Patricia Milton's HEARTS OF PALM Extended at Central Works

Central Works (CW) world premiere of Patricia Milton's political comedy Hearts of Palm has been extended through Sunday, August 21. The tremendous SRO response that Hearts of Palm has received from the environmental community and the community at large has encouraged this extension. The very funny Hearts of Palm follows the success of Patricia Milton's Central Works 2015 hit Enemies: Foreign and Domestic.

Patricia Milton remarks "Palm oil is produced often by slaves or with child labor, on stolen land, and causing terrible environmental destruction. But rather than preach about it, Hearts of Palm tells a story about people making ethical choices." Milton continues "Hearts of Palm was written out of an interest in corporate Colonialism; the play satirizes and subverts several well-worn tropes, including unrequited love, the white savior complex, and the notion that women don't know how to negotiate..."

Central Works has partnered with Survival International and Friends of the Earth to distribute information to audiences, engaging all who are inspired by the play to take action to help make a difference.

In Hearts of Palm a small Southeast Asian island is visited by a team of corporate negotiators intent on expanding a palm oil plantation. When a company rep goes rogue and joins the local rebel resistance, Viola Wells takes charge as Lead Negotiator. While fending off the unwanted advances of a corporate teammate, "Vi" must come to terms with the true nature of her employer: multinational conglomerate, Empire Holdings, Ltd. Hearts of Palm features actors Frieda de Lackner, John Patrick Moore (member AEA), Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Michelle Talgarow, and Jan Zvaifler. Hearts of Palm costumes are by Tammy Berlin, sound by Gregory Scharpen, and props by Debbie Shelley. Central Works celebrates a continuing commitment to new work drawing from history, literature and events in our contemporary world that affect life as we live it.

IF YOU GO:

Hearts of Palm

Written by Patricia Milton

Directed by Gary Graves

(originally scheduled to close Aug 14)

EXTENDED THROUGH August 21

At: The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.

Performances: Thurs., Fri.& Sat. 8 pm, Sun. 5 pm

Ticket prices: $30 online at centralworks.org, $30-$15 sliding scale at the door.

Tickets: 510.558.1381 or centralworks.org

Patricia Milton (Playwright)

Patricia Milton is an award winning playwright whose work is produced throughout the country and abroad. In 2016 Milton's "Believers" was recently produced by Lavanta Productions in Istanbul, Turkey, and Paper Wing Company, in Monterey, CA, and her play "Strange Bedfellows" will be produced by Khaos Company Theatre in Indianapolis. Last season for Central Works, Milton's "Enemies: Foreign and Domestic" was awarded "Outstanding World Premiere" to by Theatre Bay Area (TBA) when judged against all TBA Bay Area theater companies. In 2011, her Central Works Method play, "Reduction in Force", was voted the SF Broadway World award for "Best Local Play in the San Francisco Bay Area." Her comedy Solving Sunflowers was a winner of the 2009 Eudora Welty New Play Series, and was a Finalist in the 2010 Players Guild Theatre New Play Competition. It premiered in 2013 at the East Mountain Center for Theatre in New Mexico, as the winner of the EMCT New Mexico Centennial Playwriting Contest. The apocalyptic romantic comedy, Believers, was developed at the 2010 Playwrights Revolution at Capital Stage Theatre in Sacramento, Playwrights Center of San Francisco, and Wily West Productions' 2011 staged reading series in San Francisco and was fully produced in 2012. The Only Virgin in Jubilee County, winner of the 2007 Hill Country Playwriting Festival, premiered at the Hill Country Community Theatre in Texas, and is published by Eldridge Publishers.

Ms. Milton is co-author with Andrew Black of three full-length comedies which have been produced in New York City, Palm Springs, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, and elsewhere. Her short works have been published by Original Works Publishing, and the International Centre for Women Playwrights anthology, Mother/Daughter Monologues. In the San Francisco Bay Area, her short plays have been seen at the Exploratorium and PianoFight, and in the One Minute Play Festival, SF Theater Festival, Woman's Will PlayFest, SF Fringe Festival, and Sheherezade. Her values are: Laughter, candor, artistic excellence, determination, integrity, generosity, and feminism. She is a past President, Playwrights Center of San Francisco, and a member of Theatre Bay Area, Central Works Writing Group, Play Café, International Centre for Women Playwrights, and The Dramatists Guild. She is an Associate Playwright with 3Girls Theatre in San Francisco.

Gary Graves (Director)

Gary Graves has been a resident playwright and company co-director at Central Works since 1998. He has been a part of developing 52 world premiere productions with the company, many of which he has either written and/or directed. Some of the other productions he has directed for the company include Enemies: Foreign and Domestic, Machiavelli's The Prince, Reduction in Force, Lola Montez, Enemy Combatant, The Mysterious Mr. Looney, Misanthrope, Mata Hari, Nightingale, and Pyrate Story. He directed the company's first collaboratively developed script, Roux, at the City Club in 1997. Since 2002, he has taught playwriting year-round at the Berkeley Rep School of Theater. Currently, he leads the Central Works Writers Workshop, an ongoing commissioning program that develops new works and offers a variety of playwriting classes.

ABOUT THE ACTORS:

Frieda de Lackner (actor) is a director and actor, whose short films, By Chance and Meeting Matt Damon, have screened across the country. She worked for over ten years with Kaiser Permanente's Educational Theatre, first as an actor, then as a director for their productions of Secrets and Peace Signs. She's worked most recently with We Players in their site-specific productions of The Odyssey, Twelfth Night, and Macbeth. She performs regularly with Actors Reading Writers and is a director for Playground LA. She is currently co-producing her first feature film, Hold On, which will finish production in May.

John Patrick Moore* (actor) is thrilled to be involved with Hearts of Palm. As an Artistic Associate with Central Works, he has directed or acted in over 12 world premieres including: Project Ahab, The Red Virgin, Richard the First, Reduction in Force, Midsummer/4, Shadow Crossing & The Duel. John's NY credits include: Emma the Musical (NYMF), Edward III (Hope Theatre), Richard II and As You Like It (Expanded Art's Free Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot). In the Bay Area, he has worked with Marin Theatre Company, The Magic Theatre, 42nd Street Moon, CenterRep, Bay Area Playwrights Festival and SF Playground. Member of Equity.

Erin Mei-Ling Stuart (actor) is the artistic director of EmSpace Dance, and is a member of Mugwumpin and detour dance. She acts, dances, choreographs, plays the viola sometimes, and learns lines pretty fast. Erin was awarded The Della Davidson Prize in 2016, and an SF Bay Guardian GOLDIE award for dance in 2008. Upcoming projects include Mugwumpin's residency at Pro Arts in August, Echo Theater Suitcase's Stand Ground at CounterPulse in October, and Killing My Lobster's The Lobster Before Christmas at Z Space in December.

Michelle Talgarow (actor) is thrilled to be making her debut with Central Works. She's a Bay Area performer, director and educator for the past 20 years, specializing in the collaborative process in devising new work. She is a proud member of Mugwumpin and looking forward to the remount of their show Luster this summer and the development a new piece for 2017. She's a Shotgun Players company member where she will be directing "Cherokee" as part of this season's 2016 Champagne Reading Series.

Jan Zvaifler (actor) has been lucky enough to perform in each of the Central Works Productions of Patricia's plays. As a founding member and Co-director of the company, Jan has participated as an actor, designer, director and and/or producer for the past 25 seasons. Most recently, she directed Robert Louis Stevenson: Jekyll and Hyde and appeared in Ada and the Memory Engine. (*Member of Actor's Equity)

For over 25 years 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. For more information, visit www.centralworks.org.

Pictured: Empire Holdings negotiator, Viola Wells (Freida de Lackner), wants to make a "clean deal," and she will stop at nothing to get it in Central Works' production, Hearts of Palm by Patricia Milton. Photo by J. Norrena.

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