Keen Company Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein today announced the appointment of playwright Chisa Hutchinson and actor Jason Tam to Keen's Board of Directors. Also announced today was the appointment of actor Kate Baldwin to Keen's Advisory Council.
"Keen Company understands the importance of incorporating the artist's perspective at all levels of our organization, including our Board of Directors and Advisory Council. Today I am thrilled to announce the addition of three incredible artists to our leadership team.
Chisa Hutchinson and
Jason Tam are both steadfast supporters of Keen, and I'm honored to have them join our Board. Jason starred in Keen's first ever musical, Marry Me A Little in 2012, and Chisa entrusted Keen with her beautiful new play Surely Goodness and Mercy in 2019.
Kate Baldwin is also joining our Advisory Council, after years as a friend of Keen following her starring role in John & Jen in 2015. These superstars are not only artistic leaders, they are three of the best people around. I can't wait to actually be face to face in a room with them again!," said Silverstein
"The search by the Board of Directors of Keen Company to increase artistic representation on its Board has very happily ended with the addition of
Chisa Hutchinson and
Jason Tam. Chisa and Jason have been active participants in Keen's family for several years, and their outstanding creative ability, energy, and spirit bring exciting new perspectives to the fulfillment of Keen's mission. We are thrilled that they have agreed to join us," added Linda D'Onofrio, President of the Board of Directors.
"Over the course of the vetting process, it became clear to me that they were asking me to join the Board, not out of some extrinsic sense of obligation to 'do diversity' or whatever, not so they could pat themselves on the back for being progressive, but because they saw how I could be an asset. Keen is not concerned with optics; they're focused on vision and actively seek out the tools to realize it. And I can get down with that," said
Chisa Hutchinson.
"Talking with Jonny and various members of the Board, I can feel that Keen's primed to grow with a special kind of vigor, and thoughtful intention, and I'm thrilled to be a part of that. I'm particularly excited about collaborating with the other Board members to continue to expand the community of Keen, in every way shape and form," said
Jason Tam.
"My love and deep admiration for the people who run Keen made joining the Advisory Council easy to do. This company is full of heart and I'm so proud of the work they do. Contributing a small part to its continued evolution brings me great joy. Thank you, Keen!," said
Kate Baldwin.
Chisa Hutchinson (BA
Vassar College; MFA NYU - TSoA) is a New York-based playwright and screenwriter. Her radio drama, Proof of Love, was recently presented by Audible and New York Theatre Workshop at the Minetta Lane Theater in NYC and can now be found on Audible's digital platform (with a 4.6 rating and everything, too, so that's pretty cool) and her next radio play was commissioned by Dorset Theatre, where it will receive its premiere later this year. Chisa's happily presented her other plays, which include Dirt Rich, She Like Girls, This Is Not The Play, Sex On Sunday, Tunde's Trumpet, The Subject, Somebody's Daughter, Alondra Was Here, Surely Goodness and Mercy, From The Author Of, Whitelisted and Dead & Breathing at such venues as the Lark Theater, SummerStage, Atlantic Theater Company, Rattlestick Theater, the Contemporary American Theater Festival, the National Black Theatre, Delaware REP,
Second Stage Theater and Arch 468 in London. She has been a Humanitas Fellow, a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a Lark Fellow, Resident at
Second Stage Theater and New Dramatists, a New York NeoFuturist, and a staff writer for the Blue Man Group. Here are some of her awards and whatnot: a GLAAD Award, a Lilly Award, a New York Innovative Theatre Award, the
Paul Green Award, a Helen Merrill Award, the
Lanford Wilson Award. Currently, Chisa is wondering when, if ever, the adaptation of Terms of Endearment that she worked on with
Lee Daniels for Paramount will go into production, having been pandemically postponed. Meanwhile, she's just finished an adaptation of Oliver Twist with Ice Cube for Disney, is in her final weeks of work on a new TV series for Showtime, and is about to embark on another with producers Karamo Brown (Queer Eye) and Stephanie Allain (Hustle & Flow, Dear White People). Her first original feature, The Subject, an indie about a white documentarian dealing with the moral fallout from exploiting the death of a black teen, has been selected for numerous festivals, including the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, The Lighthouse International Film Festival, the Bronze Lens Film Festival, The DC Black Film Festival and the Catalina Film Festival where it won the top prizes. To learn more, visit
www.chisahutchinson.com.
Jason Tam was last seen on TV in the hit NBC Live "Jesus Christ Superstar" as Peter. Most recently on Broadway he was in the cult hit Be More Chill, and Off-Broadway in the immersive show KPOP for which he won the Lortel Award, and Keen Company's Marry Me A Little. Jason's Broadway credits include If/Then, Lysistrata Jones, and the original Paul in the revival of A Chorus Line. He has also been part of numerous Off-Broadway and regional theatre productions. Jason has been a regular on "One Life to Live" and "Beyond the Break" and can be seen in the documentary Every Little Step.
Kate Baldwin starred opposite both
Bette Midler and
Bernadette Peters in the Tony-winning revival of Hello Dolly!, garnering accolades for her sparkling humor and soaring voice. She was nominated for Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance as
Irene Molloy. Her starring role in the Broadway revival of
Yip Harburg's and
Burton Lane's hit classic musical Finian's Rainbow drew Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, and put her on the map as "a real musical theatre star" (New York Post). She received a Drama Desk Award nomination for her role as Jen in Keen Company's 20th Anniversary revival of
Andrew Lippa and
Tom Greenwald's John & Jen. She starred as Sandra Bloom in Big Fish on Broadway, and earned accolades and a Drama Desk Award nomination for her work as Leslie Lyntonn Benedict in Giant at
The Public Theater. Off Broadway, she drew raves in Songbird (59E59) and a Lortel Award nomination for her work in Superhero (
Second Stage). Kate has brought her acclaimed solo show to concert venues throughout the country, most recently the Broadway Relief Project at Open Jar Studios in NYC.
