ACCUSED! Comes to Central Works Berkeley in July

Central Works 2024 Season will continue with a comic murder mystery from the Central Works Writers Workshop, world premiere #74. Opening July 13 the comedy Accused! written by Patricia Milton, directed by Kimberly Ridgeway running July 13–Aug 11 (previews July 11 & 12) at the historic Berkeley City Club. Just as the Lady Detectives have accepted a new murder case,  a dead body turns up in the parlor of the Hunter Lodging House, the evidence  points to Victorian Lady Detective Katie Smalls herself as the prime suspect. The trail of clues leads our intrepid detectives into a murderous web of anarchists and religious fanatics in their most daring caper yet!

Patricia Milton is a resident playwright at Central Works, and her plays have been produced around the world. Her productions at Central Works include The Engine of Our Disruption, Bamboozled (Outstanding Production, East Bay, and Outstanding Ensemble, Theatre Bay Area), Hearts of Palm, Reduction in Force, The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective (BroadwayWorld Critics Choice “Best of Maine” 2022, at The Public Theater) and Escape from the Asylum (Outstanding Production, 2022, SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle). Enemies: Foreign and Domestic was awarded Outstanding World Premiere Play by Theatre Bay Area. Her audio plays are Bystanders (Central Works) and The Law of Attraction (New Conservatory Theater Center, San Francisco). Without Mercy was commissioned and produced by Off-Broadway West. Her comedy Believers was produced in San Francisco (Wily West Productions) and ran for three years in Istanbul, Turkey. She is a former Regional Representative for the Dramatists Guild and former President, Playwrights Center of San Francisco.

The 2024 season continues with The Contest written by Gary Graves, Oct 19–Nov 17, World Premiere #75: an Exquisite Rivalry, Michelangelo vs Leonardo.

Now in its 34th season, Central Works continues to fill a special niche for theater artists in the San Francisco Bay Area, producing more new plays by local playwrights than any other company in the region. “The New Play Theater” utilizes three basic strategies: some are developed in the Central Works Writers Workshop, some are products of the Central Works Method, and some come to the company fully developed.

The Central Works Writers Workshop is an ongoing commissioning program established in 2012.  Twice a year, in 12-week sessions, 8 local playwrights are selected to develop projects through informal readings and carefully directed discussions.  Last season, both Patricia Milton's Engine of Our Destruction and Lauren Smerkanich's The Dignity Circle emerged from this program.

Central Works Method plays bring together writer, actors and director at the very outset of the playwriting process. In a supportive workshop environment, group research and collective brainstorming contribute to the entire development of the script.

Company Co-directors Jan Zvaifler and Gary Graves remain steadfast in their mission to develop and produce new works. “New plays are the lifeblood of the theater,” says Ms. Zvaifler. “We look at current events, politics, classic literature and traditional storytelling to bring our audience face to face with the challenges of our lives everyday, juxtaposed against the reflections of history, both recent and far-reaching. Given our current harrowing times, we all need an opportunity to pause, feel, think and act.” The special intimacy of the Central Works theater offers this in a truly unique package.

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