Five-time Obie winning theatre company Clubbed Thumb has announced the initial round of casting for the 26th Summerworks new play festival.

The festival, which will run May 18 through July 1 at The Wild Project, will feature three new plays: Work Hard Have Fun Make History by ruth tang and directed by Caitlin Sullivan, Deep Blue Sound by Abe Koogler and directed by Arin Arbus, and Grief Hotel by Liza Birkenmeier and directed by Tara Ahmadinejad.

Work Hard Have Fun Make History will feature the performers b (they/them/b), Sagan Chen (they/he), and Susannah Perkins (they/them). The production will also feature costume design by Alicia J. Austin, lighting design by Isabella Byrd, and sound design by Lee Kinney. Esti Bernstein will serve as Production Stage Manager and Cara Kienitz will serve as Assistant Stage Manager. Work Hard Have Fun Make History will run May 18–30.

Deep Blue Sound will feature Maryann Plunkett (she/her) as Ella, Thomas Jay Ryan (he/him) as John, Tala Ashe (she/her) as Mary, Armando Riesco (he/him) as Chris, Natsuko Ohama as Joy, Brittany K. Allen (she/her) as Ali, Crystal Finn (she/her) as Annie, Jan Leslie Harding (she/her) as Leslie, and Bruce MacKenzie as Gary. The production will also feature costume design by Tony nominee Emily Rebholz (she/her, Jagged Little Pill), lighting design by Isabella Byrd, and sound design by Mikaal Sulaiman (he/him). Caroline Englander will serve as Production Stage Manager and Matthew Pezzulich will serve as Assistant Stage Manager. The work will run June 5–15.

Grief Hotel will feature Nadine Malouf (she/her) as Em, Naren Weiss (he/him) as Rohit, Susan Blommaert (she/her) as Aunt Bobbi, and Bruce McKenzie as Asher. Additional performers will be announced at a later date. The production will also feature costume design by Mel Ng (she/her), lighting design by Masha Tsmring (she/her), and sound design and composition by Jordan McCree. Grief Hotel will run June 21–July 1.

Clubbed Thumb will be collaborating with the design collective dots to design sets and props focused on recycled and reused materials for all three plays, in order to address concerns over the ecological impact of the festival.

For more information, visit ClubbedThumb.org.