Work Sample: Fleishhacker Foundation

Video Sample:

Mondragola by Gary Graves (2023)

Central Works’ world premiere #70: Rudy Guerrero* performing in the final scene from the play.

Things aren’t going so well for Niccolo Machiavelli.  He’s been in exile.  The man history will come to know as the author of The Prince, the infamous “Handbook for Tyrants,” has been struggling to get by as an itinerant playwright, writing farcical sex comedies to make ends meet.  But a big break comes when he’s invited to present a new play at an elite soiree in Florence.  Little does he know, his play is merely bait to lure the Cardinal of Florence into an assassination plot.  When Machiavelli realizes what’s afoot, he must choose:  is he with the conspirators, or against them?  Either way, he could see his head wind up on the chopping block.  Politics, and playwriting, is a dangerous game!
Recorded by Lawrence Dillon
*member AEA

Audio Sample: 

The Human Ounce: an audio play by Nicole Parizeau (2021)

Kimberly Ridgeway (l) & Champagne Hughes (r)
photo: J. Norrena

The Human Ounce, world-premiere #66, opened Central Works’ 30th anniversary season in 2020, but closed mid-run, just days before the Covid-19 shelter-in-place order.  The script was then adapted into an audio production.  This is the opening scene between 2 museum curators (Champagne Hughes as Jory and Kimberly Ridgeway as Biz) as they consider whether unsavory news about a long dead artist is reason to “cancel” his artwork.
Engineering, editing, and audio design by Gregory Scharpen