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 8 contains three short plays written by Kit Yan and Melissa Li, Chisa Hutchinson, and Matthew Stephen Smith, which premiered at Off-Broadway's Theatre Row as part of 2020 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.

Cancelled by Kit Yan and Melissa Li
A scandal breaks in a progressive high school when Joey, the popular lesbian President of the GSA, accidentally sends an offensive tweet directed at Evan, a trans classmate. Tensions rise when their friends scramble to take sides, leaving Joey and Evan caught in the center of the drama. (Cast: 4 female, 3 male, 3 any gender).

We🖤Mr. Marsden by Chisa Hutchinson
There's an unlikely gathering of high school girls in Nicole Shepherd's basement. No, it's not a study session, and it's definitely not a party. It's a meeting during which Nicole reveals her explosive discovery – that they're all being sexually molested by their math teacher – and lays out a plan for vengeance. (Cast: 8 female, 1 male).

A Sudden Rush by Matthew Stephen Smith
At a school perched on the edge of a dangerous cliff, a new student sets off an unexpected chain of events when he proclaims his love to an unnamed classmate during a raucous and stormy lunch. Relationships are tested, secrets are exposed, and a handful of students find themselves facing a whole new realm of feeling and possibility. (Cast: 7 female, 3 male, 1 non-binary).