Clubbed Thumb Announces Initial Casting For Summerworks 2018

Five-time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb (Maria Striar, Producing Artistic Director; Michael Bulger, Associate Artistic Director) is proud to announce initial casting for SUMMERWORKS, its annual series of new plays. Now in its 23rd season, SUMMERWORKS will run May 19 through June 30 at The Wild Project (195 E 3rd Street) in Manhattan, and will feature productions of three new plays: TIN CAT SHOES by Trish Harnetiaux and directed by Knud Adams; WILDER GONE by Angela Hanks and directed by Margot Bordelon; and PLANO by Will Arbery and directed by Taylor Reynolds. Tickets and festival passes are now on sale at: https://www.artful.ly/clubbedthumb/store/events

TIN CAT SHOES will star David Greenspan (Strange Interlude; 5-time Obie Award recipient including Lifetime Achievement Award), Emily Cass McDonnell (The Antipodes; Grasses of a Thousand Colors), Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Men On Boats; O Earth), Pete Simpson (Middletown; The Terrifying; Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement) and Kyle Beltran (The Amateurs; In the Heights; Fortress of Solitude). Performances run from May 19 through May 29.

Blessed with the can-do American spirit, a troop of dedicated shoe store workers embark on a madcap odyssey of personal (employer-mandated) expansion. But when "work is your life" and systems break down, all that remains is you, nachos, and the truth.

TIN CAT SHOES will feature set design by Kimie Nishikawa, costume design by Sydney Maresca, lighting design by Oona Curley, and sound design by Peter Mills Weiss. Corinn Moreno will serve as production stage manager.

WILDER GONE will star Crystal Dickinson, Washington Kirk (Nollywood Dreams), Christopher Livingston (Party People; Peerless), Markita Prescott (Lookingglass Alice; Too Heavy for Your Pocket, Alliance Theater) and Hubert Point-Du Jour (Tiny Beautiful Things; Sojourners), with two additional cast members to be announced at a later date. Performances run from June 4 through June 14.

Thalia wants to build a farmhouse in the middle of the great big city. Mabel is on a quest to become its first female preacher (although her rampant sexual thoughts are having a real impact on her sermonizing). And little Peanut Brittle is digging around in the past. It is only twenty years into the new century, and these ladies are going a bit wild.

WILDER GONE was commissioned by Clubbed Thumb, made possible by The New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo & The New York State Legislature.

WILDER GONE will feature set design by Reid Thompson, lighting design by Marie Yokoyama and sound design by Kate Marvin.

PLANO will star Crystal Finn (Bobby Clearly; Kingdom Come; Washed Up on the Potomac), Miriam Silverman (Junk; You Got Older), Susannah Flood (The Effect; "For the People"), Ryan King (Deathbed), and Cesar Rosado (Seven Spots on the Sun; Dolphins and Sharks), with two additional cast members to be announced at a later date. Performances run June 20 through June 30.

Tonight, and later, and earlier, three sisters (no, not those ones) are stricken with a series of strange plagues: Isabel's got pains. Anne's got slugs. And Genevieve doesn't want to talk about hers. She just wants you to eat the damn hummus (she made it!). Let's talk about family nightmares. I mean, uh, memories.

PLANO will feature set design by Daniel Zimmerman, costume design by Ari Fulton and sound design by Mark Van Hare.

SUMMERWORKS 2018 is running May 19 through June 30 at The Wild Project, located at 195 E. 3rd Street, New York 10009 - between Avenues A and B in Manhattan's East Village. Full casting will be announced soon. Festival passes are on sale now for $60 at https://www.artful.ly/clubbedthumb/store/passes. Single tickets are on sale for $25 ($20 for students) at https://www.artful.ly/clubbedthumb/store/events.

With its track record for discovering and supporting new playwriting talent - in many cases providing writers with their very first production in New York or anywhere - SUMMERWORKS is one of the most eagerly anticipated theatrical offerings of the year.

Highlights from the previous 22 festivals include the NYC premieres of Gina Gionfriddo, Jordan Harrison, Lisa D'Amour, Tanya Saracho and Sarah Ruhl; professional debuts of Rinne Groff, Sylvan Oswald, Clare Barron, Susan Stanton, Ariel Stess and Jaclyn Backhaus; and new works by Anne Washburn, Adam Bock, Gregory Moss, Jenny Schwartz, Ethan Lipton, Erin Courtney, Sheila Callaghan and Heidi Schreck, whose Summerworks 2017 production of WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME is slated for Berkeley Repertory Theatre later this spring, followed by a run at New York Theater Workshop in fall 2018. All of these artists continue to make Clubbed Thumb an artistic home.

Past SUMMERWORKS directors include Pam MacKinnon, Lee Sunday Evans, Lear deBessonet, Anne Kaufman, Davis McCallum, Leigh Silverman, and Ken Rus Schmoll.

ABOUT CLUBBED THUMB

Clubbed Thumb commissions, develops and produces funny, strange and provocative new plays by living American writers. Since its founding in 1996, the company has earned five Obies including the Ross Wetzsteon Award for sustained artistic excellence. We have presented plays in every form of development, including almost 100 full productions.

Clubbed Thumb is supported in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additionally, Clubbed Thumb receives major support from the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, SEG Voices, and the Mental Insight Foundation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

WWW.CLUBBEDTHUMB.ORG