Last summer, Clubbed Thumb had one of its most successful SummerWorks productions: Plano. The play, which is about three sisters and three mysterious plagues, was directed by Taylor Reynolds and is now having a return engagement beginning April 8th at the Connelly Theatre. At a moment when Clubbed Thumb is gaining a higher and higher profile, it’s also long been known as a hub for developing both writers and directors. Taylor was one of Clubbed Thumbs Directing Fellows. She’s also part of the producing artistic leadership team of The Movement Theatre Company. We speak to Taylor about her relationship with Clubbed Thumb and The Movement, developing Plano, and the life of an emerging director.

Danya Taymor is a director on the brink of firmly establishing herself as no longer emerging, but a sought after interpreter of new work. For the last few years, she’s worked consistently on a wide range of new plays that have caught audiences’ attention and produced numerous conversations among theatre-goers. We speak with her about working on “Daddy”, her directing process, the challenges of a career as a director, and more.

Out of the 21 plays currently on Broadway or are upcoming this season, only three (a dismal 14%) are directed by women. However, Off-Broadway, there is a vibrant group of emerging new directors, many of whom are women staging exciting new work. We talk with Colette Robert, Arpita Mukherjee, and Christa Scott Reed about their desires to bring diverse stories to the stage; the challenge of balancing directing with their myriad other jobs, including acting, writing, and artistic directing; the importance of building community in the rehearsal room; and more.

Mies Julie, an adaptation of Miss Julie by Yaël Farber set in post-Apartheid South Africa, and The Dance of Death, adapted by Conor McPherson, are currently being presented at Classic Stage Company. The plays are being directed by Shariffa Ali and Victoria Clark, respectively, in a first for CSC: having work in repertory, and having work on their mainstage that is decisively from a female point of view. We speak with Shariffa and Victoria about their visions for doing Strindberg in 2019, working in repertory, the pressure on female directors, and more.

In “Describe the Night”, the audience travels ninety years in Russian history—some events real and some fictional—and follows three different, interconnected plots. We talk with director Giovanna Sardelli about the evolution of “Describe the Night,” staging a show with multiple plots and time jumps, and more.

We talk to director Gaye Taylor Unchurch about her career, working on new plays, and more.