THE LAST GOAT Opens In June At Central Works

CENTRAL WORKS 2025 SEASON will continue with The Last Goat, written and directed by Gary Graves, and running June 28– July 27 where a young woman lives alone with her grandmother on an isolated Greek island, desperately longing to see the world.

When a young man suddenly staggers into their home she must decide: can she leave with him and abandon her grandmother to solitude and destitution? The Last Goat features a cast that includes Andre Amarotico*, Liris Robles and Jan Zvaifler, with stage management by Liora Jacob, costumes by Tammy Berlin and sound by Gregory Scharpen (*AEA).

On the Greek island of Kasos, in the distant past, Kori lives in an old family farmhouse with only her grandmother to keep her company. Kori longs to escape the desperate isolation of the island, but that would mean abandoning her grandmother's sole means of support. When a young man staggers into the old house claiming he was shipwrecked on the island, tradition demands they offer the wayfarer hospitality.  But can he be trusted?  He claims to be the son of a wealthy landowner on another island. Kori wonders if he might be her ticket to freedom. Her grandmother believes he's after the farm, or Kori–or both!  Is Kori falling in love? Or is she just using the handsome young stranger?  Or is he using her?

Gary Graves (playwright/director) has been a resident playwright and company co-director at Central Works since 1998. He has been a part of developing 7 world premiere productions with the company, many of which he has either written and/or directed.  Titles of plays he has written and directed include:  Red Virgin, Machiavelli's The Prince, Chekhov's Ward 6, Boss McGreedy and The Contest.  He directed the company's first collaboratively developed script, Roux, at the Berkeley City Club in 1997. He also leads the Central Works Writers Workshop, and he teaches playwriting regularly at the Berkeley Rep School of Theater.

The final production of the season opens October 18 with Dada Teen Musical:The Play by Maury Zeff, in which the creation of a Dadaist musical unleashes chaos into the raging hellscape of social anarchy in a high school.

This year, Boss McGreedy received 6 nominations for SFBATCC awards, including “Original Script” and “Entire Production.”  Central Works (CW), takes risks. CW fearlessly embraces edgy, controversial issues, committed to developing and producing challenging new works with talented local artists and ensuring fair compensation to our workers, while maintaining affordable admission prices. CW is “The New Play Theater.”

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 the raging hellscape of social anarchy:  high school.

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.

Company co-directors Jan Zvaifler and Gary Graves remain steadfast in their mission to develop and produce new works. “New plays are the lifeblood of the theater,” says Ms. Zvaifler. “We look at current events, politics, classic literature and traditional storytelling to bring our audience face to face with the challenges of our lives everyday, juxtaposed against the reflections of history, both recent and far-reaching. Given our current harrowing times, we all need an opportunity to pause, feel, think and act.” The special intimacy of the Central Works theater offers this in a truly unique package.special intimacy of the Central Works theater offers this in a truly unique package. far-reaching. Given our current harrowing times, we all need an opportunity to pause, feel, think and act.” The special intimacy of the Central Works theater offers this in a truly unique package.

For over three decades Central Works has filled a special niche for theater artists in the San Francisco Bay Area, producing more new plays by local playwrights than any other company in the region.  “The New Play Theater” utilizes three basic strategies:  some are products of the Central Works Method, some are developed in the Central Works Writers Workshop, and some come to the company fully developed. 

The Central Works Writers Workshop is an ongoing commissioning program established in 2012.  Twice a year, in 12-week sessions, 8 local playwrights are selected to develop projects through informal readings and carefully directed discussions.  In 2023 Central Works produced 3 world-premiere plays developed in the Writers Workshop, and another 2 out of 3 commissioned scripts in both the 2024 and 2025 seasons. 

San Francisco / Bay Area Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. URINETOWN (Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble)

16.7% of votes

2. THE DAY THE SKY TURNED ORANGE (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company / Z Space)

9.3% of votes

3. SWEENEY TODD (Cabrillo Stage)

8.4% of votes

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