What's Happening!
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WINTERWORKS 2025 HAS COME TO A CLOSE
Thank you to the hundreds of people who joined as at Playwrights Downtown for the 10th annual Winterworks. We were so proud of the work these amazing artists made — and we managed to cram everyone in to share it. Congratulations especially to Directing Fellows Iris McCloughan, NJ Agwuna and Laura Dupper – read more HERE
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NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 10TH BIENNIAL COMMISSION
This year we lost one of our great comic dramatists: Christopher Durang. We’ve been reflecting on how powerful and much-needed savage humor like his is in a world like ours today. So, for the 10th Biennial Commission, please consider his work, especially from the 1980’s. Applications are due March 20th, 2025. Read more and submit yours HERE
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ANNOUNCING A RETURN ENGAGEMENT OF SUMMERWORKS 2023'S DEEP BLUE SOUND
We are thrilled to announce that Deep Blue Sound – which ran to sold-out houses at Summerworks 2023 – will return for five weeks this winter. After a wildly successful run of Grief Hotel earlier this season, we are excited to return to The Public Theater with another Summerworks hit. CLICK FOR TICKETS & INFO
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THANK YOU FOR MAKING OUR GALA SUCH A SUCCESS!
Monday night’s Gala, celebrating our dear friends and collaborators dots, was beautiful, moving and very fun. Thank you to everyone who attended, performed, volunteered, donated and otherwise supported this very special night.
See photos from the event on our Instagram (and tag @clubbedthumb if you’re posting your own)!
At the event, we raised funds in honor of dots to help us better support the designers in our community – and we happily exceeded our goal. But there’s no such thing as a late donation! If you’d like to contribute to the fund, click HERE
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OUR 2024 SEASON HAS COME TO AN END
The last six months were the busiest in our history. We started with Winterworks at Houghton Hall in January, followed by six weeks of Grief Hotel at the Public in the spring, and we rounded it all out with Summerworks at the Wild Project, where we managed to cram in 47 performances over seven weeks.
Some of you saw it all, some just a piece, and some met our work for the first time. We were thrilled to share it with all of you.
Here are some photos and essays from the season, to tide you over until we have work to share again in the fall (or when we see you at our gala honoring dots!)
Lastly: We had our most successful season at the box office ever. If you were there, you know it was full to overflowing. And you might remember that your ticket was pretty affordable—maybe even free. That’s important to us.
But what that means is, even when we sell out all the time, tickets only cover a fraction (about 1/7th) of what it all costs, especially considering we pay people better every year (That’s important to us too!)
Throughout the year, we support hundreds of artists, mostly early in their careers, whether in our writers or directors groups, readings, workshops, commissions, retreats, or in production. So, if you can, make a donation today and be a part of our effort to pay artists, to make beautiful, affordable work, and to do it even better next year!
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ANNOUNCING SUMMERWORKS 2024
We’ll be back at the Wild Project May 16th through June 29th with the 27th iteration of SUMMERWORKS, featuring: Usus by T. Adamson, directed by Emma Miller; Coach Coach by Bailey Williams, directed by Sarah Blush; and Find Me Here by Crystal Finn, directed by Caitlin Sullivan. Tickets on sale now! Learn more & get yours here
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GRIEF HOTEL'S MAGNIFICENT ENCORE RUN AT THE PUBLIC THEATER
We were thrilled to bring Summerworks 2023’s Obie-winning hit production Grief Hotel back for a six-week run at The Public Theater, in partnership with our friends New Georges. It was very special to dig back into the play and production with the exceptional group of artists who made it, and such a joy to share it with so many more people. We had a tremendous run – sold out, extended and beloved by critics and audiences – thank you to all who attended and to all who made it possible. CLICK HERE TO READ ESSAYS AND MORE ABOUT THE SHOW
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OUR NEW ANTHOLOGY - ON SALE NOW
We’ve been eager to put out a second anthology since Funny, Strange, Provocative was published in 2007, and the last year finally provided us with the time to take on this long-awaited project. We are thrilled to announce that Unusual Stories, Unusually Told, published by Bloomsbury/Methuen, is now available!
In it you’ll find seven Clubbed Thumb plays that span 18 years of our history, as well as essays and interviews about the work, and the often atypical processes that led to their productions.
Read more about the book and get your discounted copy (and our first anthology) HERE
MISSION
Clubbed Thumb commissions, develops and produces funny, strange and provocative new plays by living American writers. Clubbed Thumb is a groundbreaker, with a precise curatorial vision and a remarkable track record for launching artists’ careers; and an incubator, nurturing plays, collaborations, and above all artists, through thoughtfully deployed resources, opportunities, mentorship and hospitality.
Clubbed Thumb plays range in form and content, but are always intermission-less, 90 minutes or under, with no history of production in NYC. They feature challenging and substantial roles for all genders, are questioning, formally inventive, theatrical, and express, somewhere in the text, a sense of humor. We are committed to providing opportunities for women, and to improving the quantity and quality of women’s roles in dramatic literature. We are committed to being an anti-racist organization.
Clubbed Thumb has produced over 100 new plays, winning numerous Obie Awards as well as a Tony nomination for What the Constitution Means to Me (Summerworks 2017) – the most produced play in the ‘23/24 and ‘24/25 seasons according to American Theatre Magazine.
PRODUCING
In Summerworks we produce an aesthetically-diverse season of three new plays, each of which has two weeks of performances, as well as readings from our Early-Career Writers’ Group. It often provides a writers’ first professional opportunity — Will Arbery, Jaclyn Backhaus, Clare Barron and Gina Gionfriddo had their first shows in Summerworks; Sarah Ruhl, Jordan Harrison, Tanya Saracho and Lisa D’Amour made their NYC debuts.
Outside of Summerworks, we produce longer runs of plays Off-Broadway; most recently, Jaclyn Backhaus’s Men On Boats (‘16), Will Arbery’s Plano (‘19), Ethan Lipton’s Tumacho (‘20), Rinne Groff’s The Woman’s Party (‘21, digital), Adrian Einspanier’s Lunch Bunch, co-produced with PlayCo (‘23), Liza Birkenmeier’s Grief Hotel (‘24) and Abe Koogler’s Deep Blue Sound (’25) both presented in residence at The Public Theater.
We also support productions on smaller scales, including originating Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves and Eliza Bent’s Indeed, Friend! in partnership with Playwrights Horizons Theater School, and associate producing Milo Cramer’s Cute Activist and Agnes Borinsky’s Song of Songs at the Bushwick Starr. In 2025, we launched a pilot program providing financial and logistical support to playwrights who are self-producing.
EARLY-CAREER INCUBATION
Clubbed Thumb also focuses on career development through a suite of three programs:
In the Early-Career Writers’ Group, eight playwrights, nominated by our mid-career community and paired with playwright mentors, share their work in biweekly sessions over the course of eight months, with guest professionals providing feedback and sharing career advice. At the end of the program, each writer presents a reading during Summerworks.
The Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellowship is a five-month program for three early-career directors under the mentorship of director Anne Kauffman and other established directors. We commission a pool of projects, three of which are selected for a 10-week process in the fall with a cohort of early-career actors, followed by a three-week process with professional collaborators called Winterworks.
In the Producing Fellowship, early-career creative producers assist on programming, management and marketing under the guidance of Clubbed Thumb staff. This program evolves based on our production needs and staffing structure.
COMMISSIONING, DEVELOPMENT & MORE
In addition to these core activities, Clubbed Thumb commissions and develops dozens of plays each year through programs such as The Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission, design/staging workshops, co-productions with Playwrights Horizons Theater School, writers’ groups and retreats, and extensive workshopping of new plays annually. Clubbed Thumb is the fiscal sponsor for Stillwright, a group that organizes silent playwriting retreats.
Men on Boats
Card and Gift
Luther
Enfrascada
Every Angel is Brutal
Motel Cherry