Amanda Keating

Amanda Keating

Amanda Keating is a playwright from Western Mass, currently pursuing her MFA in Playwriting from the Iowa Playwrights' Workshop. Her plays include WITH FELLOWSHIP (EST/Sloan Commission, O'Neill Finalist, KCACTF Region 5 NAPAT Winner), TEACH/TEACH (Playwrights Realm Finalist, Leah Ryan Honorable Mention, Studio '62), RETREAT (Ensemble Studio Theatre, Two Headed Rep), OF SOLITUDE (Martha's...
Amanda Keating is a playwright from Western Mass, currently pursuing her MFA in Playwriting from the Iowa Playwrights' Workshop. Her plays include WITH FELLOWSHIP (EST/Sloan Commission, O'Neill Finalist, KCACTF Region 5 NAPAT Winner), TEACH/TEACH (Playwrights Realm Finalist, Leah Ryan Honorable Mention, Studio '62), RETREAT (Ensemble Studio Theatre, Two Headed Rep), OF SOLITUDE (Martha's Vineyard Playhouse), GO THAT WAY (O'Neill Semifinalist, Studio '62), ROAST (The Plowmen), The Cleanup Crew, and adaptations of TARTUFFE and MISS JULIE (Two Headed Rep).

She is a former member of EST/Youngblood, an EST/Sloan Commission recipient, and a Playwrights Realm finalist. Her short plays have been produced by The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Samuel French, Serials @The Flea, Tiny Rhino, the Suffield Players, and Rule of 7x7. Her play, this movie, was a winner in the 2017 OOB Festival and is published by Samuel French.

An alumna of The MacDuffie School, Williams College, and the National Theater Institute, Amanda grew up in Russell, MA and her best friend is a cat named Wilbur. She currently lives in Iowa City and is the Literary Manager of Two Headed Rep.

Plays

  • WITH FELLOWSHIP by Amanda Keating
    Recommendations: 3
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: adventure, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: anthropology, women + 1 more
    Genre: adventure, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, mystery/thriller, period
    Keyword: anthropology, women, medieval
    WITH FELLOWSHIP bounces back and forth through time, between: The present day – when a team of scientists in a German lab study the fossilized dental plaque found in the jawbones of women buried at a medieval nunnery – and the 11th century – where a German nun is hard at work illuminating manuscripts in collaboration with a nearby monastery. How does the work of these women artists and women scientists support...
    WITH FELLOWSHIP bounces back and forth through time, between: The present day – when a team of scientists in a German lab study the fossilized dental plaque found in the jawbones of women buried at a medieval nunnery – and the 11th century – where a German nun is hard at work illuminating manuscripts in collaboration with a nearby monastery. How does the work of these women artists and women scientists support, inspire, and combat each other across the bounds of time?

    WITH FELLOWSHIP is under commission from the Sloan Foundation.
  • HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING by Amanda Keating
    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: dark comedy, musical
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    Keyword: Choir, cats
    Genre: dark comedy, musical
    Keyword: Choir, cats
    The Hilltown Community Choir is back, and they’re preparing for their first concert in months (years? years). Everything has changed and nothing has changed as these old friends (friends? friends) return to the old place where they used to sing but with new songs that are harder than anyone thought they’d be. Joined by newcomer Henry, and cheered on by their single audience member Jan, the HCC want to find...
    The Hilltown Community Choir is back, and they’re preparing for their first concert in months (years? years). Everything has changed and nothing has changed as these old friends (friends? friends) return to the old place where they used to sing but with new songs that are harder than anyone thought they’d be. Joined by newcomer Henry, and cheered on by their single audience member Jan, the HCC want to find themselves in music again, but find something perhaps more difficult and more beautiful than they expected. HOW CAN I KEEP FROM SINGING is a story about survival in the face of unspeakable strangeness, and the need to sing together, even when it might be impossible.
  • TEACH/TEACH by Amanda Keating
    Cast: 
    3
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: grief, cats
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: grief, cats
    After the death of her mom and her roommate, Mare has taken up the "grief piano," aka lessons with local piano teacher Larry, who is faking his way through teaching after his band decides to take a "hiatus." Week after week, they meet at Larry's apartment and play, cheered on by their best friends – Lucie the roommate and Lucie the cat – who watch Mare and Larry's progress with a...
    After the death of her mom and her roommate, Mare has taken up the "grief piano," aka lessons with local piano teacher Larry, who is faking his way through teaching after his band decides to take a "hiatus." Week after week, they meet at Larry's apartment and play, cheered on by their best friends – Lucie the roommate and Lucie the cat – who watch Mare and Larry's progress with a mix of joy and trepidation. A quiet journey through grief, TEACH/TEACH finds its characters at the edge of loss, and sees them through it with a piano, a cell phone, and a bathroom.
  • RETREAT by Amanda Keating
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
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    Keyword: playwright, grief + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: playwright, grief, hot tub
    23 writers (Susan and Barry couldn’t come) settle in for a weekend by the sea. They expect walks on the beach, breakfast tacos, board games, and late nights in the hot tub, but on this unseasonably warm winter weekend they find something else. You might say they’re boring (they’re not), and they might say they’re just trying to figure shit out, but anyone who really knows them would say they believe in bold...
    23 writers (Susan and Barry couldn’t come) settle in for a weekend by the sea. They expect walks on the beach, breakfast tacos, board games, and late nights in the hot tub, but on this unseasonably warm winter weekend they find something else. You might say they’re boring (they’re not), and they might say they’re just trying to figure shit out, but anyone who really knows them would say they believe in bold choices and doing what they want.
  • The Cleanup Crew by Amanda Keating
    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: work, Maintenance + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: work, Maintenance, grief
    It’s the end of Wyman Public School as we know it, and five lost souls are hired to clean it out : scraping gum off the desks, washing the floors with whatever old cleaning supplies they have around, and locking it up when they’re done. Ken, Ackley, Meg, Cole, and Roger come together to get the job done, but when Helen appears in Wyman – with her dog in her Subaru and a fire for the school in her heart – the...
    It’s the end of Wyman Public School as we know it, and five lost souls are hired to clean it out : scraping gum off the desks, washing the floors with whatever old cleaning supplies they have around, and locking it up when they’re done. Ken, Ackley, Meg, Cole, and Roger come together to get the job done, but when Helen appears in Wyman – with her dog in her Subaru and a fire for the school in her heart – the group faces questions they never expected to ask, with people they never expected to ask them with. Armed with an old copy of the Bhagavad-Gita, a nonstop supply of coffee, and a love of place so deep nothing can survive it, the cleanup crew does the duty they set out to do, and renounces everything else along the way.
  • GO THAT WAY by Amanda Keating
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: adventure, comedy + 1 more
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    Keyword: road trip, siblings + 1 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: road trip, siblings, grief
    Three estranged siblings find a letter from their even more estranged father and decide to take a road trip with their friend. As they drive across America, they’re forced to sift through everything that’s piled up between them over the years, and they start to see each other for the first time in a long time. When they get to where they’re going, it’s not what they expected, but maybe that’s a good thing.
  • Moliere's TARTUFFE by Amanda Keating
    Cast: 
    10
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    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 6 more
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    Keyword: Tartuffe, faith + 1 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, farce, period, political, satire, translation, verse
    Keyword: Tartuffe, faith, American politics
    Moliere's classic TARTUFFE was newly adapted and translated from the French – becoming a Reagan-era romp contemplating what happens when we blindly accept a hapless leader into our homes. Faithful to the original play in language and structure, this adaptation plays with character and time, grounding the play in an American-as-apple-pie 1980s commentary on present day politics.