With support from the California Arts Council, Central Works will maintain basic operations while returning to live, in-person performances in the wake of the Covid-19 closure. CAC funds will support administrative payroll, and PR/marketing costs to improve our visibility and diversify our audience base.
At Central Works we write, develop, and produce world- premiere plays exclusively. We develop and produce three fully staged productions of world-premiere plays each season. Our productions play to audiences of about 1,000 community members, over a run of 24 performances, in our beautifully intimate 50-seat theater located in the Julia Morgan-designed Berkeley City Club (a historical landmark in Berkeley). In addition to our production program, we offer a ongoing commissioning program facilitated by company Co-director Gary Graves, the Central Works Writers Workshop. Since 2012, twice a year, Central Works’ preeminent developmental workshop has invited 8 playwrights to develop projects together in a 12-week structure of weekly readings and discussion. The company has produced 71 world-premieres to date. 18 of these scripts were originally developed in the Writers Workshop.

