Since 1996, Clubbed Thumb has been running Summerworks, an annual mini-fest of one-act plays that occupies a unique spot on the Venn diagram of New York theater. The fare is not aggressively experimental, but it is also quirkier than what you’ll see at major Off Broadway venues — though some Summerworks plays have moved on to that tier, like Ro Reddick’s “Cold War Choir Practice,” which recently transferred to the nonprofit MCC Theater. And it’s not as bulky or commercially minded as what you’ll see on Broadway, though Heidi Schreck’s “What the Constitution Means to Me” did end up there in 2019, two years after premiering at Summerworks.
So what is Summerworks? The mission statement of Clubbed Thumb, whose artistic director is the co-founder Maria Striar, asserts that the company “commissions, develops and produces funny, strange and provocative new plays by living American writers.”
I’ve seen a fair number of those shows, and what’s striking is how many have actually fulfilled that tall order — like the Ethan Lipton Wild West “Tumacho” (2016), a play with music; Jaclyn Backhaus’s historical adventure “Men on Boats” (2015); and Trish Harnetiaux’s comedy about shoe-store employees, “Tin Cat Shoes” (2018). The series has also nurtured a striking collection of playwrights (Gina Gionfriddo, Sarah Ruhl, Will Arbery, Clare Barron) and directors (Pam MacKinnon, Anne Kauffman, Robert O’Hara). Even when productions come up short, they can leave a sort of mental contrail, like this year’s series opener, “Titans.”
That show, by Jesse Jae Hoon, uses an often comic tone to convey the stress, and sometimes outright danger, of living in an American town in 2026 when you are an immigrant, or not white, or not wealthy, or all of the above. The characters include Fran (Shannon Tyo), who works “front desk at the Marriott next to the Wegmans” and gets close to Farida (Layan Elwazani), who manages a “chicken place.” The high schoolers Riyo (Megan Lomax) and Bel (Marvelyn Ramirez) try to create their own manga. It’s tough to be a kid in a world in which people are brutally pulled from their cars, a world that has safety protocols for tornadoes and fires, but also active shooters, pandemics and neo-Nazis.
This topical approach is relatively rare at Summerworks. Ben Brantley described a production as having “the appeal of one of those wayward trips to nowhere people find themselves craving when the weather turns warm, preferably in an open convertible at lazy speeds.” That could be said of many of the series’ shows, even if occasionally the absurdism and whimsy curdle into affectation and “aren’t-I-clever?” mannerisms.
If “Titans” doesn’t hit the bull’s-eye on all three of Clubbed Thumb’s mission-statement targets, it may be because Tara Elliott’s quite funny production comes up short on the strange and provocative front. But I know some of it will linger in my mind, like the way disappearances are staged with a blackout and a powerful rattle. Or maybe it will be the sharp line readings from an ensemble that also includes the charismatic Irene Sofia Lucio, who recently played the Italian free spirit Isidora in “Liberation” on Broadway.
No matter what, odds are high that you will see some of the best actors New York City has to offer in an 89-seat room tucked away in the East Village. I love big spectacles as much as anybody, but being able to watch Maryann Plunkett bring to life the most subtle of emotions, as she did with staggering understatement in Abe Koogler’s “Deep Blue Sound,” from just a few feet away feels incredibly precious. I’m looking forward to this kind of acting wizardry — in a register likely to be very different — in the series’ next two shows: Nadja Leonhard-Hooper’s “Derangements” and Bailey Williams’s “The Family Dog.” That last one, in particular, has an intriguing cast that includes Talene Monahon (the “Meet the Cartozians” author); the comic experts Sarah Steele and Jennifer Van Dyck; and one of the “Stereophonic” stars, Tom Pecinka.
It’s also impossible to talk about the Summerworks experience without bringing up its home since 2013, the Wild Project. This venue has a large garage door that rolls up to leave the lobby open to the street, which helps make it a welcoming space integrated into its neighborhood. (How many theaters are barricaded like fortresses?) Audience members spill out onto East Third Street, chatting outside before and after shows. This only underlines what feels like Clubbed Thumb’s continued interest in how small groups of people function, what binds us together and what divides us, and what forms an identity.
“Titans” very much belongs to this vein, which I would describe as American civic as a counterbalance to American gothic. In our times of division and suspicion of the other and the different, Summerworks endures. It’s a small light, but it shines bright.
Summerworks 2026 “Titans” runs through May 26; “Derangements,” from June 1-12; and “The Family Dog,” from June 18-30, at the Wild Project, Manhattan; clubbedthumb.org. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes.
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