Events > US Theatre > Keen Company(NY) / on Thorton Wilder
Keen Company(NY) / on Thorton Wilder
Challenging the irony pervasive in contemporary popular culture, Keen Company, led by Artistic Director Carl Forsman, produces “sincere plays” that are “unafraid of emotional candor, vulnerability, and optimism.” Mr. Forsman takes the stage for a discussion of Keen’s unique approach to theatre, including the company’s take on the short plays of Thornton Wilder. Moderated by Mark Blankenship, Online Content Editor for the Theatre Development Fund.
Carl Forsman
Photo Courtesy of the artist
Carl Forsman is the Artistic Director of New York’s Keen Company and Vermont’s Dorset Theatre Festival. Keen Company, a New York theater devoted to the production of sincere plays, received the 2005 Drama Desk Special Award, “for moving and enlightening audiences with plays that build upon our theatrical heritage,” and was the 2008 recipient of a Village Voice Obie Grant. His directions for Keen include the world premieres of his own adaptation of Beasley's Christmas Party, Michael Murphy’s The Conscientious Objector, John Belluso’s Pyretown, Keith Reddin's Can't Let Go, David Auburn’s adaptation The Journals Of Mihail Sebastian, the American premiere of Conor McPherson's The Good Thief (Obie Award & Drama Desk nomination for Brian d’Arcy James), the New York premiere of Gerald Sibleyras’ Heroes, Matthew Burnett’s Theophilus North based on Thornton Wilder’s novel, and revivals of Heinar Kipphardt’s In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer , Somerset Maugham’s The Breadwinner, Thornton Wilder’s The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden (Drama Desk Nomination, Best Revival), John van Druten's Voice of the Turtle (Drama Desk nomination, Best Director), PG Wodehouse's Good Morning Bill, and Tina Howe's Museum. Other directing credits include Love Child (Primary Stages), Michael Murphy’s Sin (A Cardinal Deposed) (OBIE Award, Production, Drama Desk nominations, Best Play & Best Actor) and Seth Zvi Rosenfeld’s Everything's Turning Into Beautiful for the New Group, Tina Howe’s new translations of Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano and The Lesson for the Atlantic Theater Company, The Good Thief (Long Wharf Theatre), and A Few Good Men (Asolo Rep). At the Dorset Theatre Festival he oversees The Kaufman Collection, DTF’s commitment to produce all the stage comedies of George S. Kaufman, begun in 2007 with his production of Dulcy. He teaches at NYU/Atlantic. BA: Middlebury College, MFA: University of Minnesota.
Mark Blankenship is the Online Content Editor for Theatre Development Fund, where he writes and edits features about the New York theater community. As a critic and reporter, he has written for The New York Times, Variety, The Village Voice, American Theatre, and the Huffington Post, and he has appeared as a cultural commentator on CNN.com. Mark is also the editor-in-chief of The Critical Condition (www.thecriticalcondition.com), a pop culture criticism website that won a 2009 artist's grant from the Art Matters Foundation. B.A.: Emory University. M.F.A.: Yale School of Drama.
Keen Company has produced twenty-three full-length plays in its nine seasons. It has been honored with seven Drama Desk Nominations and one win, two transfers, an Obie, a 2005 Special Drama Desk Award "for moving and enlightening audiences with plays that build upon our theatrical heritage" and a 2008 Obie Grant.
Mission statement: Keen Company produces sincere plays. We believe that theater is at its most powerful when texts and productions are generous in spirit and provoke identification. Inspired by the works of early 20th Century American playwrights, Keen Company demonstrates that an earnest intent can still be sophisticated. We are unafraid of emotional candor, vulnerability, and optimism. Keen Company seeks to create a culture of artists, technicians, administrators and audiences who share a desire to invigorate the theater with productions that connect us through humor, heart and hope. For more information, visit http://www.keencompany.org.
6:30 p.m., Monday, Oct 19, 2009
Martin E. Segal Theatre. Free!
