Two Columbia Alumni Receive Clubbed Thumb's 2020/2021 Directing Fellowship

By
Robbie Armstrong
October 26, 2020

Alumni Nana Dakin '18 and Keenan Tyler Oliphant '21 join Clubbed Thumb’s 2020/2021 Directing Fellowship, held at the Obie winning theatre and mentored by Anne Kaufman, Daniel Aukin, Niegel Smith and Laurie Wooler. "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 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."

Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellowship is an opportunity for early-career directors to collaborate with playwrights from the Playwrights Horizons Theater School and develop new pieces of theatre. Each piece is followed by an industry showcase. Past fellows include Playwriting alumnus Jay Stull '20 who was in the inaugural class of Directing fellows. With a newly adapted Directing Fellowship, Clubbed Thumb promises that the artists will be creating as they go on a journey of discovery. Beyond creating new works of art, the Directing Fellowship aims to kickstart real working relationships in the theatre business for early-career directors.

Dakin is a Thai American director of new work, classics and devised performance. Her work pursues social equity by examining the way culture is constructed and unsettling dormant biases. Her recent productions include White Pearl at The Royal Court TheatreMary Jane at New York Theatre WorkshopThe Bacchae at BAM Next Wave 2018, Wild Goose Dreams at The Public Theater, and Camelot at Lincoln Center Theater. New work development includes Golden Shield by alumna Anchuli Felicia King '18, and Half The Sky by composer Tidtaya Sinutoke and bookwriter/lyricist Isabella Dawis. She also directed an all-female production of Shakespeare’s Richard III. Nana was a 2050 NYTW Directing Fellow in 2018/19. 

Oliphant is a Theatre-maker and Director from Cape Town, South Africa. His work is in the lineage of the South African communal theatre-making and storytelling rituals and traditions. He is a founding member of Mixing Bowl Productions, an underground music theatre company which focuses on the promotion of alternate and contemporary music theatre works. Oliphant has directed collaborative pieces at festivals around New York including Dixon Place’s Hot FestSamuel French Off- Off Broadway Festival, and The International Human Rights Arts Festival. He has served as second assistant director to alumna Rachel Chavkin '08 and Raja Feather Kelly.