written by Maury Zeff NOW PLAYING THRU NOV 23! World Premiere #78: a new comedy
directed by Gary Graves
original music by Alex Mandel
Produced in: 2025
Final 4 more performances Nov 20, 21, 22 & 23
This weekend only: all shows Pay-What-You-Can!
from the Central Works Writers Workshop
Theater! Dadaism! Demagoguery!
*Dada (or Dadaism): revolutionary art movement of the 1920s.
Dada = anti-art
Annabelle is 17. She is the only high school student in the world whose Harvard application is an act of rebellion (she comes from a Yale family). When she hatches a scheme to do a Dadaist version of The Sound of Music to round out her college application, she unleashes chaos into that raging hellscape of social anarchy: high school.
The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle says:
READ MORE REVIEWS HERE
Zoe Chien: Annabel
Alan Coyne: Mr. Dorfman
Jacob Henrie-Naffaa*: Tyler
Chanel Tilghman*: Mariah
Stage Management: Dianne Harrison
Costume design: Tammy Berlin
Choreographer: MaryBeth Cavanaugh†
Lights: Gary Graves
Original music: Alex Mandel
Sound design: Gregory Scharpen
Production Sponsors: Michelle Barbour & Christian Baudry
* appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
† member Stage Directors and Choreographers Society
Maury Zeff (playwright) is a long-time member of the Central Works Writers Workshop. His plays have been performed around the US and in Europe. His writing has been published in American Fiction, Southern California Review, Crab Orchard Review, and elsewhere. He has received commissions and fellowships from PlayGround, the SF Olympians, and the San Francisco Writers Grotto, where he works and teaches. He won the Clark-Gross Novel Award, was nominated for a Pushcart Fiction Prize, and was a finalist for the Ink Slinger Playwriting Award, Acacia Fiction Prize and Tobias Wolff Fiction Prize. Maury earned a creative writing MFA from the University of San Francisco, is a nationally-rated Scrabble player, and won third place in the 2024 O. Henry World Championship Pun-off in Austin.
Gary Graves (director) has been a resident playwright and company co-director at Central Works since 1998. He has been a part of developing 77 world premiere productions with the company, many of which he has either written and/or directed. Titles of plays he has directed include: this season’s Push/Pull and The Last Goat, as well as Machiavelli’s The Prince, Chekhov’s Ward 6, and Boss McGreedy. He also leads the Central Works Writers Workshop, and he teaches playwriting regularly at the Berkeley Rep School of Theater.
High school senior Mariah (Chanel Tilghman*) just wants to make cool art, in the proto-punk style of the Ramones.
Annabel (Zoe Chien, r) tries to convince Mariah (Chanel Tilghman*, l) to join her Dadaist musical project.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny
(*member AEA)
Tyler (Jacob Henrie-Naffaa*) is the coolest kid in school, and he’s learning about how to make cool art.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny
(*member AEA)
Mr. Dorfman (Alan Coyne) is the Math teacher and Drama Coach for the school…with a hidden love of Dadaism.
Tyler (Jacob Henrie-Naffaa*) has his eyes on the proto-punk rocker for his musical project…and maybe something more.
Annabel (Zoe Chien) has concocted a plan to ensure her admission to Harvard…or so she thinks.
Central Works presents world premiere #78: Dada Teen Musical: The Play by Maury Zeff, Oct 18-Nov 16 at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny
(*member AEA)
Dee Dee Ramone is Mariah’s (Chanel Tilghman*) idol…can she emulate him as well?
Tyler (Jacob Henrie-Naffaa*) and Annabel (Zoe Chien) believe that the way to create Dadaist Art is to “Curve the Line.”
The popular rich kid in high school manages to explode Mr. Dorfman’s (Alan Coyne) career.
Central Works presents world premiere #78: Dada Teen Musical: The Play by Maury Zeff, Oct 18-Nov 16 at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny
(*member AEA)
“Laugh out loud moments…Dada Teen Musical provides satisfying poetic justice for those who do not deserve the privileges they enjoy.” J. Jo, Theatrius
“a Dadaist free-for-all — absurd, tuneful, and unexpectedly revealing.” J. Cillo, For All Events
“This cast is in control of every second of Zeff’s unapologetically goofy comedy.” J. Schiffman, SF Gate (SF Chronicle)
“Very, very funny…a wicked smart script by Maury Zeff.” C. Kruger, TheatreStorm
“Ingenious…the play embodies Dadaism, mirroring today’s political atmosphere with its head-scratching irrationality.” P.Morin, Front Row Review
“the author’s comedic cleverness takes center stage.” E. Mendel, Culture Vulture
“delightful, provocative, unsettling, and often hilarious” V. Cordell, Berkshire Fine Arts
Extras coming soon!
