2019 Season

Wonderland

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a Kafka-esque comedy
written by Gary Graves
directed by Jan Zvaifler
Produced in: 2019

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WONDERLAND PODCAST

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World Premiere #62: a Central Works Method Play

Someone must have recommended Joseph Kaye, for one morning, without having done anything to deserve it, he was summoned to a place that looks an awful lot like the White House.  He doesn’t know why.  He doesn’t know who summoned him.  He’s just a bank teller at National Savings and Trust.  Why him?  Some very sinister things begin happening as he waits anxiously for someone named “A.”  Is that a code name?  He doesn’t know.  There’s a “Rabbit” and a “Duchess” and a “Red Queen,” too.  Something curious is going on here…curiouser and curiouser.  Joseph just wants to go home.  But that’s not so easy when you’re down the rabbit hole, and through the looking glass.

Lewis Carroll meets Franz Kafka in Wonderland.

 

Production Sponsors:
David Harder, Patricia Milton and Will & Linda Schieber

 

SF Chronicle Theater Pick:
“In the show’s absurdist vision, being an everyman is no protection from the immorality and incompetence of our current administration.” -L. Janiak

Click to watch the trailer!

Martha Brigham*
John Patrick Moore*
Kimberly Ridgeway
Clive Worsley

Stage management: Carolina Stevens
Costume design: Tammy Berlin
Lighting design: Gary Graves
Prop design: Debbie Shelley
Sound design: Gregory Scharpen

*member AEA

Someone must have recommended Joseph Kaye (John Patrick Moore*), for one morning, without having done anything to deserve it, he was arrested and taken to a place that looks an awful lot like the White House…and it just gets curioser and curioser from there in Central Works production of Wonderland by Gary Graves.

Photo by J. Norrena

Joseph Kaye (L: John Patrick Moore*), has been arrested and taken to a place that looks an awful lot like the White House, where he is interrogated by an ominous figure with the code name “Rabbit” (R: Clive Worsley) in Central Works production of Wonderland by Gary Graves.

Photo by J. Norrena

“A”  (Martha Brigham*) is a staff secretary who arrived as an intern only 6 weeks ago (“People are moving up fast around here”), but she’s beginning to have qualms about her job in Central Works production of Wonderland by Gary Graves (pictured in the background: Clive Worsley).

Photo by J. Norrena

All photos: ACT OUT Photography by Jim Norrena

* member AEA

There’s someone named “Duchess” (Kimberly Ridgeway), who works for the Red Queen? It’s possible something very bad is going on here.  Joseph just wants to go home; but that’s not so easy when you’re down the rabbit hole, and through the looking glass n Central Works production of Wonderland by Gary Graves.

Photo by J. Norrena

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some hints of the Lewis Carroll classic…as well as some tantalizing Kafka-esque elements” J. Schiffman, SF/Arts

“Graves’ most imaginative and surrealistic play and possibly his best..an imaginative, surreal play that truly takes you out of your comfort zone.” -G. Caldwell-Smith, For All Events

“The four actors are excellent in their roles” -E. Mendel, Berkeleyside

Wonderland shows its strength in its superb staging” -J. Freed, Theatrius

“Kafka meets Alice in Wonderland in shocking Berkeley political satire” -S. Hurwitt, San Jose Mercury

“Is this a masterful game of gaslighting or is it all just a horribly twisted dream?” -G. Heymont, My Cultural Landscape

CNN Post, Jan 25, 2019: Jim Accosta says “That was just right out of Alice in Wonderland”

Gary & Jan are interviewed on KALW’s Open Air
(start listening at 10:20)

Watch the trailer!