Flahive, Grote, and Magid Named KEEN TEENS 2009 Writers

Keen Teens, the educational theatre partnership between Off-Broadway’s Keen Company and the publishing company Playscripts, Inc. has selected the writers for the program’s third season. Liz Flahive, Jason Grote and Cheri Magid have been commissioned to write thirty minute, large cast plays, which will be produced with student actors Off-Broadway in May 2009.

Keen Teens is a unique educational theatre program which seeks to improve the quality  of plays written for high school students by commissioning scripts from highly regarded professional writers. The playwrights’ only guidelines are that the plays be 30 minutes in length, involve a large cast, and reflect Keen Company’s mission of producing plays that are generous in spirit and provoke identification. Keen Teens then casts high school students from the tri-state area to perform in the World Premiere productions of these plays at Off-Broadway’s Theatre Row. Playscripts, Inc. publishes the plays, which have already garnering productions across the country.

In its first two seasons, Keen Teens produced plays by Naomi Iizuka, Anton Dudley, Winter Miller, Ryan Pavelchik, Courtney Baron, Bathsheba Doran, and Barton Bishop. This year’s performances will be May 29-31, 2009 in the Kirk Theatre at Theatre Row.

Liz Flahive is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Department of Dramatic Writing. Her play, From Up Here  (Manhattan Theater Club in association with Ars Nova) was nominated for both Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards and won the John Gassner Award for Playwriting.  Her plays have been developed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Naked Angels and Ars Nova. She is currently writing formShowtime's “Nurse Jackie”.

JASON GROTE’s plays have been seen and developed at the Denver Center Theater, Centerstage, Clubbed Thumb, New York Theatre Workshop, The O'Neill National Playwrights' Conference, Playwrights' Horizons, The Playwrights' Foundation, Portland Center Stage, and Theater J. He has been commissioned by The Denver Center, Clubbed Thumb, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Working Theater.  Honors include an Ovation Award from The Denver Post; an NEA Grant via Soho Rep; a NYSCA Grant via Clubbed Thumb; and a Sloan Commission from Ensemble Studio Theatre.

CHERI MAGID’s plays have been seen and developed at The New Group, The Women’s Project, Rattlestick, La Mama, Makor, The Slipper Room, Vital Theatre Company, Abingdon Theatre Company, The Lark and the West Bank Theatre in New York, M.Y.E Productions in Los Angeles, South Coast Repertory and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.  South Coast commissioned her play et al; and has also commissioned her to write an adaptation of the children’s story The Reluctant Dragon.

For more information, go to www.keencompany.org

Photo By Walter McBride/ Retna