Keaton Wooden

Keaton Wooden is a Rhodes and Regional Emmy–nominated writer, composer, and director whose work spans theater, film, and television.

Recent accolades in theater include Directing, Editing, and Producing the Off-Broadway premiere of André De Shields is Tartuffe by Moliére (translation by Ranjit Bolt) as well as being named a finalist for the Kleban Prize for musical theater, as well as the Relentless Award from the American Playwriting Foundation. With his composing partner Coyote Joe Stevens they have the Chicago Jeff Award for Best New Musical for Albert Cashier, and written the award-winning musical Hills on Fire, Paper or Plastic, and projects that have been hailed as "musical genius at work.” Wooden also writes copiously with Grayson Coleman Selby, including the movie musical Time Piece, the digital musical experience Connections w/ Jack C Newell and Javier Muñoz, and the award-winning screenplay Light Up the Stage.

As producer Wooden helmed Irvine Welsh’s adaptation of his hit film/novel, Trainspotting USA, Chicago remount of the Off-Broadway hit 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche , and the world-premiere of Kristiana Rae Colon’s Good Friday. He also produced the Prism-Award winning autism film NightLights (Lifetime), the social justice film The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, which won the Top Jury and Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival, and the upcoming feature film Rounding by SXSW winner Alex Thompson.

In film and TV, Wooden is co-creator of the upcoming scifi adventure series produced by the team of the Oscar-winning film “Crazy Heart.” Writer/Director award-winning new media short Shooting Star starring Dani Shay from America’s Got Talent. Finalist for the Script Pipeline contest, winner of the AFM Pitch Conference, and finalist for the London Film Awards and the NexTV Pilot competition, and his documentary, Vibrations was nominated for a Regional Emmy.

A Rhodes Scholar nominee, Wooden studied Modern Literature and Critical Theory with the SCIO program at the University of Oxford England, and is a graduate of Ball State University. He has presented research on the entertainment industry and the humanities at the University of Oxford England, IFP Chicago, Kingston University, Wheatstone Academy, and the Screen Actors Guild. He also is a guest moderator and creative feedback consultant/instructor for the Screen Actors Guild in Chicago and IFP Chicago.

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