MISSION

keen (adj): ardent, avid, devoted, eager, earnest, enthusiastic, fervent, fierce, intense, passionate, spirited, wholehearted.

Keen Company is an award-winning Off-Broadway theater creating story driven work that champions identification and connection.

PROGRAMMING

In intimate productions of plays and musicals, the company tells stories about the decisive moments that change us. Keen has brought such wholehearted productions to the stage as Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage (NY Premiere), Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel, Surely Goodness and Mercy by Chisa Hutchinson (NY Premiere), Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon (first NY Revival, Drama League Nomination), Tick, Tick...BOOM! by Jonathan Larson (first NY Revival, Drama Desk Nomination); and a new version of Marry Me a Little by Stephen Sondheim (Drama League Nomination).

Keen Teens, our education program since 2007, raises the quality of plays written for high school students by commissioning work from accomplished professional playwrights. This free program for teens provides invaluable mentorship opportunities - working alongside professional writers, directors, and designers to rehearse and premiere new work. Through our partnership with Concord Theatricals (previously Samuel French), these plays are published and licensed across the globe.

Launched in October of 2013, The Keen Playwrights Lab brings together three playwrights in mid-career to develop new work through an environment of camaraderie and support. Over the course of a year, each playwright develops a new full-length play inspired by Keen’s mission. The program culminates in a public reading series, where plays are shared with our community, industry professionals, and the general public.

ETHOS

Our door is always open. 
We offer people the tools they need to have a positive and welcoming experience. We endeavor to be a trustworthy host to all. 

A good process makes for better art.
We strive to foster productive, healthy, joyous collaborations that encourage vulnerability and risk-taking. Kindness, resourcefulness, and enthusiasm are valued here.

Connection is at the heart of everything we do.
We seek out deeper relations with our community of collaborators, audiences, and peers through specificity, honesty, accessibility, and anti-racist practices. We are responsible for our impact both on and off the stage.