ANNOUNCING THE 2019 / 2020 CLUBBED THUMB DIRECTING FELLOWS

We are excited to introduce you to the incoming cohort of Directing Fellows: ANDRÉS LÓPEZ-ALICEA, EMMA MILLER and CAITLIN SULLIVAN.

This fall they’ll develop new 30 to 40 minute plays by commissioned Clubbed Thumb playwrights over the course of a semester with Playwrights Horizons Theater School student and alumni performers, in barebones, classroom settings. Then, they build on this work with workshop productions of the same plays with professional actors, presented for industry audiences at Winterworks, running January 22 – 26, 2020 at Playwrights Downtown.

Read more about the directors and the program HERE – and apply to be a part of the 20/21 cohort HERE

THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF THE 24th ANNUAL SUMMERWORKS!

We are exceptionally proud of the work we put out over the last seven weeks. Thank you to the over 150 artists, staff and interns who made it happen, and to the over 3,500 people who came to see a show this summer. If you missed it (or if you want to reminisce) you can read some selected press on the right —->

We’re writing this note while on our annual writers’ retreat in Red Bank, New Jersey, hosted by Two River Theater (with our friends, playwrights Trish Harnetiaux, Vivian Barnes, Sarah Einspanier, Milo Cramer and Zhu Yi). We’re spending the week (in addition to a lot of grilling) beginning to plan for the coming season – our next Biennial Commission, a new writers group and directing fellowship cohort, Superlabs & other workshops – and maybe a few surprises we aren’t ready to talk about just yet. So stay tuned for that.

Until then: have a great summer, and thank you.

Maria, Michael and Quinn

MEET THE 2018/2019 EARLY-CAREER WRITERS' GROUP

We’re excited to introduce you to the eight writers from our early-career group as they present their work throughout Summerworks, starting this week! They are: Alexander Paris, April Ranger, Emma Goidel, Lily Akerman, Lizzie Stern, Sanaz Toossi, T. Adamson and Zhu Yi – see the schedule and RSVP HERE

SUMMERWORKS IS NOW OPEN!

Lunch Bunch – the first production of Summerworks 2019 – is a NYTimes Critic’s Pick!! All evening shows are sold out – but there are tickets available for the newly-added Saturday, May 25th 3pm matinee – get yours HERE

OUR BELOVED PRODUCTION OF PLANO HAS COME TO A CLOSE

Congratulations to the incredible team of artists who worked tirelessly to re-mount our production of Plano. We are so proud of what we all accomplished together, and delighted to have hosted over 3,000 audience members throughout the run. We couldn’t be happier – so thank you. Check out our Instagram to see photos of many of the wonderful people who visited Plano

MEET THE CAST OF SUMMERWORKS 2019

Our 24th Annual Mini-Season of New Plays is just around the corner! Featuring: Lunch Bunch by Sarah Einspanier, directed by Tara Ahmadinejad; You Never Touched the Dirt by Zhu Yi, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll; and King Philip’s Head Is Still On That Pike Just Down The Road by Daniel Glenn, directed by Caitlin Ryan O’Connell. Read more and get your tickets HERE

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ATTENDED AND SUPPORTED OUR 2019 GALA

We were delighted to celebrate Sarah DeLappe, Heidi Schreck and Jaclyn Backhaus at our gala last night–thank you to the many artists who made it a fantastic party, and thank you to everyone who attended and contributed–it was a huge success and we were touched and honored by the outpour of support.

And if you couldn’t be there, it’s ok – there’s still time to contribute HERE

HAPPY OPENING TO HEIDI SCHRECK AND THE WHOLE CONSTITUTION TEAM

We’re thrilled to be above-the-title on a Broadway show for the first time, and doubly thrilled it is with our much beloved production from Summerworks 2017, What The Constitution Means to Me. Running now for a limited time at the Helen Hayes Theater – tickets and info HERE

SUPERLAB: FEATURING ANGELA HANKS

This week we’re giving Angela Hanks’s 2017 Biennial Commission Bodies they Ritual the Superlab treatment. Join us on Friday, March 15 at 3pm to hear the play, directed by Jeremy Bloom

JOIN US FOR SUPERLAB

This week we’re working on Daniel Glenn’s King Philip’s Head is Still on That Pike Just Down the Road, directed by Caitlin Ryan O’Connell – join us on Tuesday, February 19th at 3pm to hear the play. RSVP to joan@clubbedthumb.org

WINTERWORKS 2019 HAS COME TO AN END

Thank you to the 35 artists and nearly 400 audience members who supported the work of our18/19 Directing Fellows: Tara Ahmadinejad, Sarah Blush and Kate Eminger. It was a great six months with these directors, and we look forward to a long relationship with each of them. Read more about them, and the program, HERE

Playwright Vivian Barnes has been awarded our 2018 open-application commission!

We just met Vivian at our holiday party, and didn’t think we had read her work—-or were about to give her $10,000! We look forward to getting to know her and working together over the next few years.

The panel–which included Jaclyn Backhaus, Migdalia Cruz, April Matthis, and CT’s Michael Bulger and Maria Striar–read 140 anonymous proposals, selecting Vivian’s for the grand prize, and awarding five finalists $1,000 each: Kori Alston, Phillip Howze, Deneen Reynolds-Knott, Ruth Tang and Andrea Thome.

12 semi-finalists were also named: John J Caswell, Jr., Preston Choi, Daniella De Jesus, Noah Diaz, Georgina Escobar, Deepali Gupta, Kristine Haruna Lee, Daniel K. Isaac, Julia Izumi, Garrett Kim, Johnny Lloyd and Maia Matsushita. Congratulations, and thank you to everyone who applied!

THIS WEEK WE'RE WORKSHOPPING TWO COMMISSIONS

We’re delighted to have nearly 20 artists in the building this week working on two of our current commissions. We’ll have a presentation of each, but seating is very limited – let us know if you can join and we’ll send along the info

The Woman’s Party by Rinne Groff, directed by GT Upchurch — Friday, Dec 7th at 1:00pm.  and Spindle Shuttle Needle by Gab Reisman, directed by Tamilla Woodard — Saturday, Dec 8th at 3:30pm. RSVP to joan@clubbedthumb.org

SUPERLAB RETURNS

We’re back in Superlab this week, working on We Are Radios, by Chana Porter, with composer Ted Hearne, directed by Adam Greenfield and featuring Bill Buell, Tomás Cruz, Gregg Mozgala, Alex Flores, Kristine Haruna Lee and Annette O’Toole. Join us on Friday, Oct 12th at 3pm to hear the play —
RSVP to joan@clubbedthumb.org