Central Works' 33rd Season to Begin with MONDRAGOLA in March

Central Works 2023 season will begin March 18 and runs through November 12, 2023 featuring the 3 new world premieres at the historic Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley. Central Works 2023 is filled with cons and conspiracies - 3 world premiere plays, 2 of which are written by women and developed in the CW Writers Workshop.

First up (Mar 18-Apr 16) is MONDRAGOLA, a new comedy from CW co-director/resident playwright Gary Graves. The play imagines an impoverished and exiled Niccolo Machiavelli in his later years, trying to get back into the good graces of the15th century Medici Court in Florence by presenting a farcical sex comedy he has written. Unwittingly, he steps into an attempt at a political coup. Politics, and playwriting, is a dangerous game! Performing Thur & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm

In the summer (Jun 24-July 23) comes a new play written by Lauren Smerkanich, THE DIGNITY CIRCLE. Angela, a Sacto real estate agent, is the facilitator of "Empowerment Sessions" for young women. She picks them up in the grocery store, offering them independence, community, fun, wealth and, above all, dignity...for a small fee. THE DIGNITY CIRCLE is a mystery wrapped up in a con-game. Ms. Smerkanich joined the CW Writers Workshop in 2020 where she developed the play. Performing Thur & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm

The Fall closes this 33rd Central Works season (Oct 14-Nov 12) with our award-winning resident playwright Patricia Milton's, THE ENGINE OF OUR DISRUPTION: a new comedy about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and bad behavior. Tech corporate giant BUBBLE is developing a device that will help users make ethical decisions. What could possibly go wrong there? Performing Thur & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm
Central Works is committed to premiering new works inspired by social issues, contemporary texts, and history.

CENTRAL WORKS 2023 SEASON

Conspiracies, Cons and Computers with a Conscience

MONDRAGOLA written by Gary Graves

Mar 18-Apr 16 (previews Mar 16 & 17) World Premiere #70: a comedy about Machiavelli directed by Jan Zvaifler

Times: Thur & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm

MONDRAGOLA features actors Monique Crawford, Edwin Jacobs, Rudy Guerrero (member AEA), and Steve Ortiz. The production has stage management by Natalia Rivera-Ramos, costume design by Tammy Berlin, prop design by Debbie Shelley and sound design by Gregory Scharpen.

*Mondragola: Italian for "The Love Root" (an aphrodisiac) The man history will come to know as the author of The Prince, the infamous "Handbook for Tyrants," Niccolo Machiavelli is in exile and struggling to get by as an itinerant playwright, writing farcical sex comedies to make ends meet. But a big break comes when he's invited to present a new play at an elite soiree in Florence. Little does he know, his play is merely bait to lure the Cardinal of Florence into an assassination plot. When Machiavelli realizes what's afoot, he must choose: is he with the conspirators, or against them? Either way, he could see his head wind up on the chopping block. Politics, and playwriting, is a dangerous game!

Gary Graves (playwright) has been a resident playwright and company co-director at Central Works since 1998. He has been a part of developing 70 world premiere productions with the company, many of which he has either written and/or directed. Some of the other plays he has written for the company include Wonderland, Chekhov's WARD 6, Palace Wreckers, Edward King, Machiavelli's The Prince, Project Ahab, Lola Montez, Enemy Combatant, The Mysterious Mr. Looney, Misanthrope, Mata Hari, and Pyrate Story. He directed the company's first collaboratively developed script, Roux, at the Berkeley City Club in 1997. He also leads the Central Works Playwriting Program, and teaches playwriting regularly at the Berkeley Rep School of Theater.

Jan Zvaifler (director) is a founding member of the company and co-director of Central Works along with Gary Graves. Among the plays by Gary Graves that she has directed are Wonderland, Robert Louis Stevenson: Jekyll and Hyde, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, RICHARD THE FIRST: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Lion and the Fox. Over Central Works past 32 seasons, she has also participated as an actor, designer, and producer. She has worked with many companies throughout the Bay Area, including the Berkeley Rep, Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theater Company, San Francisco Playwrights Foundation, and San Francisco Shakespeare Festival.

THE DIGNITY CIRCLE written by Lauren Smerkanich

Jun 24-Jul 23 (previews Jun 22 & 23) World Premiere #71: a new scheme from the Central Works Writers Workshop
Times: Thur & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm

You deserve it ... for a small fee "What would you do if I handed you forty thousand dollars?" That's the question Angela poses to a gathering of women at an introductory Empowerment Session. What she offers them is independence, community, fun, wealth, and perhaps above all-dignity. Judith finds Angela's offer irresistible, and joins The Dignity Circle. And it seems like Angela's promises are all coming true. But to move up the ladder in the organization, Judith must recruit a new member into the Circle. When she brings Heather in, the new recruit begins to question Angela's motives, as well as all she promises to those who join. What's really going on in The Dignity Circle?
Lauren Smerkanich (playwright), a graduate of The Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, is a writer-director currently based in Los Angeles. Recent honors include placing as a Semi-Finalist (Gigi Inherits Four Mink Coats) and Second-Rounder (Boil) in the 2021 Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition. Recent favorite credits include writing and directing A Glass of Wine for Animal House's Backyard Plays series, and assistant directing on Poor Clare at The Echo Theater Company (winner "Best Production," 20-21 LA Drama Critics Circle Awards). Additionally, Lauren has recently participated in a writing residency at The Writer's Colony in Eureka Springs, AR, and is a Guest Teaching Artist with The Atlantic Theater Company's Access Success Program.

THE ENGINE OF OUR DESTRUCTION written by Patricia Milton

Oct 14-Nov 12 (previews Oct 12 & 13)

World Premiere #72: a new comedy about bad behavior from the Central Works Writers Workshop Artificial intelligence meets Authentic Misconduct
Times: Thur & Fri 8pm, Sat 7pm, Sun 5pm

Kamiri is the newly-hired Chief Ethics Officer of a mega-tech company named Bubble, where Artificial Intelligence promises to open up a whole new world of technological possibilities. But when Kamiri discovers that Bubble is developing a new wearable device intended to guide users in their day-to-day ethical decisions, she finds herself in an ethical dilemma of her own. Will she risk her job in order to do the right thing? What is the right thing to do? Oh, and her boss is an ex-lover. What does Artificial Intelligence have to say about that?

Patricia Milton (playwright) is Resident Playwright at Central Works, and her plays have been produced around the world. Her productions at Central Works include 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 Theatre) and Escape from the Asylum. Enemies: Foreign and Domestic (Central Works) 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 in Istanbul, Turkey. She is a former Regional Representative for the Dramatists Guild.

Central Works The Company

For over three decades Central Works has filled 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 products of the Central Works Method, some are developed in the Central Works Writers Workshop, and some come to the company fully developed.

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.
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 Cristina García's King of Cuba and Patricia Milton's Bamboozled emerged from this program, followed by two more this season. For more information, visit our website: www.centralworks.org

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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