KEEN TEENS

The Keen Teens program is the cornerstone of our outreach and educational efforts, bringing the company’s values to the high school stage by developing new work tailored specifically to teen actors and audiences.

When first creating Keen Teens in 2007, the company found that teachers did not have access to material intended for a high school stage. Educators were left to present either classic plays never designed for teen actors, or material created specifically for school groups that lacked richness or relevance. Through Keen Teens, the company began commissioning original plays and musicals that are as complex and multilayered as the lives of high school students today, penned by accomplished professional playwrights and musical theater writers.

There are two components to Keen Teens: the first is a free program for New York City-area high school students to work alongside professional writers, directors, and designers to rehearse and premiere these new plays Off-Broadway in Manhattan. The second is that the plays then go on to be published and licensed through our partners at Concord Theatrical (previously Samuel French) under The Keen Collection. 

The Keen Collection is made up of a mix of comedies, dramas, and musicals; scripts range from the sincere to the absurd, from the existential to the most intimate. Some deal head-on with topical issues, others simply aim to provide smart contemporary material. These original pieces have been created by many of the most talented writers working today. Learn more about their work through the Program History page or browse publications in the Keen Shop.

As well as being tailored to the social and emotional world of teens, these plays are also designed to be accessible in educational settings. All scripts run thirty minutes, with simple design elements, large ensembles, and flexible casting requirements.  Each play can be presented on its own, or in combination with other Keen Collection titles on a shared bill.

Keen Teens has made possible the Off-Broadway debut of over three hundred young actors and has led to the publication of over thirty-five new one-act plays and musicals, which are regularly produced not only in the United States, but in countries around the world, from Australia to Singapore.