Keene, Laura, c.1826-1873, Anglo-American actress-manager, b. England. She played with Mme Vestris at the Lyceum, London. She emigrated to the United States in 1852 and became manager (1855) of Laura Keene's Varieties Theater, New York City. In 1856 she opened Laura Keene's Theater (later the Olympic) and successfully produced and acted in many foreign and American plays until 1863. Her most famous production was Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin, which she gave at Ford's Theater, Washington, D.C., when Lincoln was shot there in 1865.

Keene, Charles Samuel, 1823-91, English pen-and-ink artist and caricaturist. In 1851 he began his long association with Punch, where the bulk of his work appeared. His drawings ranged from interesting vignettes of the contemporary scene to tidy landscapes and interiors.

Keene, city (1990 pop. 22,430), seat of Cheshire co., SW N.H., on the Ashuelot River; settled 1736, inc. as a city 1873. It is a trade and manufacturing center in a farming and resort area. There is printing and publishing, and among Keene's manufactures are electronic equipment and metal and glass products. The city is the seat of Keene State College. To the east is Mt. Monadnock.