What's Happening!

  • 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

MEN ON BOATS

written by Jaclyn Backhaus
directed by Will Davis

with Jess Barbagallo, Becca Blackwell, Hannah Cabell, Danielle Davenport, Danaya Esperanza, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Birgit Huppuch, Layla Khoshnoudi, Kelly McAndrew and Kristen Sieh

set by Arnulfo Maldonado
costumes by Ásta Bennie Hostetter
lights by Solomon Weisbard
sound by Jane Shaw
production stage manager Sunny Stapleton

“You will surely want to spend time with the hearty title characters of Men on Boats. …A rollicking history pageant…Backhaus’s lively script…brought to infectiously vivid life [by] Will Davis’s highly ingenious direction … The cast, the director and the design team…delightfully recreate the rhythms, rush and terror of life on the water…Rendered in a carefully exaggerated style that both teases and cozies up to the clichés of the archetypal hero adventurer.”
CRITIC’S PICK! – Ben Brantley, The New York Times

June 19 – June 29, 2015

Cast of MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.
Becca Blackwell and Jess Barbagallo in MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.
Donnetta Lavinia Grays and Cast of MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.
Cast of MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.
Cast of MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.
Kristen Sieh, Kelly McAndrew, and Donnetta Lavinia Grays in MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.
Kelly McAndrew and Layla Khoshnoudi in MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.
Hannah Cabell, Birgit Huppuch, and Danaya Esperanza in MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.
Cast of MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.
Cast of MEN ON BOATS. Photo by Elke Young.