performance & Design recorded an oral history of Ms. Oliver, which is accessible as an audio file and transcript on the museum's website.

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