What's Happening!
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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.
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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!
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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
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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!
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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!
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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
Surrender
by Brittany K. Allen – playwright, former Clubbed Thumb Literary Associate & actor from the original cast of Deep Blue Sound.
Abe’s play asks us to surrender, first, to its own uncanny rhythms. We weave in and out of the islanders’ dramas, which range from small to seismic. We’re not tasked with keeping every dynamic in mind—you take what you need and leave the rest. You get sketches and glimpses. If they flit by faster than you can parse their significance, that’s the point. Yet you may find yourself attaching to certain characters, on this glorious pinwheel of vignettes. Doesn’t your heart hurt for Alexander, the aspiring dancer? Or Leslie, who loves horses and some stranger, TBD? I personally have a soft spot for the impotent mayor, whose tyranny knowns no bounds. Literally. (Beware her wrath if you’re seated in the front row, that’s all I’ll say.)
But—and at the risk of getting too Joy Mead about it—there’s more in the marrow of Deep Blue Sound than montage. Though the montage is endearing enough. (That’s one thing I love about this play: there are so many ways into it.) Snatches of island life stack up to pose an existential question which Abe contemplates on at least two time scales. As Ella plans her own ending, the body politic frets about theirs. And it turns out there are as many ways to face the unknown—let’s just call it death—as there are citizens of anyplace. One can fight an ending, fear it, or leap into it straight on, like a beseeching whale. Humor, humanity, and yes, sure, drama, comes from watching how particular people cope as they stare down the inevitable, together.
I don’t love a hometown the way Abe Koogler loves a hometown. (Or, not to presume his life story—let’s say I don’t love a hometown the way these islanders do, and leave it at that.) But I can tell you that I felt at home two summers ago, when I lived on this island. I confess it took a minute to trust a sense of self inside a wave so big, so deep—but it turned out I wasn’t supposed to. Not quite. On the inside, Deep Blue Sound taught me that when the motliest community applies itself to common purpose—be it whale-rescue or play-making—uncanny rhythms are to be cherished, and the whole is exactly as great, as precious, as the sum of its disaggregated parts. That’s a portable secret, useful onstage and off.
On the outside now, I’m so excited to watch this incredible company—under Arin Arbus’ deft direction—swim un-delicately through their doomed meetings and poisoned oceans. And if you too have been a little grim about the mouth lately, take it from me: your visit’s right on time. Nothing cute about it; here on the mainland, we’re living through certain catastrophes. There may be no better time to celebrate the absurd grace which attends mourning and fighting and fearing endings, together.
The Deep Blue Secret is, we all surrender, in and to community. Here comes the water. Know if you go under you won’t be alone.
