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

USUS

by T. Adamson
directed by Emma Miller
with: Ugo Chukwu, Annie Fang, Crystal Finn, Yonatan Gebeyehu, David Greenspan, Mary Lou Rosato and Jon Norman Schneider

sets Yi-Hsuan (Ant) Ma
costumes Phuong Nguyen
lights Marika Kent
sound Carsen Joenk
choreographer Sunny Min-Sook Hitt
stage manager Siena Yusi

It’s 1318 and six Franciscan friars are caught between the purity of their beliefs and a Pope who likes stuff. The it-shay is about to hit the an-fay.

MAY 16 – MAY 28, 2024
Part of Clubbed Thumb’s 27th Summerworks at the Wild Project

A Note From The Author

T. Adamson

On Usus

Crystal Finn

An Interview With The Playwright

T. Adamson

Usus, Disillusionment and Power

Jesse Jae Hoon

COACH COACH

by Bailey Williams
directed by Sarah Blush
with: Purva Bedi, Cindy Cheung, Becca Lish, Kelly McAndrew, Susannah Millonzi and Zuzanna Szadkowski

sets Colleen Murray
costumes Dan Wang
lights Masha Tsimring
sound Johnny Gasper
fight choreography Kelly Bartnik
stage manager Allison Raynes

A group of coaches – with the same credentials, but different specialties – gather for a weekend retreat. Some of them will leave as Platinum Practitioner Life Coaches with Dr. Meredith Martin’s Action Coach Academy for Thinking Coaches. Some of them will not.

JUNE 3 – JUNE 13, 2024
Part of Clubbed Thumb’s 27th Summerworks at the Wild Project

A Note From The Author

Bailey Williams

Work Retreat In A Rental Home: Some Thoughtwork On Coach Coach

T. Adamson

The Thousand Selves You’ll Never Save: On Coach Coach

Liza Birkenmeier

They Spent Their Savings On Life Coaching

Katie Bishop, NY Times

An Interview With The Playwright

Bailey Williams

In Coach Coach, The Ouroboros of Self-Improvement

Billy McEntee, The Brooklyn Rail

FIND ME HERE

by Crystal Finn
directed by Caitlin Sullivan
with: Kyle Beltran, Lizbeth Mackay, Keith Reddin, Constance Shulman, Miriam Silverman, Kathleen Tolan, Shannon Tyo and Frank Wood

sets dots
costumes Brenda Abbandandolo
lights Isabella Byrd  
sound Mikaal Sulaiman
stage manager Caroline Englander

A patriarch dies at 100 years old and three sisters open his will. One sister is worried she is next. One sister is determined never to be next. One sister is becoming invisible.

JUNE 19 – JUNE 29, 2024
Part of Clubbed Thumb’s 27th Summerworks at the Wild Project

A Note From The Author

Crystal Finn

A Scenic View

Ken Rus Schmoll

There’s No Logical Way To Be In A Family

Bailey Williams

An Interview With The Playwright

Crystal Finn

Review: Three-Sister Harmony in Find Me Here

Sara Holdren, NY Magazine

WINTERWORKS 2024

The culmination of our New Play Directing Fellowship – featuring:

Lauren Zeftel directing
MY SIX THERAPISTS
by Julia Izumi
with Purva Bedi, Alma Cuervo, Ethan Dubin, Polly Lee, Jon Norman Schneider, Shannon Tyo and Amelia Workman
designer Afsoon Pajoufar | stage manager Cara Kienitz

Carsen Joenk directing
WATCH ME
by Justice Hehir
with Sarina Freda, Greg Keller, Layla Khoshnoudi, Izabel Mar, Nicole Rodenburg, Felix Teich and Carmen Zilles
choreographer Sunny Min-Sook Hitt | stage manager Matthew Pezzulich

Miranda Cornell directing
CHAIRS
by Hayley Stahl
with Jess Barbagallo, Jordan Bellow, Susan Blommaert, Cindy Cheung, Emily Davis, Annie Fang, Portia, Connie Shulman and Naren Weiss
designer Kelvin Pater | stage manager Alisa Rabin

GRIEF HOTEL

a return of Clubbed Thumb’s Obie Award-winning production – in residence at The Public Theater

written by Liza Birkenmeier
directed by Tara Ahmadinejad

featuring the original cast:
Susan Blommaert, Bruce McKenzie, Nadine Malouf, Ana Nogueira, Susannah Perkins and Naren Weiss

sets by dots
costumes by Mel Ng
lights by Masha Tsimring
sound & composition by Jordan McCree
production stage manager Allison Raynes
Presented in partnership with New Georges

Loss is fast, but grief is slow. Aunt Bobbi’s going to try to make everyone feel better, even though her parties are cursed.

MARCH 20 – APRIL 27, 2024
at The Public’s Shiva Theater

Listen to the hit single, Roads Go

Asher Lowden

A Note From The Author

Liza Birkenmeier

Grief Hotel: A Theory Of Relativity

Sarah Lunnie

Every Place You Go Can Burn Down

Madeleine George

Review: Grief Hotel, Where You Check In To Yourself

Sara Holdren, NY Magazine

Review: Grief Hotel, Misery Loves Company

Melissa Rose Bernardo, NY Stage Review

Check In To Grief Hotel: Wading Through Woe with Liza Birkenmeier’s Latest

Billy McEntee, The Brooklyn Rail

Grief Is A Funny Thing. No Really.

Joey Sims

The 2024 Summerworks Reading Series

featuring plays-in-progress from the 23/24 Early-Career Writers’ Group.

Fri May 24th:
Unfortunately People Will Die… by Nikhil Mahapatra

Fri June 7th:
His Majesty, Her Self by Alle Mims

Mon June 10th:
Dokkaebi by Ashil Lee

Tue June 11th:
Episodes by Kallan Dana

Mon June 24th:
adoration by Jose Sebastian Alberdi

Tue June 25th:
Rollback by Marissa Joyce Stamps

Wed June 26th:
Olives by Daniel Holzman

Thu June 27th:
Untitled Beauty Play by Alexa Derman

Also featuring plays from the recent graduates of Brown University’s MFA Playwriting Program: Ro Reddick & Harley Elias