Guest Artist
Maria Striar
Founder and Artistic Director, Clubbed Thumb
In Conversation with Kristin Villanueva
Thursday, May 2, 2024 – 7:00pm
On Zoom
Director, producer, and actor, Maria Striar, joins Kristin Villanueva and members of The Actors Center on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 7:00pm ET on Zoom for an intimate evening of conversation about her journey as an artist and her work at the forefront of developing new voices and artists for the stage as Founder and Artistic Director of beloved new play incubator Clubbed Thumb.
Clubbed Thumb was founded in 1996 with a mission of developing and producing funny, strange, and provocative new plays by living American writers. Through more than a quarter century, it has presented over 100 productions and received numerous Obie Awards. Maria was honored in 2010 with an inaugural Lilly Award for Artistic Direction 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.
With Summerworks, Clubbed Thumb produces an aesthetically diverse season of three new plays. It often provides a writer’s first professional opportunity—Will Arbery, Jaclyn Backhaus, Clare Barron and Gina Gionfriddo had their first shows in Summerworks; Sarah Ruhl, Jordan Harrison, Tanya Saracho and Lisa D’Amour made their NYC debuts.
In 2019, Clubbed Thumb made their Broadway debut with the Tony-nominated and multi award-winning What the Constitution Means to Me, which originated in Summerworks 2017.
Maria has been a guest artist, speaker, and lecturer at Brown, Fordham, NYU, Yale, University of California, San Diego, The O’Neill Theatre Institute, Carnegie Mellon, UT Austin and Hunter College, among others. She has a BA in theater arts and history from Brown University and an MFA in acting from UCSD.
As an actress, Maria has frequently collaborated with playwright Anne Washburn (Refreshment of the Spirit, The Ladies) and director Ken Rus Schmoll (Map Of Virtue, Hello Failure). In 2016, she was also in Antlia Pneumatica, a collaboration between them both. Up until 2004 Maria directed and performed in many of the Clubbed Thumb’s shows. She still performs upon occasion with other downtown companies.
Hosting Maria in conversation is actor and member of The Actors Center’s Resident Company, Kristin Villanueva. Kristin played the lead role in Waterwell’s production of The Courtroom, as well as its film adaptation, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Her film and TV work includes Viper Club (playing opposite Susan Sarandon), Bonding, Younger, Search Party, Elementary, and Gossip Girl, among others. She frequently collaborates on new plays with director Mike Donahue, most recently in the world premieres of Matthew Lopez’s Zoey’s Perfect Wedding (Denver Center) and in Rachel Bonds’ Swimmers (Marin Theatre Co). She has worked at theaters across the country including The Old Globe, Playmakers Repertory, Shakespeare & Company, McCarter Theatre Center, the Goodman Theatre, NAATCO, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and The Public Theatre Lab.