Tickets for Ro Reddick’s COLD WAR CHOIR PRACTICE are on sale now! The Summerworks 2025 Critic’s Pick, directed by Knud Adams, will return for an extended run co-produced by MCC Theater, Clubbed Thumb and Page 73. Friends of Clubbed Thumb have access to $45 tickets throughout the run – CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS & INFO
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 Terrence I Mosley, Liz Peterson and Hanna Yurfest will work on newly commissioned plays by Max Mooney, jose sebastian alberdi and Emma Horwitz respectively – stay tuned for a Winterworks announcement.
And we’re looking forward to getting to know Alyssa Haddad-Chin, Doug Robinson, Dylan Guerra, Jan Rosenberg, Jen Diamond, Nadja Leonard-Hooper, Sarah Grace Goldman and Yulia Tsukerman in this year’s writers’ group!
Thanks to everyone who joined us to honor Crystal, Susannah, and Miriam, and to everyone who contributed to make it a truly special night.
We were moved by the warmth and generosity in the room on Monday October 6th — lots of hugs, laughter and a even few happy tears. These three are the real deal and we are lucky to know them; we’re excited to keep celebrating them and working with them for many years to come.
Actors are at the heart of what we do, and it’s not too late to support them with a gift to our 2025 gala! DONATE HERE
Whether it was your first Summerworks or your 28th, we are so pleased you could join us. CLICK HERE for some photos and essays 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!
In the meantime, we’re pleased to announce that our outgoing board chair will match donations up to a total of $25,000 to support future remounts of Summerworks shows (like this season’s Deep Blue Sound). He wants us to keep it up – and so do we! CLICK HERE TO JOIN THAT EFFORT
Spending the last two months with Deep Blue Sound has been a joy and a balm. We are deeply proud of the work, and humbled by the talent and dedication of this company of artists.
The show played for six sold-out weeks and we added as many shows as we could – but sadly, we closed this weekend. Thank you to the over 4,000 people who came to visit our island. And thank you to all the artists, staff, funders and friends who made it possible. This was a special one.
Our “devastatingly beautiful” production from Summerworks 2023 returns for a limited engagement, in residence at the Public Theater. Now playing! CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
Thank you to the hundreds of people who joined as at Playwrights Downtown for the 10th annual Winterworks. We were so proud of the work these amazing artists made — and we managed to cram everyone in to share it. Congratulations especially to Directing Fellows Iris McCloughan, NJ Agwuna and Laura Dupper – read more HERE
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
by Milo Cramer
directed by Laura Dupper
with Brittany Bradford, Laura Scott Cary, Annie McNamara and Mary Wiseman
sets Emmie Finckel
costumes Avery Reed
lights Emily Clarkson
sound Caroline Eng
stage manager Andie Burns
I’m just trying to brainstorm actionable steps toward changing my life for the better, and LinkedIn was one of the only actionable steps I could brainstorm.
MAY 14 – MAY 27
PART OF SUMMERWORKS 2025
at the Wild Project
by Mara Nelson-Greenberg
directed by Joan Sergay
with Jordan Bellow, Dee Pelletier, Yonatan Gebeyehu, Sue Jean Kim, Susannah Perkins and Sam Breslin Wright
sets Corey Umlauf
costumes Mel Ng
lights Marika Kent
sound Johnny Gasper
stage manager Heather Englander
The sacrifices, the compromises, the city bus crashed straight through your home. It’s just the cost of having something that’s your own – right?
JUNE 2 – JUNE 13
PART OF SUMMERWORKS 2025
at the Wild Project
a play with music by Ro Reddick
directed by Knud Adams
music directed by Ellen Winter
with Alana Raquel Bowers, Will Cobbs, Nina Grollman, Andy Lucien, Grace McLean, Lizan Mitchell, Mallory Portnoy, Suzzy Roche and Ellen Winter
sets Afsoon Pajoufar
costumes Brenda Abbandandolo
lights Masha Tsimring
sound Kathy Ruvuna
movement Baye & Asa
stage manager Christina M. Woolard
Dear Santa, for Christmas this year I want a Pound Puppy, a Speak + Spell, and a nuclear radiation detector.
JUNE 19 – JULY 1
PART OF SUMMERWORKS 2025
at the Wild Project
Reflections on Cold War Choir Practice
by Lynn Rusten
Just Beneath the Brightness: Thoughts on Cold War Choir Practice
by Mara Nelson-Greenberg
There Once was a Child
by Bailey Williams
3Views, Issue 7, Part 3: Cold War Choir Practice
essays by Ashley M. Thomas, Ekemini Ekpo and Lexie Waddy
Review: When the President Made a Deal (Critic’s Pick!)
by Laura Collins-Hughes, NY Times
The culmination of our New Play Directing Fellowship – featuring:
Iris McCloughan directing
IL BUNKERINI
by Sam Bell
with Tina Benko, Ugo Chukwu, Tony Jenkins, Emma Kikue & Julia Sirna-Frest
designer Krit Robinson
stage manager Eva Shannon-Dabek
NJ Agwuna directing
ORIGEN STORY
by Nina Ki
with Sonnie Brown, Zöe Kim, Ashil Lee, Estelle Lee, Diana Oh, Phoenix Ra & Sarah Shin
designer Jean Kim
stage manager Rebecca Conaway
Laura Dupper directing
A NECESSARY KILLING
by Jeana Scotti
with Janice Amaya, Gibson Frazier, Noah Keyishian, Kelly McAndrew & Frankie Placidi
choreographer Sunny Min-Sook Hitt
stage manager Cara Kienitz
JANUARY 16 – 19, 2025
at Plawrights Downtown
featuring plays-in-progress from the 24/25 Early-Career Writers’ Group.
Wed May 21st:
Hide by Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke
Thurs May 22nd:
Lloyd/Llwyd by Seayoung Yum
Mon June 9th:
Lihona by Anike Sonuga
Tues June 10th:
Numbers by Chad Kaydo
Wed June 11th:
I want to hold onto something beautiful and empty by Hillary Gao
Wed June 25th:
Fashion by Amanda Horowitz
Thurs June 26th:
Angels Just Like You by Eliana Theologides Rodriguez
Fri June 27th:
Three Assemblies by Bradley Cherna
by Abe Koogler
directed by Arin Arbus
with: Arnie Burton, Crystal Finn, Jan Leslie Harding, Mia Katigbak, Ryan King, Maryann Plunkett, Armando Riesco, Miriam Silverman and Carmen Zilles
Scenic Designer dots
Costume Designer Emily Rebholz
Lighting Designer Isabella Byrd
Sound Designer Mikaal Sulaiman
Prop Designer Lauren Page Russell
Production Stage Manager Kristy Bodall
A return of Summerworks 2023’s hit production
FEBRUARY 25 – APRIL 5, 2025
at The Public’s Shiva Theater
Digital Program
Click to Download
Make It Feel Real
by Bailey Williams
Abe Koogler, Arin Arbus and a Trove of a Cast
by Billy McEntree
Read the script of Deep Blue Sound
Click here to purchase from DPS
Surrender
by Brittany K. Allen
Review: Whale-Loving Islanders Drown In Fathomless Loss in ‘Deep Blue Sound’
David Cote, The Observer
Theatre in Review: Deep Blue Sound (Clubbed Thumb at the Public Theater)
David Barbour, Lighting and Sound America
