The Prince Part 1

Mark Farrell* (Brother Jerome Savonarola)
Brennan Pickman-Thoon* (Duke Cesare Borgia)
Kevin Singer (Niccolo Machiavelli)

Writer/Director: Gary Graves
Stage Managers: Alandra Hileman, Louel Señores
Costume design: Tammy Berlin
Sound design: Gregory Scharpen

Production Sponsors: Michelle Barbour & Christian Baudry
Production Sponsor: Sophie & The Rheinheimer Family

*member Actors Equity Association

Gary Graves (writer/director) has been a resident playwright and company co-director at Central Works since 1998.  He has been a part of developing 81 world premiere productions with the company, many of which he has either written and/or directed.  Titles of plays he has written include:  Red Virgin, Richard the First (a trilogy), The Grand Inquisitor, Dracula Inquest, and most recently, The Last Goat.  He’s been working on The Prince Part 1 & Part 2 since he was a wee lad in grad school, back in 1986.  They say “Plays are not written—they’re re-written.”

Mark Farrell* (Jerome Savanarola) is pleased to return to Central Works for the third time, the first being in The Golden Era in 1996 (written and directed by Gary Graves). Mark has appeared in over 80 productions nationally and beyond. Credits: 1776 (American Conservatory Theatre); The 39 Steps, Rumors, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Story (Center REP); Next To Normal (Arizona Theatre Company); MATILDA (CCMT); The Prince (Central Works, 2010); The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s Completely Hollywood: Abridged (Belgium/Holland Tour); Around The World In 80 Days (Laguna Playhouse/San Jose Rep/Center Rep); Putnam County Spelling Bee (San Jose Rep); Judgment At Nuremberg, A Doll’s House (Willows Theatre); The Crucible, Old Wicked Songs (Marin Theatre Company); The Fantsticks (BATCC award, SF Playhouse). Mark has been a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association for 25 years.

Brennan Pickman-Thoon* (Cesare Borgia) is honored to be a part of the final Central Works production. Selected credits: Bulrusher, Metamorphoses (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), A Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater), Mother of the Maid (Marin Theatre), Annunciation, Home (Word For Word), Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Tempest (SF Shakes), The Gentleman Caller (NCTC), Timon of Athens (Cutting Ball Theater), and Hamlet (Marin Shakes). When not performing, Brennan is a faculty member at American Conservatory Theater and a teaching artist for SFArtsED. He also directs plays and musicals, with recent credits including Legally Blonde (Damato Performance School) and Sweeney Todd (Throckmorton Theater). He is the Resident Director at Damato Performance School. Brennan received the 2026 SFBATCC award for Actor in a Featured Role and the 2019 SFBATCC Award for Actor in a Principal Role. Proud member of AEA. Love to Mom, Dad, J, and E. For more, please visit brennanpickmanthoon.com.

Kevin Singer (Niccolo Machiavelli) is an actor from Oakland with a love of fried chicken sandwiches. In the 15+ years since he moved to the Bay Area, he has worked with dozens of regional companies, including Magic Theatre, Center Repertory Theatre, and New Conservatory Theatre. Bay Area theatre-goers may have seen him recently as George in Shotgun Players’ production of Sunday in the Park with George or as Ross in their production of Edward Albee’s The Goat. He also played Monty in the regional premiere of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at 42nd Street Moon. Kevin is a board member at Korsa Musical Theater, the Bay Area’s premier musical theater training company. He graduated in 2013 from UC Berkeley, where he was awarded the David and Diana Menn Prize for Outstanding Creative Talent in the Performing Arts. When he’s not engaging in tomfoolery on stage, he works as a consultant for progressive candidates and causes.

 Click here  for Part 2 cast information

The Prince is a SF Chronicle Datebook Pick! 

“an epic two-part piece exploring Machiavelli’s infamous political treatise The Prince” -Sally Hogarty, EB Times

Historical figures from which the characters in The Prince Part 1 are adapted

Niccolò Machiavelli (Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli) (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise The Prince (Il Principe), written around 1513 but not published until 1532, five years after his death. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science.

Jerome Savonarola (21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498), was an Italian ascetic Dominican friar from Ferrara and a preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He became known for his prophecies of civic glory, his advocacy of the destruction of secular art and culture, and his calls for Christian renewal. He denounced clerical corruption, despotic rule, and the exploitation of the poor.

Cesare Borgia (13 September 1475 – 13 March 1507) was an Italian cardinal deacon and later a condottiero, as well as a member of the Spanish House of Borgia. He was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and sibling to Lucrezia Borgia. His quest for political power was a major inspiration for The Prince by the renowned Florentine historian, Niccolò Machiavelli.

Images and information are taken from Wikipedia

Want to learn more background on the place and time in which THE PRINCE is set?
From “murderous Machiavel” to patriot-diplomat: Historian Ada Palmer rereads Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, dropping him back into his world of papal warlords, collapsing city-states, and patriots desperate to preserve the independence of his Firenze against a very malignant Fortuna. CLICK HERE