Keegan Theatre Announces BOILER ROOM SERIES of New Works and Unique Performances

The Keegan Theatre is proud to announce the launch of its new programming arm, the Boiler Room Series. Boiler Room Series has launched with international, national, and local searches for new plays and musicals that will culminate with 5 workshops/staged readings, 2 festivals, 3 cabarets, and 2 concerts over the course of the company's 2017-2018 season. The Boiler Room Series lineup will highlight scripts selected for further development from the search, in addition to edgy takes on traditional cabarets and concerts.

"Keegan is ready to take our development of new works to the next level. We expect to shepherd works from early stages to full productions and beyond in future seasons. We're interested in the future of theatre," says Boiler Room Series Producer Josh Sticklin. "Often, the playwriting and play development aspect of theatre-making is overlooked or taken for granted; we somehow expect playwrights to create brilliant, stage-ready pieces in a vacuum. With the launch of the Boiler Room Series, we look to support playwrights in different stages of their process, to innovate on the ground, and to be a catalyst for emerging artists in a meaningful, tangible way."

Boiler Room Series kicks off on September 1 with a widespread, 8-month search for new plays and musicals. The submission instructions and form can be found at https://goo.gl/forms/I2y5Dp6Zz0cZs0j12. Submissions will be accepted until April 1, 2018. Five plays or musicals will be selected to be workshopped and performed as staged readings over the course of the Boiler Room Series in 2017-18, and selected scenes from all 5 plays will be showcased in a festival in July. The plays chosen will be announced on a rolling basis; the script chosen for October's reading will be announced in late September.

Keegan is also thrilled to announce the return of The Future Is Female Festival in March, at which 6 local, female playwrights will celebrate Women's History Month with new 10-minute plays that celebrate women's futures. Audience favorites from last year's successful cabaret and concert programming will also return to Keegan under the Boiler Room Series umbrella, including a cabaret featuring Emily Levey on September 10, 2017, and the Concert Across America To End Gun Violence on September 24, 2017.

"We created the name Boiler Room Series from our theater space prior to its renovation," continues Sticklin. "The old boiler room quadrupled as, well, a boiler room, a dressing room, a storage closet, and a makeshift green room. It was the place where many of the formative (and sweat-drenched) collaborations that have made Keegan Theatre what it is today got their first sparks. We think of the series as a kind of artistic boiler, where we can turn up the heat for promising new voices."

Susan Marie Rhea, the company's new Artistic Director, is enthusiastic and particularly passionate about the Boiler Room Series. "Keegan has always maintained an understated -- yet vibrant and passionate -- commitment to supporting new works," she explains. "I'm incredibly excited to launch an initiative that will give more weight and more attention to this side of Keegan's work, and to hopefully build more excitement and momentum around new plays, emerging artists, and some less traditional programming.

In its 20-year history, Keegan has supported 40 playwrights and their new works in a range of ways. The company has fully produced 17 world premieres and has workshopped 18 new works with staged readings. "We're proud, too, that we have reached gender parity in our support of 16 local DC playwrights and their work," concludes Rhea.

BOILER ROOM SERIES

2017-2018 Season

Sunday, September 10, 2017 @ 7:00pm

RADIATOR CABARET: Forbidden Fruit with Emily Levey

Emily discovered at a young age that the songs she wasn't supposed to sing had an irresistible appeal. As she grew up and had the opportunity to work in the outside world, this discovery continued to ring true and Emily's fascination with singing songs that weren't written for people like her grew deeper and deeper. Find out what happens when she throws caution to the wind and sings the songs that speak to her -- even if they are forbidden.

Sunday, September 24, 2017 @ 7:30pm

STEAM HEAT CONCERT: Concert Across America To End Gun Violence

The power of music to reach far and wide has fueled countless important movements in recent decades. Now is the time to turn up the music to turn down the hateful rhetoric that has become a hallmark of the gun debate. Keegan Theatre joins hundreds of concerts happening all over the United States on Sept 24 to mobilize and heal. Featuring some of DC theatre's finest artist activists, including Inez Nassara, Bridget Linsenmeyer, Jade Jones, Eben Logan, and many more.

Monday, October 23, 2017 @ 7:30pm

BOILER MAKER: New Works Staged Reading #1

At the beginning of the season, Boiler Room Series launched an international, national, and local search for new plays and musicals. Selected from hundreds of submissions, this play or musical will be workshopped by Keegan's Artistic Development Team and presented to the public as a staged reading. Every staged reading is followed by a post-show discussion. Stay tuned - new works will be announced on a rolling basis.

Sunday, December 17, 2017 @ 5:30pm

STEAM HEAT CONCERT: The Harry Bells present Keegan's Greetings

If you served eggnog in a coconut, in a beach bar with Christmas lights, you might be getting close to The Harry Bells' Keegan holiday concert. Hailing from Washington, DC., The Harry Bells are a horn-and-percussion tribute to the music of Harry Belafonte. WAMU's Michael J. West has described their sound as "boisterous" and that each song "threatens to dance right out of the speakers." Start your own holiday tradition with the double feature: see AN IRISH CAROL and stay for Keegan's Greetings!

Monday, January 22, 2018 @ 7:30pm

BOILER MAKER: New Works Staged Reading #2

At the beginning of the season, Boiler Room Series launched an international, national, and local search for new plays and musicals. Selected from hundreds of submissions, this play or musical will be workshopped by Keegan's Artistic Development Team and presented to the public as a staged reading. Every staged reading is followed by a post show discussion. Stay tuned - new works will be announced on a rolling basis.

Sunday, February 19, 2018 @ 1pm

BOILER MAKER: New Works Staged Reading #3

At the beginning of the season, Boiler Room Series launched an international, national, and local search for new plays and musicals. Selected from hundreds of submissions, this play or musical will be workshopped by Keegan's Artistic Development Team and presented to the public as a staged reading. Every staged reading is followed by a post show discussion. Stay tuned - new works will be announced on a rolling basis.

Sunday, March 11, 2018 @ 11:00am & Monday, March 12, 2018 @ 7:30pm

BOILER MAKER: The Future Is Female Festival of 10-Minute Plays

Based on its wild success last year, Boiler Room Series is pleased to announce the return of the Future Is Female Festival. We found the best of best of DC's female playwrights and asked them to write a new 10-minute play on the subject "The Future is Female," and what that means to them. This year the new works will be fully staged, as opposed to static staged readings. Instead of spending March celebrating women's history, we'll celebrate women's futures and emerging writers in the theater!

Monday, April 16, 2018 @ 7:30pm

RADIATOR CABARET: Sneakin' Peepers Cabaret: Keegan's 2018-2019 Season Sampler.

We know you're curious -- and tonight, we're saying it's okay to look. Join the star-studded cast of Keegan Theatre's production of CHICAGO (and other special guests) as they reveal everything ... that we're producing in the 18-19 season. You'll find it hard to avert your eyes as we dazzle with songs from musicals and cabarets in the 18-19 season and snippets from plays and new works. Sneakin' Peepers is your first look at Keegan's daring 18-19 season.

Monday, April 30, 2018 @ 7:30pm

BOILER MAKER: New Works Staged Reading #4

At the beginning of the season, Boiler Room Series launched an international, national, and local search for new plays and musicals. Selected from hundreds of submissions, this play or musical will be workshopped by Keegan's Artistic Development Team and presented to the public as a staged reading. Every staged reading is followed by a post show discussion. Stay tuned - new works will be announced on a rolling basis.

Sunday, May 27, 2018 @ 7:00pm

BOILER MAKER: New Works Staged Reading #5

At the beginning of the season, Boiler Room Series launched an international, national, and local search for new plays and musicals. Selected from hundreds of submissions, this play or musical will be workshopped by Keegan's Artistic Development Team and presented to the public as a staged reading. Every staged reading is followed by a post show discussion. Stay tuned - new works will be announced on a rolling basis.

Monday, July 9, 2018 @ 7:30pm

BOILER MAKER: Plays at the Boiling Point: New Voices Sampler Festival

If you missed any of our new works staged readings this season, the new voices festival is your chance to get a taste of all the new play development work that Keegan's Boiler Room Series has been up to in its inaugural year. Selected scenes will be fully staged and presented as part of the festival, and we'll feature a post-show discussion with all 5 playwrights.

Sunday, August 26, 2018 @ 7:30pm

RADIATOR CABARET: Unproducible: Songs from Shows We Can't/Shouldn't/Won't/Might Do

Keegan Theatre will NEVER produce Cats! and there are hundreds of good reasons for that. In fact, there's a whole canon of musicals that Keegan will never produce for any number of reasons. This irreverent and illuminating cabaret pokes fun at theatre business from all angles - chiefly, our own. Few will be spared. Bet you might have never thought like a theatre producer thinks. Go on, we dare you.

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