Teen Angst Meets Creative Chaos
What begins as an ordinary day in a high-school classroom soon explodes into a Dadaist free-for-all — absurd, tuneful, and unexpectedly revealing.
Central Works’ latest world premiere is a hilarious, sharp-edged swirl of rebellion, chaos, and truth.
Set in the manic world of high-school overachievers and art-school dreamers, it turns teenage turmoil into a full-blown Dada experiment — where nonsense becomes the only honest language left.
The Setup
A prep-school rebellion collides with the art of nonsense.
Overachiever Annabel hatches a plan to impress Harvard by directing a “Dadaist homage” to The Sound of Music.
She enlists Tyler, the school’s charismatic con artist, and Mariah, a shy bassist chasing authenticity, while Mr. Dorfman, their frazzled math-and-drama teacher, tries to keep order.
As ambition curdles into chaos, scams pile up, morals bend, and Dada itself becomes both the joke and the truth.
What Is Dada?
Born in 1916 Zurich, the Dada movement rejected logic, reason, and artistic rules. It celebrated chaos, chance, and humor as acts of creative rebellion — a protest against a world that had stopped making sense.
Cast Highlights
Jacob Henrie-Naffaa (Tyler) steals scenes as a fast-talking manipulator who says anything to get his way. His energy is relentless and perfectly amoral — the classic hustler who thrives in confusion. At times, his delivery fires so fast that a breath or two more would help the humor fully land. Still, his bravado and control anchor the show’s manic heartbeat.
Zoe Chien (Annabel) gives ambition a comic edge. Her Harvard-bound intensity drives much of the farce, and her eventual unraveling — capped by a howling rejection — hits both funny and sad.
Chanel Tilghman (Mariah) is the quiet soul of the story. Her final solo performance — literally playing her own song — is both moving and defiant, the evening’s truest moment of art emerging from chaos.
Alan Coyne (Mr. Dorfman) grounds the madness with weary wit. His slide from moral compromise to collapse mirrors the adults’ world the teens are rebelling against, giving the satire its human cost.
Director Highlight
Gary Graves directs with precision and abandon — a combination only Central Works can pull off.
He keeps the tone wild but the storytelling tight, letting absurdity and honesty co-exist.
Scenes spiral from classroom realism into bursts of absurdist theater, and the cast rides the chaos with fearless control.
Graves’s direction finds truth inside the nonsense, and laughter where it hurts a little to laugh.
Very Up-Close Theater

Central Works’ 49-seat City Club space turns this production into full-contact theater.
Tyler literally jumps into the front rows. Annabel snatches her handbag from the railing beside my seat. The audience joins chants, cheers, and call-and-response moments that blur the line between viewer and participant.
It’s not just immersive — it’s contagious. You feel pulled into their reckless, hilarious experiment, as if you’ve become part of the Dada performance yourself.
Adding to the mayhem, Tyler even handed out his own “official” promo flyer for a spin-off show, The Itch of the Sound of Oklahoma — “a professional, Dadaist, musical romp through the Old West featuring never-seen-before Dadaist Crocodiles.”
It’s a riotous parody of self-promotion, a perfect in-joke made tangible.
Delicious Uncertainty / Takeaway
By the end, all facades collapse. Annabel’s Harvard dreams implode, Tyler’s scams crash, and Mr. Dorfman loses both job and conscience. Only Mariah remains — standing alone, bass in hand, singing her own song. It’s absurd, touching, and oddly inspiring: in a world of pretense, authenticity wins by simply existing.
Observation & Suggestion
The show’s pacing is breathless — a strength that occasionally outruns itself. A few half-beats of pause between comic volleys could sharpen the humor and let its satire resonate.
And those recurring “Curve the Line” hats? They’re such an instantly iconic gag that they practically beg to become merch — wearable proof that Dada still sells.
Go see it — you’ll be surprised — maybe even enlightened.
Catch It In Berkeley
Dada Teen Musical: The Play runs through November 17, 2025
at the historic Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, CA.
Performances: Thursday & Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 7 pm, Sunday at 5 pm.
Tickets: $25–$35 (sliding scale) with Pay-What-You-Can preview opening weekend.
For tickets and info, visit centralworks.org or call 510-558-1381
Runtime: approximately 90 minutes with one intermission.
Masks recommended; available at the box office.
Each review is created through my proprietary FocusLens℠ method—an original editorial process shaped by firsthand experience, critical insight, and structured narrative design. Original photography, graphics, director quotes, and animated elements are incorporated to enhance reader engagement and visual impact. State-of-the-art scaffolding systems support organization and phrasing, but every sentence and decision reflects my own voice and judgment. These are not AI-generated reviews—they are authored, shaped, and published by me.






























