The Keegan Theatre has long recognized the vital importance of new works, producing world and area premieres consistently since its founding in 1997. But the theater ecosystem often leaves emerging and/or underrepresented playwrights to create and cultivate in a vacuum, making it difficult for some of these artists to break through to production phases. The Boiler Room Series was founded to help close the loop between napkin drawings with promise and performance-ready new pieces, essentially representing the change we wanted to see in the industry.
Keegan’s Boiler Room Series (BRS) actively seeks artists and projects in international, national, and local searches for new plays and musicals, offering support and a stage for new and unique performances and performers, and working to promote the creative minds that are driving theater in D.C. and beyond to new and unexpected places.
Events
The annual Boiler Room Series calendar includes workshop presentations, staged readings, cabarets, and other unique performances and events.
Archive
Since 2017, the Boiler Room Series has been offering support and shining the spotlight on emerging playwrights and artists with fresh voices.
Our BRS pipeline is unique in its depth of commitment: Keegan works with playwrights from the spark of creation, through the writing/editing process, and into collaborative workshops/public readings. We then work with playwrights to collaboratively develop their piece all the way through to a fully-staged world premiere mainstage production. By centering I.D.E.A. (inclusion, diversity, equity and access) and leveraging our intimate, state-of-the-art theater space, and location in a major metropolitan market and cultural capital, the Boiler Room Series provides a launching pad for emerging playwrights and supplies Keegan’s mainstage seasons and the world with exciting new works by fresh voices.
Since its founding in 2017, the Boiler Room Series has seen plays and playwrights supported through this initiative receive acclaim and professional success around the country.
- A production now slated for the 2026 Off-Broadway season, Lisa Stephen Friday’s powerhouse one-woman musical TRANS AM, completely owes its genesis to the Boiler Room Series.
- Another BRS pipeline script, STRANGERS WITH BENEFITS by Shadia Hafiz, was picked up by the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre for its new play series.
- The genre-busting phenomenon FROM GUMBO TO MUMBO, by Drew Anderson and Dwayne Lawson-Brown, has taken top honors at regional theater festivals.
New and returning artists continue to work with the Boiler Room Series on all levels of the Pipeline for New Works. Some featured artists include:
- DMV artists Drew Anderson and Dwayne Lawson-Brown (the dynamic duo behind FROM GUMBO TO MUMBO and PUSH THE BUTTON) continue to pioneer new works designed for audiences of all ages — and infused with their trademark hip-hop style. In addition to their script development work and mainstage productions, Drew and Dwayne hold pre- and post-show workshops as part of Field Trip Experiences that help to bring the themes of their works to brilliant life for DC area students.
- Acclaimed artist Priyanka Shetty (the playwright and performer of 2024’s THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM) has continued development on her second solo play #CHARLOTTESVILLE as part of Keegan’s 2024-2025 mainstage season, as well as a new commission, THE WALL — the third in her triptych of solos — which explores the immigrant experience in modern America.
- Previous Boiler Room Series featured playwright Angelle Whavers (THE OREOS) is currently participating in the development process, with the aim of preparing one of her new works-in-progress for Keegan’s mainstage season in 2025-2026.
To create opportunities for emerging artists,
To increase representation onstage,
To provoke important conversations,
To turn art into action through exposure and giving,
To feed the fire of new projects in progress,
To raise the creative voices of tomorrow’s theater.
Keegan’s Boiler Room Series is radically committed to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism. Since launching in 2017, at least 50% of featured BRS playwrights have been women and at least 50% of all BRS artists have been BIPOC. Many of our artists identify as LGBTQ+. We are committed to maintaining and improving upon those standards across all BRS programming.
The Boiler Room Series remains committed to:
- Featuring 50% or more BIPOC playwrights
- Casting 50% or more BIPOC performers/presenters
- Staffing 50% or more BIPOC production team members
- Hiring 25% or more artists who identify as LGBTQ+
- Maintaining a BRS play-reading and producing advisory panel with at least 50% or more BIPOC artists, 50% or more women artists, and 25% or more LGBTQ+ identifying artists.