3 New Plays Set for Clubbed Thumb's 2013 SUMMERWORKS at The Wild Project, 5/24-6/29

SUMMERWORKS 2013 - the annual season of new plays presented by the four-time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb -- is set for its 18th season May 24th to June 29th at The Wild Project (195 E. 3^rd Street) in Manhattan, it has been announced by Maria Striar, Clubbed Thumb's Producing Artistic Director.

SUMMERWORKS 2013 will feature productions of three new plays - BABY SCREAMS MIRACLE by Clare Barron, directed by Portia Krieger; PHOEBE IN WINTER by Jen Silverman, directed by Mike Donahue; and LA BREA by Gregory S. Moss, directed by Adam Greenfield.

Among the actors who will perform in SUMMERWORKS 2013 plays are Heidi Schreck (CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION), Jeanine Serralles (MAPLE AND VINE), Crystal Finn (LUTHER), Bill Buell (INHERIT THE WIND), and Rebecca Henderson (THE WHALE). Additional casting to be announced.

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 kicking off the summer stage season in the city. In seasons past, Clubbed Thumb's SUMMERWORKS has presented the New York premieres of Sarah Ruhl, Rachel Sheinkin, Gina Gionfriddo, Adam Bock, Rinne Groff, Jordan Harrison, Sheila Callaghan, Sylvan Oswald, Lisa D'Amour, Kate Ryan and Kristin Newborn, as well as new works by Ethan Lipton, Anne Washburn and Jason Grote.

Clubbed Thumb's mission is to commissions, develops and produce funny, strange and provocative new plays by living American writers. Since its founding in 1996, the company has presented 80 productions and earned four Obie Awards. Clubbed Thumb is an incubator for artists and their work, staging plays while supporting an ever-growing creative community.

About this year's SUMMERWORKS, Ms. Striar notes, "SUMMERWORKS 2013's plays wrestle with disasters-- natural, man made and personal. We're working with vaunted collaborators, with artists making their professional debuts and everyone in the murky middle. And we're in a new theater-- the Wild Project, a sleek green theater in a fantastic neighborhood. Great plays, great area, cheap tickets. None should be missed."

SUMMERWORKS 2013 plays and playwrights:

BABY SCREAMS MIRACLE

by Clare Barron, directed by Portia Krieger

May 24^th-June 2^nd, 2013 (no show on May 28^th)

all shows at 8pm

A freak storm knocks down all the trees in a small town in Washington, spurring a daughter to go home to her estranged Christian family. But the weird weather's not over.

Clare Barron is from Wenatchee, Washington. Her plays and performance pieces have been developed and produced by Clubbed Thumb, Youngblood/EST, The Bushwick Starr, Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Yale Playwrights Festival, and the Theatre of Desire Cabaret (helmed by Deb Margolin). She is a member of Youngblood and Masrah Ensemble (a theater company based in Beirut). She also works as an actor and has recently appeared in Target Margin's Uncle Vanya and Masrah Ensemble's Arabic-English production of Mud.

Portia Krieger mostly directs new plays. Upcoming: Eager to Lose by Matthew-Lee Erlbach at Ars Nov. Recent credits include Nikole Beckwith's Let Me Collect Myself (Ars Nova), Kim Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still (TheaterSquared), Samuel D. Hunter's When You're Here (Williamstown), Kathryn Walat's This Is Not Antigone (New Georges), and Too Much Too Soon and Too Little Too Late with Lesser America, along with readings and workshops with New Georges, the Roundabout Underground, Naked Angels, Rattlestick, The Woodshed Collective, and others. She has associate directed both on and off Broadway, working with Michael Greif, Sam Gold, and Nicholas Martin. Portia is an alumna of the Drama League Directors Project and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Ars Nova's 2013 Director-in-Residence, a Lesser America ensemble member, and a co-founder of the New Georges' Jam.

PHOEBE IN WINTER

by Jen Silverman, directed by Mike Donahue

June 7^th-16^th (no show on June 11^th)

all shows at 8pm

When three brothers return home from a distant war, they prepare to settle into their old lives. But a knock at the door yields a girl named Phoebe who accuses them of killing her own three brothers, and demands reparations-that they must become her new family instead.

Jen Silverman was raised in America, Europe and Asia and is based in New York. Her play Crane Story was produced off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre by the Playwrights Realm in 2011, and her play Akarui premiered with Cleveland Public Theatre in spring 2012. She is an affiliated artist with The Lark, New Georges and Playwrights Realm, and a member of Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Uncharted at Ars Nova, and Groundbreakers Playwrights Group at terraNOVA. She has also developed work with Superlab (Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons), Bay Area Playwrights Festival, NY Stage & Film/ Powerhouse,

Seven Devils, Inkwell in DC, and Abingdon Theatre. She is a three-time finalist for the O'Neill, and a two-time finalist for the Heideman Award. Her play Still won the Jane Chambers Award. She recently received a commission from InterAct Theatre and the NNPN to writeThe Dangerous House of Pretty Mbane. She has held residencies at Hedgebrook, New Harmony Project, the Millay Colony, and MacDowell (2012 and 2013), and has an upcoming residency at Djerassi. Jen was the recipient of the Kate NeAl Kinley Fellowship, a Core Apprentice at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis, and a 2011 US Delegate for China/America Writers Exchange. BA: Brown University. MFA: Iowa Playwrights Workshop.

Mike Donahue Upcoming: world premiere of Matthew Lopez's The Legend of Georgia McBride (Denver Center). Productions: Lauren Feldman's Grace, or the Art of Climbing (Denver Center), Ethan Lipton's Red-Handed Otter (Playwrights Realm), Moscow, Cheryomushki (Chicago Opera Theatre), Henry IV & V, A Number (Playmakers Rep), Janine Nabers & Sharon Kenny's Becoming Sylvia (Williamstown, Sagal Fellowship). Readings/Workshops: Soho Rep, NYTW, MCC, Williamstown, O'Neill, Clubbed Thumb, The Lark, Ars Nova, Studio 42. Fellowships/Awards: Fulbright to Berlin, Dramaleague Fall Fellowship, Sagal Fellowship (Williamstown); alum, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab; Artistic Director, Yale Summer Cabaret (2007 & 2008); Graduate, Harvard and Yale School of Drama.

LA BREA

by Gregory S. Moss, directed by Adam Greenfield

June 20^th-29^th, 2013 (no show on June 24^th)

all shows at 8pm

Against the Los Angeles backdrop of aspiring actors and Hollywood ghosts, a pair of siblings from working-class Massachusetts - Leah, a middle-aged runaway, and Steven, her wannabe movie star brother - struggle to save each other from the things they each want most.

Gregory S. Moss is a writer, performer and educator from Newburyport, Massachusetts. His plays include Reunion, punkplay, sixsixsix, Billy Witch, and House of Gold. His work has been seen at La ComédieFrançaise, The A.R.T., The Empty Space, Playwrights Horizons, The Guthrie, Soho Rep and New York Theatre Workshop. Gregory is a 2012 MacDowell Colony Resident, and the recipient of a 2010-2011 Jerome Fellowship and a 2011-2012 McKnight Fellowship, administered by the Playwrights' Center. He is currently at work on commissions from Playwrights Horizons, Woolly Mammoth, and Clubbed Thumb. He is writing the book for a new musical, in collaboration with composer Joe Iconis, based on the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson, for La Jolla Playhouse and Broadway Across America. With Kristen Kosmas and Paul Willis, he is developing a new performance entitled ***CHARM CITY*** through Berkeley Rep's Groundfloor series. Recent productions include House of Gold at La ComédieFrançaise (winner, Prix du Public) and at EST-LA (LA Times and LA Weekly Critics' Pick); sixsixsix, Antimatter Collective, NY (Editor's Pick, Flavorpill); punkplay at World's Stage Theatre (Milwaukee WI) and Stray Cat Theatre (Tempe AZ), and Billy Witch at Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC). Upcoming: Reunion at the Pacific Playwrights Festival (South Coast Rep).

Adam Greenfield is Director of New Play Development at Playwrights Horizons, prior to which he was Literary Manager at La Jolla Playhouse and Associate Artistic Director at The Empty Space Theatre in Seattle. Recent directing credits include Courtney Baron's Eat Your Heart Out (Humana Festival) and Madeleine George's Zero Hour (13P). He has also directed and developed new works with O'Neill, Berkeley, Portland Center Stage, Seattle Rep, ACT Theatre, The Playwrights' Center, Clubbed Thumb, Alliance, Sundance, Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Printer's Devil Theater, Hartford Stage, New Dramatists, Soho Rep, Seattle University, Cornish College, University of Texas, TerraNova and Playwrights' RealM. Adam attended University of Michigan and Reed College.

SUMMERWORKS 2013 tickets are $18 ($15 for students/seniors) and can be purchased by calling 212 352 3101. www.clubbedthumb.org. The Wild Project is located 195 E. 3^rd Street.

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 4 OBIES and presented plays in every form of development, including over 80 full productions. Clubbed Thumb is an incubator for artists and their work, staging plays to critical acclaim while supporting an ever-growing creative community. "Funny, Strange, Provocative," an anthology of plays produced by Clubbed Thumb, is available through Playscripts. May 2010, Ms. Striar was honored with a first-ever Lilly Award for Artistic Directorship, citing her work as a "fierce champion of new works and new writers... who has helped launch and/or develop the careers" of scores of playwrights, especially women. Producing Artistic Director is Maria Striar; Nora DeVeau-Rosen is Managing Director; and Pam MacKinnon is Board Chairman.

Past productions of note presented by Clubbed Thumb include TAKARAZUKA!!! by Susan Soon He Stanton, LUTHER by Ethan Lipton, MOTEL CHERRY by Peggy Stafford, CIVILIZATION (ALL YOU CAN EAT) by Jason Grote, DOT by Kate E. Ryan, directed by Anne Kauffman; THE SMALL by Anne Washburn, directed by Les Waters; PUNKPLAY by Gregory S. Moss, directed by Davis McCallum; TELETHON by Kristin Newbom, directed by Ken RusSchmoll; AMAZONS AND THEIR MEN by Jordan Harrison, directed by Ken RusSchmoll; and VENDETTA CHROME by Sylvan Oswald, directed by Alexis Poledouris. Clubbed Thumb has also premiered Anne Washburn's I HAVE LOVED STRANGERS, Adam Bock's MEDEA EATS and THE TYPOGRAPHER'S DREAM; Gina Gionfriddo's US DRAG, Lisa D'Amour's 16 SPELLS TO CHARM THE BEAST and RED DEATH; Rachel Sheinkin's THE DOCTOR OF LAST RESORT, Rinne Groff's INKY and JIMMY CARTER WAS A DEMOCRAT; Sarah Ruhl's LATE (A COWBOY SONG); and Sheila Callaghan's CRUMBLE (LAY ME DOWN Justin Timberlake).

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