What's Happening!

  • 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!

  • SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR ANNUAL GALA

    As we prepare to tech our 10th collaboration with the design collective dots – and as they prepare for the Tony Awards this week – we are thrilled to announce we’ll be celebrating them at our gala on October 7th! The annual gala is a fundraising cornerstone, as well as a stylish, fun and deeply-felt event, which will be held once again at the industrial chic Etsy headquarters. Tickets at info HERE

  • 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

  • MEET THESE WRITERS DURING SUMMERWORKS

    Join us during Summerworks for free afternoon readings of plays by 10 exceptional playwrights. First, we’re teaming back up with Brown University’s MFA Playwriting Program in the Department of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies to present readings of plays by two graduating playwrights. CLICK FOR MORE

     

    Then we’ll present eight readings of work-in-progress by the 23/24 Early-Career Writers’ Group. CLICK HERE TO RSVP

  • 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

  • CONGRATULATIONS - AND A SAVE THE DATE

    This weekend, we were delighted by the news that Maryann Plunkett, dots, Liza Birkenmeier and Tara Ahmadinejad had all received Obie Awards for their work on Summerworks. Richly Deserved!

    Maybe you are one of the many many people who heard how amazing Liza, Tara and dots’ work on Grief Hotel was, and were sorry to have missed it??

    WELL GUESS WHAT! It’s coming baaaack…. this spring! Location to be announced when ticket sales open — but SAVE THE DATE!

  • WINTERWORKS 2024 HAS COME TO A CLOSE

    Thank you to the hundreds of people who joined as at Houghton Hall for the 9th annual Winterworks. We were so proud of the work these amazing artists made — and we managed to cram everyone in to share it.

  • MEET THE INCOMING COHORTS OF OUR EARLY-CAREER WRITERS' GROUP AND NEW PLAY DIRECTING FELLOWSHIP

    We’re back in action with two new groups to introduce you to! Meet the Early-Career Writers – with whom we’ll convene for play reading and dinner eating, often joined by one of their estimable mentor writers – by CLICKING HERE. During Summerworks we’ll present readings of their plays-in-progress, so join us then to get to know their work.

     

    And get to know the directors and writers in this season’s New Play Directing Fellowship by CLICKING HERE. Program mentors Anne Kauffman and Daniel Aukin, along with Clubbed Thumb staff, will support these new play processes in two phases: first with Playwrights Horizons Theater School students this fall, then in quick and scrappy workshop productions at Winterworks in January. Stay tuned for more info on that and more!

     

  • 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

MEET THE 24/25 EARLY-CAREER WRITERS’ GROUP

Each year we gather eight playwrights over the course of a season to develop work, commune with each other and meet various industry professionals. In May/June, we’ll present readings of their work-in-process during Summerworks 2025. This program is generously supported by The Barbara Bell Cumming Charitable Trust and the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation. (Click their photos for more info!)

Bradley ChernaBradley Cherna is a New York City-based playwright originally from South Florida. Bradley’s playwriting includes All these Activists (commissioned by The Public Theater and developed with Waterwell);  The Plague Plays: Notes from a Pandemic in Progress (published in At the Intersection of Disability and Drama: A Critical Anthology of New Plays); The Ländler (Linnell Festival of New Plays); The Forest of Without (The Drama League DirectorFest); The Scrap Paper Players (Columbia University); The Mixed-Up Letters of Jamie & Claude (Ugly Rhino Productions); and Eggshells on my Back and other fairy tales (inaugural Florida Players New Works Festival at the University of Florida). Bradley is a lab artist in the inaugural AJT New Plays Lab. Bradley works as a director, dramaturg, and producer of projects on pages, stages, and screens. MFA in Playwriting: Columbia University.

Hillary GaoHillary Gao (any pronouns) is a Chinese-American creator, writer, and performer interested in mythology, chaos, and the sublime. She has had her work described as “whimsical, darkly funny, and grounded in a very striking physicality”.  Hillary’s work has been presented at a variety of venues and locations: The Exponential Festival, Quick + Dirty, The Brick, IRT, Brick Aux, the Tank NYC, CultureHub/SFPC. hillarywgao.com & @hillarywgao on Instagram.

Amanda HorowitzAmanda Horowitz is an interdisciplinary artist working between performance and sculpture. She writes and directs theater using experimental and collaborative methods. Past performance projects include: Heavenly Fools (Mason Gross Playwrights Festival, 2023), Bad Stars (STARS Gallery, 2023), Bad Water True West (Bad Water Gallery. 2022), Keys to The Round House (Rutgers University, 2021), Suddenly, This Summer (PAM, 2019), The Plumbing Tree (by Medium Judith, Highways Performance Space and Human Resources LA, 2018/19). She was the co-founder and director of Medium Judith (extg, 2013-2019), a theater collaboration with Bully Fae Collins. Amanda holds a double MFA in Visual Art and Playwriting from Rutgers University. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2016, and was part of the 2024 inaugural residency The Larger County Exchange with Richard Maxwell and Tina Satter in Listowel, Ireland. She teaches media and performance courses at Rutgers University, where she was a 2023/24 Douglass College Faculty Fellow.

Chad KaydoChad Kaydo is a queer playwright from Ashtabula, Ohio, who writes intimately observed plays obsessed with friendship, mortality, and the existential questions hidden in the quotidian. He is currently developing Unfinished Sketches at the Brick and Where Is Miss Stone? with Clubbed Thumb as a finalist for the 2022 Biennial Commission. Chad’s work has also been supported by Fresh Ground Pepper, Playhouse on Park, the Quickening Room, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Theater Masters. He produces and hosts Quick + Dirty, a development series at Brick Aux for short works by new collaborators. One-fifth of the theater collective The Omnivores. M.F.A., Hunter College.

Anike SonugaAnike Sonuga (uh-nee-kay sho-noo-guh) is a writer, director, and actor for both the stage and the screen. A graduate from NYU’s Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, Anike’s work has been featured in several PHTS productions, as well as The Tank’s LimeFest (Girls! Girls! Girls!), The Brick’s Exponential Festival (God and All Her Children), and NYU’s Broke People Play Festival (Speed Date).

Eliana Theologides RodriguezEliana Theologides Rodriguez (she/her) is a writer and dancer whose plays include INDIAN PRINCESSES (2024 Terrence McNally Fellowship, 2023/2024 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship), MARBLE ROOFTOP, EMMA HAS CHURCH (2024 DNA Workshop at La Jolla, 2024 O’Neill NPC Finalist, 2020 John Golden Award for Excellence in Playwriting), POOR QUEENIE (2021 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship Finalist, 2021 Goldberg Play Prize Finalist, 2020 Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights Workshop), and JUNIPERFECT (2021 commission with Adventure Theatre MTC). She is currently under commission at South Coast Repertory and is a proud member of EST Youngblood. An upcoming production of POOR QUEENIE is scheduled for 2025 at Subtext Studio in Chicago. When she is not writing, Eliana can be found crying in public, eating in private, doing lots of things really, doing really cool things. BFA: NYU Tisch, Dramatic Writing

Arun Welandawe-PrematillekeArun Welandawe-Prematilleke is a Sri Lankan playwright, actor and director. Born in Helsinki, Arun has lived and worked in Colombo, London and New York and his work is representative of an international, intersectional world-view. He served as Associate Artistic Director at the Mind Adventures Theatre Company from 2011 to 2017. His plays in Sri Lanka include Paraya, Only Soldiers and The One Who Loves You So, for which he received the Gratiaen Prize for Literature and was published by Perera Hussein books. In New York, his play The Present was performed at the Roundabout Underground Readings Series, he is the recipient of the Atlantic Theatre Company’s 2024 Launch Commission and was awarded the John Golden Playwriting Prize upon graduating from NYU Tisch School of Arts.

Seayoung YimSeayoung (SHEE young) Yim is a playwright and educator from Seattle, now based in NYC. Her play Jar of Fat (Brown University) won the 2022 Yale Drama Series Prize and second place for the Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award at The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). In 2024, Seayoung received the Dramatist Guild’s Lanford Wilson Award. Other awards/honors include the Powers Playwriting Fellowship at the Old Globe, winner of the Woolly Mammoth x Black List commission, finalist for 2024 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award, writer residency at Hedgebrook, Stephen Sondheim Graduate Fellowship in Theater Arts at Brown University, Kilroys Web, Playwriting Fellowship at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the People’s Choice Award for Outstanding New Play at Theater Puget Sound’s Gregory Awards, and Seattle’s Rose Lee Award for Excellence in Local Playwriting. Her plays Persimmon Nights (Cafe Nordo) and Do It For Umma (Annex Theatre) directed by Sara Porkalob both enjoyed sold-out runs. Other plays have been developed/supported by Ma-Yi Writers Lab, Clubbed Thumb, Annex Theater, Cafe Nordo, Seattle Public Theater’s Education Program, Theatre Battery, Pony World Theatre, Live Girls! Theater, UW School of Drama, Brown University, SIS Productions, Pork Filled Productions, and The Umbrella Project. She has taught Playwriting and Beginning Screenwriting at Brown University and Playwriting at the Rhode Island School of Design. BA: University of Washington. MFA: Brown University

 

Past Groups:

2023/24 (No Team Name): jose sebastian alberdi, Kallan Dana, Alexa Derman, Daniel Holzman, Ashil Lee, Nikhil Mahapatra, Alle Mims, Marissa Joyce Stamps

2022/23 (No Team Name): Sam Bell, Daniela Gonzales y Perez, Emma Horwitz, Katelynn Kenney, Nina Ki, Kaia Lyons, kanishk pandey, Hayley Stahl.

2021/22 (No Team Name): Calley N. Anderson, Alisha Espinosa, Elijah Guo, Renae Jarrett, Jeana Scotti, TyLie Shider, Mallory Jane Weiss, Bailey Williams.

2020/21 (globe:warmed): Cristina Luzárraga, Allyson Dwyer, Nelson Diaz-Marcano, Hanna Novak, reid tang, Johnny Lloyd, Kathy Ng and Nazareth Hassan.

2019/20 (And Their Friends): Aaron Ricciardi, Deneen Reynolds-Knott, Kori Alston, Ry Szelong, Julia Izumi, Justice Hehir, May Treuhaft-Ali and Crystal Finn.

2018/19 (The Moniques): Emma Goidel, Alexander Paris, Lily Ackerman, Zhu Yi, April Ranger, Lizzie Stern, Sanaz Toossi and T. Adamson.

2017/18 (No Team Name): Ren Dara Santiago, Abby Rosebrock, William Glick, Charly Simpson, Daaimah Mubashshir, Chloé Hayat, Jordan Baum and Katie Hathaway.

2016/17 (No Team Name): Alexis Roblan, Angela Hanks, Dennis A. Allen II, Dominic Finocchiaro, Georgina Escobar, Jess Barbagallo, Nina Braddock and Paul Cameron Hardy.

2015/16 (Impartially Nude): Bryna Turner, Catia Cunha, Eboni Booth, Mara Nelson-Greenberg, Phillip Howze, Adrian Einspanier, Will Arbery and Zarina Shea.

2014/15 (Blood Piñata): Sarah DeLappe, Stephanie Del Rosso, Cory Finley, Xavier Galva, Jessica Goldschmidt, Amina Henry, Carmen Herlihy and Ryan King.

2013/14 (The Falcons): Jaclyn Backhaus, Adam Blodgett, LaShea Delaney, Tasha Gordon-Solmon, Ken Greller, MJ Kaufman, Dan Regelski and Ariel Stess.