Heidi Schreck's WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME and More on Tap for Clubbed Thumb's 2017 SUMMERWORKS Series

Five-time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb has announced casting for this season's SUMMERWORKS, its annual series of new plays.

Now in its 22nd season, SUMMERWORKS will run May 20 through July 1 at The Wild Project (195 E 3rd Street) in Manhattan, and will feature productions of three new plays: THE WORLD MY MAMA RAISED by Ariel Stess and directed by Kip Fagan; OF GOVERNMENT by Alex Borinsky and directed by Jeremy Bloom; and, in a co-production with True Love Productions, WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME by Heidi Schreck and directed by Oliver Butler. WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME was commissioned by True Love Productions.

Tickets are now on sale at www.artful.ly/clubbedthumb.

THE WORLD MY MAMA RAISED will star Ben Beckley (Dying for It), Jordan Baum (Permanent Caterpillar), Reyna de Courcy (Civilization (all you can eat)), Ethan Dubin (Rancho Viejo), Zoë Geltman (Bear Slayer!), Mike Iveson (Gatz), Annie McNamara (The Tomb of King Tot), Ronald Peet (Kentucky), Madeline Wise (Minor Character), and Danny Wolohan (An Octoroon). Performances run from May 20 through May 30.

In THE WORLD MY MAMA RAISED, written by Ariel Stess and directed by Kip Fagan, Violet has a new frenemy with benefits. Henry is being released from prison with only his church clothes and some bus fare. Violet's dad is learning how to read. And... the school day is nearly over, but it's only 10 AM.

THE WORLD MY MAMA RAISED will also feature set design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costume design by Ásta Bennie Hostetter, lighting design by Eric Southern and sound design by Palmer Hefferan. The production stage manager will be Ilana Olken.

OF GOVERNMENT will star Emily Davis (O, Earth), Beth Dixon (Rapture, Blister, Burn), Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Men on Boats), Beth Griffith (Bound to Rise), Mia Katigbak (Card and Gift), Keilly McQuail (You Got Older), Ana Nogueria (I'm Pretty Fucked Up), Socorro Santiago (Kingdom Come), and Stacey Yen (D Deb Debbie Deborah). Performances run from June 5 through June 15.

Written by Alex Borinsky and directed by Jeremy Bloom, OF GOVERNMENT follows the adventures of Barb the Teacher, Deb the Seeker, Heidi the Helper, Tawny the Addict and a host of others. With songs! Presented by Miss Marjorie Blain, her students, and members of the community. Light refreshments will be provided.

OF GOVERNMENT will also feature set design by Carolyn Mraz, lighting design by Seth Reiser, sound design by Leah Gelpe and original compositions by Joe White.

Complete casting for WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME will be announced at a later date. Performances will run from June 21 through July 1.

In Heidi Schreck's WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, it's 1989 and Heidi is trying to earn enough money to go to college by giving speeches about the Constitution in American Legion Halls across the country. When she loses the first round to Becky Dobbins because her speech isn't personal enough, she decides to go deep. Starting with her great great grandmother, a mail-order bride who died of "melancholia," she traces the effects of a single sentence of the Ninth Amendment on generations of women in her family - and on the violent men they married.

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME will be directed by Oliver Butler and will feature set design by Rachel Hauck, costume design by Michael Krass, lighting design by Jennifer Schriever, sound design by Sinan Zafar, original compositions by Heather Robb and choreography by David Neumann.

SUMMERWORKS 2017 is running May 20 through July 1 at The Wild Project, located at 195 E. 3rd Street, New York 10009 - between Avenues A and B in Manhattan's East Village. Festival passes are now on sale for $60 at: www.artful.ly/clubbedthumb/store/passes. Single tickets are now on sale for $25, and student tickets are available for $20.

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 21 festivals include the NYC premieres of Gina Gionfriddo, JorDan Harrison, Lisa D'Amour, Jason Grote and Sarah Ruhl; professional debuts of Rinne Groff, Sylvan Oswald, Clare Barron, Susan Stanton and Ariel Stess; and new work by Anne Washburn, Adam Bock, Gregory Moss, Jenny Schwartz, Ethan Lipton, Erin Courtney, Sheila Callaghan, and Jaclyn Backhaus, whose production of MEN ON BOATS returned to the New York stage last summer in a co-production by Playwrights Horizons and Clubbed Thumb. All of these artists continue to make Clubbed Thumb an artistic home.

Past SUMMERWORKS directors include Pam MacKinnon, who also serves as Clubbed Thumb's Board Chair, Lear deBessonet, Anne Kaufman, Davis McCallum, Leigh Silverman, and Ken Rus Schmoll.

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.

True Love Productions: founded by Jeanne Donovan Fisher and Laurie Gilmore. Broadway: The Glass Menagerie, A Doll's House, Part 2, Sweat, The Front Page, Fish in the Dark, Bright Star, Skylight (2015 TONY Award Best Revival of a Play), A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (2014 TONY Award Best Musical), Fela!, The Norman Conquests (2009 TONY Award Best Revival of a Play), 33 Variations, 13, A Catered Affair, Well, Medea starring Fiona Shaw and The Retreat from Moscow. Off-Broadway: True Love at the Zipper Theatre; Everything You Touch, bobrauschenbergamerica, The Tricky Part, Shockheaded Peter, Coraline, The 39 Steps, Sleep No More, Suitcase, Everything Will Be Different, and Paradise Park. Established in 2010 and headed by Tom Cole, the New Play Commissioning Program gives established playwrights the opportunity to create original, new work, free of commercial constraints. Recent commissions include work by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, Sheila Callaghan, Heidi Schreck, Craig Lucas, Greg Kotis, and Mark Hollman.

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