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

SUMMERWORKS 2019
May 17 – June 28
at the Wild Project – 195 E. 3rd Street, between Avenue A and B

CRITIC’S PICK! If you know Clubbed Thumb — and you should, because the company has more than 20 years of gutsy new play development under its belt — you’ll recognize this as a very Clubbed Thumb show: idiosyncratic, nonrealistic, gently experimental with a
Downtown’s greatest hits compilation of a cast. -Alexis Soloski, New York Times

 

LUNCH BUNCH

written by Adrian Einspanier
directed by Tara Ahmadinejad

With Eliza Bent, Ugo Chukwu, Irene Sofia Lucio, Keilly McQuail, Nana Mensah, Jon Norman Schneider, Mike Shapiro and Julia Sirna-Frest

sets by Jean Kim
costumes by Alice Tavener
lights by Oona Curley
sound by Ben Vigus
props by Raphael Mishler
production stage manager Alex Williamson

Seven public defenders on a quest for crumbs of joy.

May 17 – May 28, 2019

This “witty, smart production brings out the absurdity, the poignancy, and the cruelty in Zhu Yi’s rich script . . . and also, there are sheep.” – Loren Noveck, Exeunt

YOU NEVER TOUCHED THE DIRT

written by Zhu Yi
directed by Ken Rus Schmoll

With Holly Chou, John D. Haggerty, Daniel K. Isaac, Kenneth Lee, Jennifer Lim, and Julyana Soelistyo

sets by Andrew Moerdyk
costumes by Heather McDevitt Barton
lights by Jiyoun Chang
sound by Brendan Aanes
props by Raphael Mishler
production stage manager Melanie Aponte

The Lis, the Zhaos, the ghosts and the animals engage in a land feud.

June 3 – June 13, 2019

CRITIC’S PICK! One of this season’s tastier diversions. As a distant mirror to contemporary stasis, it may be too familiar for comfort. Still, in this prickly summer of American discontent, there’s sweet relief in being allowed to giggle contentedly at a shrewd, silly evocation of the kind of legislative gridlock that usually has us biting our nails and fearing for our future.
– Ben Brantley, The New York Times

KING PHILIP’S HEAD IS STILL ON THAT PIKE JUST DOWN THE ROAD

written by Daniel Glenn
directed by Caitlin Ryan O’Connell

With Rachel Christopher, Crystal Finn, Jennifer Ikeda, Elizabeth Kenny, Mary Lou Rosato, Zuzanna Szadkowski, Kristin Villanueva and Sam Breslin Wright

sets by Carolyn Mraz
costumes by Melissa Ng
lights by Amith Chandrashaker
sound by Emily Auciello
props by Raphael Mishler
production stage manager Kristy Bodall

The councilmen of Plymouth Colony determine how to be Good in the New World.

June 19 – June 29, 2019

A return of Summerworks 2018’s hit production

PLANO

written by Will Arbery
directed by Taylor Reynolds

with Crystal Finn, Susannah Flood, Miriam Silverman, Cesar J. Rosado, Ryan King, Brendan Dalton and Mary Shultz

sets by Daniel Zimmerman
costumes by Stephanie Levin
lights by Isabella Byrd
sound by Tyler Kieffer
choreography by Kelly Bartnik
props by Raphael Mishler
production stage manager Corinn Moreno

Tonight, and later, and earlier, three sisters (no, not those ones) are stricken with a series of strange plagues. Let’s talk about family nightmares. I mean, uh, memories.

April 8 – May 11, 2019
at the Connelly Theater, 220 E 4th Street between A and B

Plus the Summerworks Reading Series: afternoon presentations of plays from our Early-Career Writers’ Group:
Emma Goidel, Lily Akerman, T. Adamson, Zhu Yi, Alexander Paris, Lizzie Stern, April Ranger and Sanaz Toossi.