Phillipa Soo, John Ellison Conlee and More to Lead Clubbed Thumb's Limited Engagement of TUMACHO

Tony Award-nominated and five-time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb (Maria Striar, Producing Artistic Director; Michael Bulger, Associate Artistic Director; Quinn Metal Corbin, Advancement Director) is proud to announce the return of Ethan Lipton's TUMACHO, directed by Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman. First seen in the 2016 SUMMERWORKS season, TUMACHO returns beginning February 17 for a limited engagement through March 14, 2020. Opening night is set for Saturday, February 22 at the Connelly Theater (220 East 4th Street). Tickets will go on sale in early 2020.

Once again, the citizens of a frontier outpost are looking for someone to rescue them from the terrors of the local villain. Have they met their salvation--or an even bigger tyrant--when a fiend from the past comes to town?

"When we first produced this play, in the summer of 2016, the question of whether a hopeless citizenry could overcome their despair and band together to fight their oppressor felt like a metaphor, a general moral query about, you know, being a better person," stated Producing Artistic Director Maria Striar. "After three long years, we have a very different understanding of the need for communities to come together to resist."

Striar continued, "We have always loved TUMACHO for its invitation to virtuosic comic performance, and for the slyness of its critique. Now it feels like a joyful way to gird our loins for the coming fight. We've wanted to revisit the show since our first short run, and we couldn't be more thrilled to be doing that right now."

The return engagement of TUMACHO will feature members of the original cast, including Bill Buell (Ink), Obie Award winner and Tony Award nominee John Ellison Conlee (The Full Monty, "Boardwalk Empire"), Obie Award winner Randy Danson (Well, upcoming: A Thin Place) and Gibson Frazier (Mr. Burns, a post-electric play). Andy Grotelueschen (Tootsie) and Tony Award nominee Phillipa Soo (Hamilton, Amélie) will also join the cast, with additional casting to be announced.

TUMACHO will feature set design by David Zinn (The Humans, Fun Home), costume design by Anita Yavich (Soft Power) and Devario Simmons (Thoughts of a Colored Man), lighting design by Jennifer Schriever (What the Constitution Means to Me) and prop and puppet design by Raphael Mishler (seven seasons of Summerworks). Shelley Miles will be the Production Stage Manager. Additional creative team members will be announced.

In his review of the original production, the New York Times's Ben Brantley named the show a Critic's Pick, saying: "This impeccably inane horse opera...plays dizzily with historical notions of American manliness (just pronounce its name), in a willfully absurdist key. ... Mr. Lipton takes up arms to disarm, with a cathartic exercise in wish fulfillment that even as it draws blood (in a variety of ways), drains the testosterone from the classic shoot-'em-up."

General admission tickets for TUMACHO are $45; reserved seating is available for $60. Student tickets are $30.

Clubbed Thumb made its Broadway debut last spring with Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me, which premiered at the 2017 Summerworks festival, in partnership with True Love Productions. The play begins a national tour in January 2020.

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 remarkable track record for launching artists' careers; and an incubator, nurturing plays, collaborations, and above all artists, through thoughtfully deployed resources, opportunities, mentorship and hospitality.

Clubbed Thumb's plays vary in style and content, but are always 90 minutes or under. They feature substantial and challenging roles for all genders, are questioning, formally inventive, theatrical, and exhibit a sense of humor. Since its founding in 1996, the company has presented over 100 productions.

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