A Note on Keen Company’s Leadership Transition

August 14, 2024

Keen Company announced today that Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein will step down as Artistic Director following the completion of the 2024-25 season. Jonathan has held the position for the past 12 years starting in 2012.

Silverstein says, “For the past 12 years, it has been a joy and privilege to lead Keen Company. When I first took over from founding Artistic Director Carl Forsman, I had three goals in mind: bring musicals to our stage, develop and produce new work, and cultivate greater diversity both on and off stage. I am proud to say I have taken great strides in all three areas, while at the same time fostering a community where joy is paramount, and all are welcome. Over the past several years, Keen has showcased an ever-widening breadth of stories, so it seems only fitting that I now hand the reins to a new leader who will further define Keen’s unique mission into its next quarter century. Personally, I look forward to other challenges and opportunities outside of Keen including focusing on my directing and teaching work.”

“I have loved every minute of my time working with Jonathan Silverstein as a director. Our first collaboration was A Walk in the Woods, and we have been collaborating on Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking for the past two years. It was Jonathan’s brilliant idea to do it in intimate settings, usually in people’s living rooms. His tenure at Keen has been equally successful and revelatory. He’s just the best there is.” — Kathleen Chalfant, Actor

“I fell in love with Keen Company, its mission and Jonny Silverstein several years ago doing a play for them and have had a wonderful time serving on their Board and supporting Jonathan’s vision for Keen.” — Marsha Mason, Actor, Director, and Board Member

“Jonny personifies Keen Company ethos—he’s a passionate, insightful leader genuinely interested in connecting with audiences and artists. He made Keen Company a much-needed home for intimate musicals; the roster of artists who have graced Keen’s stage is a testament to his talent, vision, and the importance of Keen’s work. I know Jonny will carry that Keen spirit with him wherever his next chapter takes him.” — Adam Gwon, Composer


“Jonny is a star. Not in the celebrity way, but in the sense that he‘s got a gravitational pull, keeps people orbiting, and both warms and lights up entire worlds.” — Chisa Hutchinson, Playwright and Board Member.

Keen was founded in 2000 by Carl Forsman, taking inspiration from early 20th Century American playwrights to challenge the irony and cynicism pervasive in contemporary popular culture with plays that were optimistic and generous in spirit. Jonathan Silverstein, a resident director since 2007, assumed the Artistic Director position in 2012. Under Silverstein’s leadership, Keen has widened its focus to contemporary work, musicals, new plays, and a more diverse roster of playwrights and creatives.

Under Silverstein’s tenure, Keen Company has brought to the stage intimate musicals such as Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon (First NY Revival), Tick, Tick...BOOM! by Jonathan Larson (First NY Revival), John & Jen by Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald (First NY Revival), and Marry Me a Little by Stephen Sondheim (First NY Revival). Silverstein has championed new work with the world premieres of Fish by Kia Corthron, This Space Between Us by Peter Gil-Sheridan, Surely Goodness and Mercy by Chisa Hutchinson, When It’s You by Courtney Baron, and Boy by Anna Ziegler (winner of the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for new American Play). Silverstein has also produced acclaimed productions with the first New York Revivals of classic plays from a diverse roster of playwrights including Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage, a site-specific production of The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, Blues for an Alabama Sky by Pearl Cleage, Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel, Later Life by A.R. Gurney, Lonely Planet by Steven Dietz, Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene, A Walk in the Woods by Lee Blessing, Middle of the Night by Paddy Chayefsky, The Film Society by Jon Robin Baitz, and The Old Boy by A.R. Gurney. Keen has been honored with an Obie Award and two Drama Desk Awards as well as eleven Drama Desk Nominations, two Drama League Nominations, one AUDELCO nomination, and one Antonyo Nomination. Four of Keen Company's productions have been immortalized as part of the New York Public Library Theatre on Film Archive.

During the difficult pandemic season, Keen commissioned and produced seven new radio dramas as part of the company’s Hear/Now Season of Audio Theater including Kenny Finkle’s eight-part audio play with music 1993, Digging in the Dark by Pearl Cleage, All We Need Is Us by James Anthony Tyler, Radio Nowhere by Kate Cortesi, Adventurephile by musical team Melissa Li and Kit Yan, The Telegram by Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, and That Old Perplexity by Deb Margolin.

As Artistic Director, Silverstein also launched the Keen Playwrights Lab fostering mid-career playwrights and showcasing their work to a wider audience. Alumni of the Keen Playwrights Lab include Jessica Dickey, Gabe McKinley, Brooke Berman, Kenny Finkle, Kate Moira Ryan, Courtney Baron, Michele Lowe, Ken Weitzman, Julie Jordan, Andrea Thome, Stefanie Zadravec, Kia Corthron, Rinne Groff, Edwin Sànchez, Mona Mansour, Deb Margolin, and Mashuq Mushtaq Deen.

With a focus on mentorship and audience connection, Silverstein has led Keen to expand opportunities for students and emerging artists, accessible programming, community engagement, ethos commitments, anti-racist practices, and much more.

Some of Silverstein’s directing credits throughout his tenure include a site-specific production of The Year of Magical Thinking starring Kathleen Chalfant and performed in living rooms and community centers throughout NYC, the first New York revival of Tick, Tick…. BOOM! starring Nick Blaemire, Ordinary Days (Drama League Nomination), John and Jen starring Kate Baldwin, A Walk in the Woods starring Kathleen Chalfant, and Marry Me a Little (Drama Desk nomination). Prior to becoming Artistic Director, Silverstein directed several shows for the company including Lemon Sky, The Dining Room (Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble), Tea and Sympathy, and The Hasty Heart. Other Selected Off-Broadway credits: The Tempermentals (Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble) Red Herring (FringeNYC; Outstanding Direction Award), Blueprint (Summer Play Festival), and The Train Play (Clubbed Thumb). Regional: Long Wharf, Bucks County, Huntington, Old Globe, Cleveland Playhouse, Merrimack Rep, Dorset Theatre Festival, Cape Rep Theatre. Alumnus, The Drama League Directors Project. MFA, UCSD. Member SDC.

The Keen Company Board of Directors are currently working to launch an extensive search and hiring process for a new Artistic Director to begin in June 2025. More news about the company’s upcoming 2024-2025 season will be announced soon.