About the Plays:

Some great pieces for performance or scene work.

The annual Keen Teens Festival of New Work (commonly referred to as Keen Teens) is a unique and free educational theatre program, run by the Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company. Keen Teens was formed in 2007 to improve the quality of plays written for high school students by commissioning scripts from highly regarded professional writers. Playwrights write material specifically for teenagers, in plays that must be 30 minutes long, have a cast size of 10 or more, and have an ensemble structure. Keen Teens then casts high school students from across the New York metropolitan area to perform in the World Premiere productions of these plays at an Off-Broadway setting.

The Keen Collection: Volume 5 contains three short plays written by Boo Killebrew, A. Rey Pamatmat, and Eleanor Burgess, which premiered at Off-Broadway's Theatre Row as part of 2017 Keen Teens Festival of New Work. Another highlight of Keen Teens is that the plays are published, with the student's names listed, which helps build the canon of work for high school students. To date, more than 200 performances of Keen Teen plays have been produced all over the world, from Australia to Singapore.

Rat Court by Boo Killebrew
Initiation into a high school sorority takes three young women – and their friendship – to the breaking point. Meanwhile, a young man struggles to chart his own future, or believe he's worthy of one. (Cast: 8 female, 2 male).

Tilda Swinton Betrayed Us by A. Rey Pamatmat
The survival of an actress's fan club is threatened when the actions of their beloved icon leave the group sharply divided on how to respond. Discovering that they can't address this incident without acknowledging broader cultural truths, the only way forward is to talk about the difficult and complicated things we don't want to talk about. (Cast: 6 female, 4 any gender).

And Action by Eleanor Burgess
Things get weird both onscreen and off when a group of friends film a Tarantino-inspired heist flick. When it's your first time behind the camera, what story do you tell, and how do you choose to tell it? (Cast: 7 female, 3 male).