THE MODERATE

Unemployed, and estranged from his wife and son, Frank accepts a job offer from a contractor to moderate content for one of the world’s largest social media companies. This work takes a toll on Frank until he realizes he might have the power to save someone and himself in the process.

A Commission from EST/Alfred P. Sloan Science & Technology Project and in development with The Civilians R&D Group.

Ken: My new play about the world of internet content moderators is a work of fiction. But I spent last fall interviewing researchers and speaking to content moderators for companies like Microsoft, and their words had a big impact as I write this play. I often challenge myself to write about people and places far removed from my own experience, and research helps me get inside the minds of my characters and to do justice to their stories.

THE TENURE ITCH

At an esteemed New England university, Erich teaches the largest classes in Literature, but his department chair demands Erich write less gay books if he wants tenure. An encounter with a student makes him wonder if he is just as homophobic as his colleagues. When sexual tension mounts with his straight best friend and bandmate, Erich wonders if he and his husband are going to make it through their ten-year itch. A comedy about love, sex, rock n roll. . . and academia. 3M, 1W

Developed as part of the Keen Playwrights Lab and New Dramatists.

Ken: Though I have spent considerable time in the hallowed halls of academia, I have largely avoided writing plays about that world. But sometimes you have to write about the thing that makes you the most uncomfortable and this new play – a campus comedy about embracing middle age – is me trying to make peace with this weird world, while asking bigger questions about the ways in which homophobia, far from banished from American life, actually can be found in the most surprising places.