What's Happening!

OUR NEXT OPEN APPLICATION COMMISSION IS NOW LIVE!

Every year Clubbed Thumb invites playwrights to propose plays inspired by a particular prompt. The application is free and open to all; the anonymous proposals are read by a panel of theater artists. The winning proposal(s) receive (or split) a $15,000 award and development support. (Read more about our new approach to play submissions HERE.)

This year, thanks to the gift of an anonymous sponsor, we are pleased to announce our next submission opportunity: Anthropology of the Workplace – a Margaret Mead Commission.

READ MORE & SUBMIT HERE
THE FAMILY DOG WILL RETURN IN 2027!

Summerworks 2026’s sold-out, hit production of THE FAMILY DOG by Bailey Williams, directed by Tara Ahmadinejad and starring the original cast will return for FOUR WEEKS ONLY, February 9 – March 6, 2027 at New York Theatre Workshop. Tickets will go on sale in a few weeks – sign up for our EBLAST to get updates, early access and special ticket deals!
THANK YOU FOR MAKING OUR GALA A GREAT SUCCESS

Thanks to everyone who joined us to honor Josh Silverman, and to everyone who contributed to make it a truly special night.

It’s not too late to contribute to the Josh Silverman Fund! DONATE HERE
MEET OUR 26/27 GROUP COHORTS!

A very warm welcome to the incoming writers and directors taking part in Clubbed Thumb’s Early-Career Writers’ Group and New Play Fellowship!

Directors Cricket Brown, Marissa Joyce Stamps and Jillian Jetton will work on plays by Daniel Holzman, Aaron Ricciardi and Nikhil Mahapatra respectively – stay tuned for a Winterworks announcement.

And we’re looking forward to getting to know Agyeiwaa Asante, Ida Cutler, Carlin Feck, Fiona Gorry-Hines, Salwa Meghjee, Derick Edgren Otero, Jacob K. Robinson and Amy B. Tiong in this year’s writers’ group!
THANK YOU FOR COMING TO SUMMERWORKS 2026

Whether it was your first Summerworks or your 29th, we are so pleased you could join us. CLICK HERE for photos, essays and press from this season.

We’ll be spending the summer incubating and planning for the fall, but we have lot of news to share, so watch this space!
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, Ro Reddick’s Cold War Choir Practice (’26) co-produced with MCC and Page 73 and, upcoming in February 2027, Bailey Williams’s The Family Dog at New York Theatre Workshop.

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