MARIA STRIAR.
a veteran performer and director who co-founded Clubbed Thumb in 1996 and serves as its Artistic Director.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY.
Maria Striar is a veteran performer and director who co-founded Clubbed Thumb in 1996. Interviews with her can be found in The New York Times, The Brooklyn Rail, The Interval, American Theatre and more. She is an adjunct at Hunter College and a frequent respondent at UTAustin, Brown, NYU, and others. In 2010 her Artistic Directorship was honored at the inaugural Lily Awards, 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.
ARTIST INTERVIEW.
Stay tuned for the interview, to be released on May 18.
Sometimes doing stuff with us is a sort of a first full-fledged experience. You’re sort of establishing standards for what it means to work with other people, and hopefully they’re good ones, thoughtful ones, moral ones—they protect that artist.
For almost 30 years Maria Striar’s
BADASS DOWNTOWN COMPANY
and its annual festival has been a springboard for
EXCITING NEW PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS.
- NEW YORK MAGAZINE
GALLERY.
Discover photos and videos from Maria's work.
CREDITS: COLD WAR CHOIR PRACTICE by Ro Reddick, directed by Knud Adams; Summerworks 2025. Pictured: Suzzy Roche, Alana Raquel Bowers, Grace McLean and Nina Ross. Photo by Maria Baranova; MEN ON BOATS, by Jaclyn Backhaus, directed by Will Davis, with Jess Barbagallo, Becca Blackwell, Hannah Cabell, Danielle Davenport, Danaya Esperanza, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Birgit Huppuch, Layla Khoshnoudi, Kelly McAndrew, and Kristen Sieh; THE WOLVES by Sarah DeLappe, directed by Lila Neugebauer; 2015. Pictured: Brenna Coates, Jenna Dioguardi, Allegra Leal, Allie Leonard, Kelly McAndrew, Amanda Phelan, Susannah Perkins, Frankie Placidi, Deb Trotchine, Sangi Varsano. Photo by James Miille; THE TRAIN PLAY by Liza Duffy Adams, directed by Jonathan Silvertein; 2002. Pictured: Maria Porter, Ami Shukla, Quincy Tyler Bernstine. Photo by Frank Oudeman; DEMON BABY by Erin Courtney, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll; 2004. Pictured: Heidi Schreckand Glenn Fleshler, photo by Carl Skutsch; SUMMER PLAY by Erin Courtney, directed by Pam MacKinnon; Summerworks 1998. Pictured: Meg MacCary, Maria Striar. Photo by Frank Oudeman; RED DEATH by Lisa D’Amour, directed by Anne Kauffman; Summerworks 2002. Pictured: Maria Striar, Mary Shultz. Photo by Frank Oudeman; PLANO by Will Arbery, directed by Taylor Reynolds; 2019. Pictured: Crystal Finn, Susannah Flood, Miriam Silverman. Photo courtesy of the artist; TUMACHO by Ethan Lipton, directed by Leigh Silverman; Summerworks 2016. Pictured (L to R): Gibson Frazier, Jennifer Lim, John Ellison Conlee, Randy Danson, Bill Buell, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jeremy Shamos. Photo by Elke Young; INKY by Rinne Groff, directed by Emma Griffin; 2000. Pictured: Maria Striar, Maria Porter, Mahlon Stewart and Camila Jones. Photo courtesy of the artist; BABY SCREAMS MIRACLE by Clare Barron, directed by Portia Krieger; Summerworks 2013. Pictured: Ismenia Mendes. Photo by Heather Phelps-Lipton; MOTEL CHERRY by Peggy Stafford, directed by Meghan Finn; Summerworks 2012. Pictured: Boo Killebrew. Photo by Heather Phelps-Lipton.