Central Works Opens Up With Three Premieres By Patricia Milton, Cristina García, and Mildred Inez Lewis

CENTRAL WORKS 2022 Season begins March 19 and runs through November 13, 2022 featuring the world premieres of 3 new plays at the historic Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley. Central Works is committed to premiering new works inspired by social issues, contemporary texts, and history.

Season 2022 begins with a madcap mystery, followed by a new Cristina García adaptation and a new comedy inspired by The Colored Museum from the Central Works Writer's Workshop. For its 32nd season, Central Works leads us on an "Escape From the Asylum" written by Patricia Milton, directed by Gary Graves, Mar 19-Apr 17. In the summer we join in "Dreaming in Cuban" a new adaptation by Cristina García of her celebrated novel, directed by Gary Graves, Jun 25-Jul 24. And fall brings a new comedy from the Central Works Writers Workshop "The Women's Annex" written by Mildred Inez Lewis, Oct 15-Nov 13.

Escape From the Asylum

by Patricia Milton, directed by Gary Graves Mar 19-Apr 17 (previews Mar 17 & 18)

World Premiere #67: a madcap mystery from the Central Works Writers Workshop

In 2019, Central Works premiered The Victorian Ladies Detective Collective-three determined "lady" sleuths fight crime and prejudice in Victorian London. Now they're back at it! A famous female explorer has been committed to Belfry, a notorious asylum for the mentally ill. Has her unscrupulous husband had her falsely committed just to gain her fortune? The intrepid lady detectives are on the case!

"Physicians in Victorian times insisted that about twenty-five percent of all women suffered from hysteria. In England and the U.S., families used 'madness' as an excuse to lock up women who were not mentally ill, but fed up, unconventional, openly liked sex, or wanted political power. Women today who have similar traits are often marginalized as 'crazy' or 'trainwrecks.'" Patricia Miltion

Escape From the Asylum features Chelsea Bearce, Alan Coyne, Danielle O'Hare and Jan Zvaifler.

The production has stage management by Natalia Ramos, costume design by Tammy Berlin,

prop design by Debbie Shelley and sound design by Gregory Scharpen.

Patricia Milton (playwright) is a Resident Playwright for Central Works and a long-term member of the Central Works Writers Workshop. Plays written for Central Works include: Bystanders (audio play produced in 2020), The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective (2019), Bamboozled (2018 Outstanding Production; Ensemble; Finalist, Outstanding World Premiere Play, TBA Awards), Hearts of Palm (2016), Enemies: Foreign and Domestic (2015), and Reduction in Force (2011). She is a recipient of the 2015 Outstanding World Premiere Play by Theatre Bay Area for Enemies: Foreign and Domestic. The Victorian Ladies' Detective Collective was presented by the International House of Theatre outdoors in Copenhagen in July 2020. Her comedy Believers has enjoyed productions in Monterey and San Francisco, and played for three years in Istanbul, Turkey. Her drama about the death penalty, Without Mercy, was presented at the Newfoundland Women's Work Festival and was produced in 2017 by Off Broadway West Theatre Company in San Francisco. Upcoming at New Conservatory Theatre is an audio version of her comedy The Law of Attraction, commissioned by NCTC. Ms. Milton has had more than one hundred productions and readings of her plays both locally and internationally, including at 3Girls Theatre, San Francisco Exploratorium, PlayGround SF, Woman's Will, Women's Theatre Project, Bay Area One Acts, and City Lights Theatre. She is Northern California Regional Rep for The Dramatists Guild, and produces a monthly podcast for the Central Works Script Club.

Dreaming in Cuban

written by Cristina García, directed by Gary Graves Jun 25-Jul 24 (previews Jun 23 & 24)

World Premiere #68: A new adaptation by Cristina García of her celebrated novel from the Central Works Writer's Workshop

A new adaptation by Cristina García of her celebrated novel. A haunting, bittersweet story of the del Piño family, a family divided in the wake of the Cuban revolution. With her characteristic humor and emotional fireworks, García weaves a complex tale of yearning and aspiration, of one child's longing for the home she left behind, and another's desire to find a new home in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. A finalist for the National Book Award, characterized by the New York Times as "Dazzling... Remarkable...A jewel of a novel."

Cristina García (playwright) is the author of seven novels, including: Dreaming in Cuban, The Agüero Sisters, Monkey Hunting, A Handbook to Luck, The Lady Matador's Hotel, King of Cuba, and Here in Berlin. García has edited two anthologies, Cubanísimo: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature and Bordering Fires: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Mexican and Chicano/a Literature. Two works for young readers, The Dog Who Loved the Moon, and I Wanna Be Your Shoebox were published in 2008 and a young adult novel, Dreams of Significant Girls, in 2011. A collection of poetry, The Lesser Tragedy of Death, was published in 2010. García's work has been nominated for a National Book Award and translated into fourteen languages. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers' Award, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, and an NEA grant, among others.She is the founder and artistic director of Las Dos Brujas Writers' Workshops and lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

The Women's Annex

written by Mildred Inez Lewis Oct 15-Nov 13 (previews Oct 13 & 14)

World Premiere #69: A wildly imaginative whirlwind tour from the Central Works Writers Workshop

In 1986, George C. Wolfe's play The Colored Museum premiered. The play imagined a series of 11 scenes, or "exhibits" in a metaphoric "museum," where each of these exhibits addressed a range of different themes and aspects of the African American experience. Opening on October 15, is the premier of a new comedy by Mildred Inez Lewis, The Women's Annex, an homage to Mr. Wolfe's play, adding something of a "new wing" onto the original museum. A wildly imaginative whirlwind tour: "Welcome to the Women's Annex!"

Mildred Inez Lewis (playwright) writes and directs for theater, film and the digital space. A Dramatists Guild member, she belongs to the Antaeus, Company of Angels, EST-Los Angeles and PlayGround-LA writing groups.Upcoming Productions include Ghosts Of Blackness with Harlem9/Lucille Lortel/National Black Theatre; $10 And A Tambourine with Antaeus; The Museum Annex, inspired by The Colored Museum with Central Works (Berkeley, CA); We Dreamed Ourselves, Dragon Egg Productions (Oakland, CA); and Down Home, Valdez Theatre Conference (Valdez, AK). Upcoming Publications: The Gift And /kom'plisit/ with Broadway Play Publishing. Roost First, Then Fly in Applause Books' 2020 10-Minute play collection. Recent Productions: Aithiopes Imagined with Antaeus. We Jump Broom and Acknowledge with PlayGround-LA.. Awards: 2021 L.B. Williams award, New Circle Theater. 2018-9 PLAY

Tickets: $30 - $40 depending on performance Service Fee: $2.75 online at centralworks.org.

All remaining tickets are available on a sliding scale at noon on the day of the show: $40-$15 (Fri-Sat), pay-what-you-can (Thur & previews)!

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!