About the Lab

Through our Keen Playwrights Lab, we foster mid-career playwrights to develop new work and facilitate that work's exposure to a greater audience. For over a decade, Keen has focused on mid-career playwrights specifically, as studies show that mid-career can be an underserved crisis point for American playwrights. 

In October 2013, we launched the first year of the Keen Playwrights Lab, inspired by the Theatre Development Fund’s six-year study and resulting book "Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play" by Todd London, which cites mid-career as a common crisis point for American playwrights.

From 2013-2023, the Lab brought together three mid-career playwrights each year to develop a new work through monthly meetings and facilitate greater audience exposure through yearly public readings. The program was run under the leadership of Keen Company’s Directors of New Work Mark Armstrong and Jeremy Stoller. 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.

In 2023, as the Playwrights Lab hit its tenth year, Keen Company took the time to survey past participants and industry professionals to better understand the current landscape. With a new perspective of modern needs, Keen is refocusing our new work programming to support mid-career playwrights with ongoing development of specific projects. Check out Keen Company’s current commissions and works in process here.