Press for Clubbed Thumb
[Summerworks is] one of the best ways to see which local playwrights have had their digits whacked with the talent hammer.
- Time Out New York, Summerworks 2008
Young playwrights are seen way too rarely on New York's regular-season stages, but canny companies like Clubbed Thumb pick up the slack.
- Aaron Leichter Metromix, Summer Theater: Festivals, 6/10/08
There is something so peculiar and, yes, charming (they would probably hate that word, but too bad) about Clubbed Thumb.
- Tulis McCall, blogscritic.org, Review: Vendetta Chrome, 6/17/08
There's a pointed feminist message underlying Sally Oswald's saucy sendup of the elocution classes taught with a straight face in girls' schools in the 1890s. But it doesn't get in the way of the giddier pleasures of this broadly stylized production, helmed by Alexis Poledouris in the antic style associated with those theatrical provocateurs at Clubbed Thumb.
- Marilyn Stasio, Variety.com, Review:Vendetta Chrome, 6/16/08
[Vendetta Chrome is] profound and hilarious ... Clubbed Thumb has constructed a truly great play
- Kelly Aliano, nytheatre.com, Review: Vendetta Chrome, 06/16/08
While it is to their credit that Clubbed Thumb identifies the book as a collection of their own work, rather than as a compendium of "downtown" or "alternative" theater, it is undeniable that their preferences in style have influenced contemporary playwriting to a great degree.
- Jason Grote, The Brooklyn Rail, review of Funny, Strange, Provocative: Seven Plays from Clubbed Thumb
If New York has been a fruitful and exciting place to be a playwright in the last decade, Clubbed Thumb can claim a real share of the credit.
- Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director, The Public Theater, from the foreword to Funny, Strange, Provocative: Seven Plays from Clubbed Thumb, Playscripts, 2007
Clubbed Thumb has more nerve, more guts, more class per square inch than any not-for-profit small theatre in New York.
- Paula Vogel, playwright, from Funny, Strange, Provocative: Seven Plays from Clubbed Thumb, Playscripts, 2007
Downtown's premier play maker.
- Alexis Soloski, Time Out New York, "Hand to Mouth", 5/31/07
American playwriting is undergoing something of a renaissance, and Clubbed Thumb is one of the companies at its center.
- Jason Grote, New York Press, "Listings: Summerworks 2005", 5/11/05
Clubbed Thumb, one of New York's classiest theater groups, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary by announcing a $15,000 grant for new dramatists. With a decade of well-mounted professional productions behind it, Clubbed Thumb can take credit for developing and promoting a slew of new, mostly female, playwrights.
- Tom Murrin, Paper Magazine, "Stagenotes", 5/05
It's unusual for a downtown producing organization -- particularly one without a permanent theatrical home—to have lasted so long or offered such excellent work.
- Alexis Soloski, The Village Voice, "Writer's Equity", 5/3/05
Where other small theater companies have foundered and sunk in the fierce waters of New York theater, Clubbed Thumb has flourished.
- Brook Stowe, The Brooklyn Rail, "On the Art of Sticking Out", 5/05
Innovative and odd.
- Logan Hill, New York Magazine
Clubbed Thumb invariably matches provocative scripts with smart directors and savvy actors, and the results are rewarding for all.
- Tom Murrin and Ricky Spears, Paper Magazine
I've never seen a Clubbed Thumb production I haven't thoroughly enjoyed.
- Alexis Soloski, The Village Voice
Whenever I am turning a new idea over in my head, I'm thinking, "Is this a good piece for Clubbed Thumb?" If it is, it's guaranteed to be my happiest road to a production.
- Carson Kreitzer, as interviewed by Caridad Svich in The Dramatist
Clubbed Thumb, the creation of Meg McCary and Maria Striar, has a splendid summer series.
- Mac Wellman, The Village Voice, "Obies: Writer's Bloc", 5/18/04
Summertime in New York offers myriad delights, and ranking right up there with Central Park concerts and rooftop BBQs is Clubbed Thumb's annual Summerworks series.
- Alexis Soloski, The Village Voice
Funny and thought provoking and even a little touching.
- Neil Genzligner, The New York Times, "The Will (if Not Triumph) of the Frau", 1/11/08
In a dramatic masterstroke, the playwright imagines Riefenstahl's film as it could have been ... Harrison and director Ken Rus Schmoll hit pay dirt with Rebecca Wisocky ...Sgambati, Schreck and Perez are also pitch-perfect.
- Leonard Jacobs, New York Press, "Riefenstahl My Children", 1/9/08
It is rare to see a play where all aspects of the production synchronize perfectly ... Kudos must also be given to the Clubbed Thumb producing team, who have put together and overseen a cadre of talented artists, resulting in an experience that doesn't seem as if it could be improved upon anywhere else.
- Robin Rothstein, nytheatre.com, "Review: Amazons and Their Men", 1/5/08
Full of snappy clever dialogue and, at times, laugh-out-loud comedy, [Greedy] successfully bounces along from one sub-plot to the next.
- Angela Ashman, The Village Voice, "E-mail Impersonator", 6/13/07
[One Thing I Like to Say Is] feels like a deeply personal account of a young artist struggling with the double-sided nature of her own creativity. As kids, we all make up stories about ourselves, but Ms. Fox's work is a reminder that many of us never really stop.
- Jason Zinoman, The New York Times, "You May Call It a Daydream. She Just Calls It Her Life.", 6/20/07
Rachel Hoeffel's "Quail" demands reflection ... Hoeffel has crafted logic that that cannot fully be grasped until her tale of a young woman escaping workplace drudgery has been finished, only then revealing a touching understanding of how difficult it can be to live a life of meaning while trying to make ends meet.
- Mark Blakenship, Variety.com, "Review: Quail", 6/19/06
Unspooling an intricate choreography of of contrasting personas, Courtney doesn't settle for mere issues, but plunges unflinchingly into the riskier realm of ideas. Hope versus fear compassion versus power, altruism versus greed are all explored -- while external, often arbitrary, forces shape these characters in ways that no hard-won "clarity" will ever completely combat.
- Terri Galvin, nytheatre.com, "Review: Alice the Magnet", 6/11/06
The play takes off into more hallucinatory directions, often with joyful, teasing success ... there's never any doubt that there's an active, lively intelligence at work. Of great help is the graceful direction by Hal Brooks. Also worth much praise is Merritt Wever, who plays Tom's daughter, Sallie, with a slumping, angry edge.
- Jason Zinoman, The New York Times, "In a Flight of Imagination, Escaping the Meltdown", 1/12/06
Groff establishes a graceful exchange between the unlikely and the everyday ... MacCary positively glows as Diane details her structure, and Marek is striking as a villain turned ministering angel.
- Alexis Soloski, The Village Voice, "Forecast: Unseasonably Warm Days, Incredibly Productive Nights", 1/17/06
Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks festival again waxes impressive ... Naming those doing good work would simply amount to a complete cast list."
- Helen Shaw, The New York Sun, "Theater Review: 100 Aspects of the Moon", 5/13/05
If 100 Aspects of the Moon was any indication, this anniversary year is one you definitely shouldn't miss.
- Mallory Jensen, Gothamist, "Theater Review: 100 Aspects of the Moon", 5/9/05
Stunningly lyrical and moving ... 100 Aspects of the Moon is dazzlingly theatrical and richly entertaining.
- Martin Denton, nytheatre.com, "Theater Review: 100 Aspects of the Moon", 5/9/05
[Demon Baby] is a small, well-made, oddball comedy.
- The New York Times, "A Dab of Fantasy for a Comedy of Manners", 1/17/04
[One] of the most inventive - and inventively named - downtown troupes.
- Jesse McKinley, The New York Times
In a city brimming with scrappy, innovative theater companies, Clubbed Thumb has carved a deep niche with decidedly left-of center plays that are always lovingly produced.
-Chance Muehleck, nytheatre.com, "Theater Review: Somewhere Someplace Else", 4/13/03
Mr. Bock's dialogue has the ring of true interchange... the director, Drew Barr, and the actors give each word a distinctive emotional meaning.
-Anita Gates, The New York Times, "The Adventure of Stenography, And Other Fulfilling Careers", 2/19/03
A surprising and fascinating play that also manages to be exceptionally funny.
- Les Gutman, CurtainUp, "Theater Review: The Typographer's Dream", 2/2/03
What makes Red Death crackle for 70 minutes is D'Amour's spare and sinister language.
- Alisa Solomon, The Village Voice, , "Ill Will Hunting", 5/15/02
The Train Play itself is clever, optimistic, and just a little bit disturbing.
- Robert Kent, Digital City
Theater needs light, yet unfrivolous plays such as U.S. Drag.
- Jason Zinoman, Time Out New York, "Theater Review: U.S. Drag", 6/28/01
Originality - it's rare. But you can experience the pleasurably sharp intake of breath it brings by seeing Rinne Groff's Inky.
- Francine Russo, The Village Voice
In the highly paraphrased words of Muhammad Ali: "You tell this to your camera, your newspaper, your TV man, your radio man. You tell this to the world...(Inky is) the greatest."
- Eric Hayward, Show Business
Pam MacKinnon's brisk, sympathetic direction and the skills of the ensemble do much to...celebrate (Freakshow's) strengths... (In Freakshow) Kreitzer proves herself an author of exceptional compassion, everywhere revealing the humanity behind apparent monstrosity.
- Alexis Soloski, The Village Voice
Erin Courtney's experimental comedy Summer Play has the spontaneous, purposeless feeling of a lazy afternoon in July...Like a young Jane Bowles, Courtney is a writer en route to her own style. Director Pam MacKinnon's cast whisks gamely down Courtney's fresh, still somewhat obscured path.
- Charles McNulty, The Village Voice
Pastorale provides a pleasant idyll amidst the tumult of Downtown theater.
- Alexis Soloski, The Village Voice, "Ex Arcadia", 1/27/99
Mailing Address:
312 East 23rd Street #4B
New York, NY 10010-4700
Information: 212-802-8007
Fax: 212-533-9286
Development Address:
141 East 3rd Street #11H
New York, NY 10009
info[at]clubbedthumb.org
Clubbed Thumb commissions, develops, and produces funny, strange, and provocative new plays. Since its founding in 1996, the company has earned four Obies and presented plays in every form of development, including over 60 full productions. Clubbed Thumb is an incubator for artists and their work, staging plays to critical acclaim while supporting an ever-growing creative community. The company's core producers are Arne Jokela, Associate Diana Konopka, and Co-Directors Meg MacCary and Maria Striar.