SUMMERWORKS FESTIVAL Unveils Initial Casting For 2026

Tony Award-nominated and Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb (Maria Striar, Artistic Director; Michael Bulger, Producing Director) is pleased to announce initial casting for the 29th SUMMERWORKS festival of new plays. SUMMERWORKS will run Thursday May 14 – Tuesday June 30, 2026, at the wild project (195 East 3rd Street) and will feature productions of three new plays.

This summer's plays are Titans by Jesse Jae Hoon (professional debut) and directed by Tara Elliott (Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods); Derangements by Nadja Leonhard-Hooper (HOLE!) and directed by Annie Tippe (Octet); and The Family Dog by Bailey Williams (Coach Coach) and directed by Tara Ahmadinejad (Grief Hotel). More information about each production is listed below.

SUMMERWORKS 2026

TITANS

By Jesse Jae Hoon

Directed by Tara Elliott

Thursday May 14 – Tuesday May 26

In which the ordinary residents of an overrun American city answer the Signal and discover their extraordinary powers. Unfortunately, they must be brave.

The cast of Titans will include Julia Brothers (Weightless) as Joyce, Layan Elwazani (The Antiquities) as Farida, Ben Langhorst (Chinese Republicans) as Jared and others, Megan Lomax (The Skin of Our Teeth) as Riyo, Irene Sofia Lucio (Liberation) as Diana, Sharina Martin (The Piano Lesson) as Eliysheba, Reynaldo Piniella (Thoughts of a Colored Man) as Gabriel, Marvelyn Ramirez (CALF SCRAMBLE) as Bel, and Shannon Tyo (The Comeuppance) as Fran.

Titans will feature set design by Raphael Mishler (The Fires), costume design by Phuong Nguyen (Usus), lighting design by Cha See (Oh, Mary!), sound design by Brendan Aanes (Taylor Mac's Bark of Millions), and movement by Kelly Bartnik (The Death of Rasputin). Allison Raynes will serve as the Production Stage Manager and Cara Kienitz will serve as the Assistant Stage Manager. Titans was commissioned and developed by Clubbed Thumb.

DERANGEMENTS

By Nadja Leonhard-Hooper

Directed by Annie Tippe

Monday June 1 – Friday June 12

In which two girlfriends catching up over dinner have their lives changed in a flash. Maybe it's the ‘80s, but it's probably just gas.

The cast of Derangements will include Hannah Cabell (Your Own Personal Exegesis) as Anne Marie, Camila Canó-Flaviá (Dance Nation) as Maya, Crystal Finn (Cold War Choir Practice) as Roxanne, Marceline Hugot (Marys Seacole) as The Gynecologist, Allan K. Washington (SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical) as The Waiter, and Danny Wolohan (To Kill a Mockingbird) as The Flasher.

Derangements will feature set design by Cate McCrea (CALF SCRAMBLE), costume design by Brenda Abbandandolo (Cold War Choir Practice), lighting design by Alejandro Fajardo (Adult Relationships), and sound design by Johnny Gasper (Not Not Jane's). Dominique Nadeau will serve as the Production Stage Manager and Aiden Dalton will serve as the Assistant Stage Manager. Derangements was a semi-finalist for the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission and has been developed in Clubbed Thumb's Early-Career Writers' Group.

THE FAMILY DOG

By Bailey Williams

Directed by Tara Ahmadinejad

Thursday June 18 – Tuesday June 30

In which Whiney returns to her childhood home to say goodbye to the pet who replaced her. Miracles abound, some in meatball form.

The cast of The Family Dog will be announced at a later date.

The creative team of The Family Dog will feature set design by Colleen Murray (Coach Coach), costume design by Mel Ng (Grief Hotel), lighting design by Masha Tsimring (Cold War Choir Practice), and sound design by Ben Vigus (Lunch Bunch).

The Family Dog was commissioned and developed by Clubbed Thumb, made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

The performance schedule for SUMMERWORKS is as follows: Mondays – Saturdays at 7:30pm. There will be additional 3pm performances for the following shows:

Titans: Saturday May 23, Monday May 25, and Tuesday May 26.
Derangements: Saturday June 6, Thursday June 11, and Friday June 12.
The Family Dog: Saturday June 27, Monday June 29, and Tuesday June 30.

TICKETS

General admission tickets are priced at $35, reserved seats are priced at $45, and student tickets are priced at $25. Festival passes start $75. Single tickets and festival passes are now on sale at ci.ovationtix.com/36616.

Clubbed Thumb will also present free play readings from the company's Early-Career Writers' Group this summer. All readings will begin at 3pm at the wild project. To RSVP, please visit ci.ovationtix.com/36616.

The full lineup of complimentary readings includes:

Thursday May 21: Dylan Guerra
Monday June 8: Jan Rosenberg
Tuesday June 9: Doug Robinson
Wednesday June 10: Yuliya Tsukerman
Wednesday June 24: Jen Diamons
Thursday June 25: Sarah Grace Goldman
Friday June 26: Alyssa Haddad-Chin

To learn more about these writers, please visit clubbedthumb.org/early-career-writers-group.

SUMMERWORKS follows Clubbed Thumb's extended, Lucille Lortel Award-nominated Cold War Choir Practice, co-produced with MCC Theater and Page 73, which premiered as part of SUMMERWORKS 2025.

Highlights from the previous 28 Summerworks festivals include the NYC premieres of Gina Gionfriddo, Jordan Harrison, Lisa D'Amour, and Sarah Ruhl; professional debuts of Jaclyn Backhaus, Will Arbery, Clare Barron, Rinne Groff, and Susan Soon He Stanton; and premieres by Anne Washburn, Jenny Schwartz, Ethan Lipton, Sheila Callaghan, Tanya Saracho, and Heidi Schreck. Many of these artists continue to make Clubbed Thumb an artistic home. Clubbed Thumb made its Broadway debut in 2019 with Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me, which premiered at the 2017 SUMMERWORKS festival.

ABOUT Clubbed Thumb

Clubbed Thumb commissions, develops and produces funny, strange and provocative new plays by living American writers. Clubbed Thumb is a groundbreaker, with a precise curatorial vision and a track record for launching artists' careers, and an incubator, nurturing plays, collaborations, and artists through resources, opportunities, mentorship and hospitality.