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

A note from playwright Jesse Jae Hoon

It all starts with a conversation.

When my friend Tiffany Cabán won her election to the City Council, I reluctantly agreed to knock doors in Astoria and Woodside for her signature policy proposal: police abolition in New York City. After years of negative media campaigns against abolition throughout the mainstream media, I was prepared for the worst.

At my first door, a shirtless former NYPD officer answered. Oh God, I thought, here we go.

As I nervously made my way through my spiel, citing several points on the Council Member’s public safety policy, I braced myself for a harsh argument.

Instead, he agreed. He began to describe his work as a police officer doing gang violence prevention – which essentially consisted of stalking Black and Brown teenagers on social media and harassing them in person. Having grown up in the neighborhood, he could see how his work for the NYPD was completely useless and actively made the community worse place to live.

My cynicism, my desire to give into the inevitability of loss, was resoundingly rejected. The desire for change, for a system that works to protect people instead of beat down and extract from them, exists within all of us – we are trapped by an individualistic culture that tells us nothing else is possible.

My neighbors taught me how to win without compromising one’s demands, how to turn communities  and neighborhoods into unstoppable forces of political power.  

My neighbors taught me there was still hope in politics – not just in elections, but in the practice of  politics as building mass power.

Sustainable and organized struggle provided answers that the gaping corporate void of the internet hides from us. It is opening a conversation, being implacable in our mission, and understanding how to build power that will open the door to a better world.

The arc of history does not inevitably bend towards justice – it must be molded, bent, and shaped by all of us together. This is how Eliysheba knows the noise will return, how Farida knows Rafah is – and will always be – a city in Palestine, this is how we will abolish ICE.

Put down your phone and talk to your neighbor. Come be brave, come get organized, come feel powerful, come share our stupid little dream.