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CLUBBED THUMB Announces New Early-Career Directing Fellowship

Posted by:	Official_Press_Release 05:32 pm EDT 10/26/15

CLUBBED THUMB ANNOUNCES NEW EARLY-CAREER DIRECTING FELLOWSHIP WITH ANNE KAUFFMAN AND KEN RUS SCHMOLL CULMINATING WITH PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS JANUARY 22 – 25, 2016 at 440 STUDIOS Five time Obie Award-winning theater company Clubbed Thumb has launched a new artistic program aimed at supporting the development of early-career directors. The new directing fellowship is under the mentorship of Obie Award-winning directors and Clubbed Thumb affiliated artists Anne Kauffman (Belleville; Detroit; Clubbed Thumb’s Dot, among others) and Ken Rus Schmoll (The Invisible Hand, Iowa, Clubbed Thumb’s Card and Gift, among others). The program will be run in partnership with Playwrights Horizons Theater School, where Clubbed Thumb is currently in residence. “There is an elusive moment in a young director’s career where her actual work needs to get seen by Artistic Directors and/or playwrights in order to be hired to direct a production,” says Anne Kauffman. “Only a handful of programs in this city provide support for young directors, and there are even fewer that get the directors' work seen by professionals who are in a position to hire.” “We are interested in widening the support for this particular step in a director’s journey and helping to kickstart real working relationships in the business,” adds Ken Rus Schmoll. “We love that Clubbed Thumb is responding to the need for directors to have space and time to practice their craft and to show their work,” says Megan Carter of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF). “Because a director’s art is so ephemeral—there is no object to be submitted and passed around—initiatives like this are essential and will help to invigorate the form. SDCF is proud to endorse this endeavor.” The fellowship began in September 2015 and will culminate at the end of January 2016. Over the course of the fall, four early-career directors will work on new plays by Clubbed Thumb alumni playwrights, with Playwrights Horizons Theater School student and alumni actors. In January, the directors will build on their work, directing professional actors in the same plays. There will be a limited number of public performances, with the goal of presenting the directors’ work to industry professionals. The inaugural directors are Sanaz Ghajarrahimi, directing Peggy Stafford‘s What Once; Lillian Meredith, directing Ethan Lipton’s The Farmer and the Barber; Jay Stull directing Jenny Schwartz’s As Far as the Day Goes; and Kate Hopkins, directing Kate E. Ryan‘s The Pool Skimmer. Public showings of their work will be presented at 440 Studios (440 Lafayette Street) on Friday, January 22 and Saturday, January 23 at 8pm; Sunday, January 24 at 4pm and 8pm; and Monday, January 25 at 3pm. Tickets are free but reservations must be made in advance by emailing ellie@clubbedthumb.org. This initiative is made possible by the generous support of The New York Community Trust, piece by piece productions, Jody Falco & Jeffrey Steinman and The Playwrights Horizons Theater School. ABOUT CLUBBED THUMB: 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. Clubbed Thumb has presented plays in every form of development, including over 80 full productions, and are the inaugural resident company at Playwrights Horizons. FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.clubbedthumb.org # # # DIRECTOR BIOS: Sanaz Ghajarrahimi is a director, writer and Artistic Director of Built for Collapse. She has developed works nationally and internationally with New York Theatre Workshop, The Drama League, Target Margin Theater, The New Ohio, Three Legged Dog, Prelude Festival, Dixon Place, Ars Nova, HERE, The Red House Center for Culture and Debate, Theater for the New City, Rising Circle Theater Company, The Tank, Fresh Ground Pepper, breedingground, Colorado State University, Prague Film and Theater Center, UK-based company Fragility, Vox Populi in Bulgaria and Goldex Poldex Gallery in Krakow, Poland. Current fascinations include the integration of media and film into live performance and working with playwrights on developing innovative play structures. She is a directing fellow at Clubbed Thumb/Playwrights Horizons, a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect and Drama League Director’s Project Alum. Member of the 2015/2016 Civilian’s R&D Group and SDCF’s Observership Class. Lillian Meredith is a New York-based theater artist focused primarily on creating and developing new plays. Recent credits include Soho Rep, Theatre for a New Audience, Culture Project, Dixon Place, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, UglyRhino, The Secret Theatre, Galapagos Art Space, and The FURY Factory Festival of Ensemble Theater. Lillian is also the creator and producer of the annual Communal Spaces: a garden play festival, co-founder and Artistic Director of The Motor Company, associated artist with foolsFURY Theater, and member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. Proud alumna: Vassar College, National Theater Institute. www.lillianmeredith.com Jay Stull’s recent New York directing credits include the NYTimes Critic’s Pick Take Me Back at Walkerspace, the NYTimes and Time Out Critic’s Pick Rantoul and Die at The Cherry Lane, Omega Kids in the HOT! Festival at Dixon Place, Leave Me Green at the Gym at Judson, and The Future Is Not What It Was at Walkerspace. His written and directing work has been seen at or developed by LAByrinth, Ars Nova, the Bloomington Playwrights Project, The Flea, Dixon Place, Fresh Ground Pepper, the Lark Play Development Center, Ugly Rhino, The Culture Project, and Joe’s Pub with The Civilians. He is the former Literary Manager of The Amoralists, where he curated the Amoralab and Amoralfest seasons between 2012 and 2014. He is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, the 2014 and 2015 R&D Group with The Civilians, and an alumnus of Fresh Ground Pepper’s Playground Play Group, Pataphysics at The Flea, and Bowdoin College. He is the author of the theatrical atrocity, STREEPSHOW!, an episodic musical featuring the many film characters played by the actress Meryl Streep. Kate Hopkins is a Brooklyn-based director and theatre maker, focused on new and devised works. Directing credits include what’s this called, this spirit? (Dixon place and Ars Nova), The Diary (Dream Up Festival), Arcadia (International Thespians production), and Storage (Philly Fringe Festival). In addition to helming these projects, Kate has assisted Anne Kauffman (The Nether, MCC Theatre; Belleville, New York Theatre Workshop; Cherokee, The Wilma Theatre), Stein\|Holum Projects (The Wholehearted, Arts Emerson and Kelly-Strayhorn) Oliver Butler (The Debate Society’s Jacuzzi, Ars Nova), Daniella Topol (Charles Ives Take Me Home, Rattlestick Theatre), and Kevin Kuhlke (Trojan Women, NYU). Kate received her BFA from NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing, where she created, directed and performed Open Me.

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