Jeni Mahoney (born January 3, 1963) is an American playwright, director, artistic director, and educator.

In 2001, she founded the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference where she was instrumental in the development of more than 250 American plays that have gone on to production on Broadway and at venues across the country and around the world. Under her leadership, Seven Devils developed work by playwrights from nearly every state and every walk of life from Pulitzer Prize-winners to emerging voices to local high school students, and established the Conference as one of the most respected new play development programs in the nation.^[1] She served as Artistic Director of Seven Devils for 23 years, before stepping down in 2023.^[2]

During this period she also spent 10 years serving as Head of BFA Playwriting at Playwrights Horizons Theater School/NYU Tisch. In recognition of her efforts on behalf of American Playwrights, she was inducted into the indietheatre Hall of Fame in 2014 and elected to the National Theatre Conference.

Jeni Mahoney was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Her parents, James and Virginia Mahoney,^[3] both visual artists, designed exhibits for the Smithsonian Institute and the National Zoo respectively. Jeni studied acting with Ralph Tabakin at Maryland Academy of Dramatic Arts before studying Theater and Philosophy at St. Mary's College of Maryland and earning an MFA in Acting from Ohio University's Professional Actor Training Program.^[4] She began writing plays shortly after moving to New York City in the early 1990s.

Born into a family of artists and inventors, Jeni is the great granddaughter of renowned animator and inventor Max Fleischer, grandniece of film director Richard Fleischer, and granddaughter of animator Seymour Kneitel. Jeni honors her family's artistry and influence as Historian and Vice President of Digital Media for Fleischer Studios.

Jeni's first play, a one-act titled Mercy Falls,^[5] and written on a bet, was presented at New York's 30th Street Theater. Her first full-length play, The Feast of the Flying Cow... and Other Stories of War^[5] was selected for the National Playwrights Conference at the O'Neill Center in 1997, then under the leadership of Lloyd Richards, where she was first introduced to the process of new play development that would come to fuel her work and change the trajectory of her career.

The Feast of the Flying Cow... and Other Stories of War had it world premiere at InterAct Theatre in Philadelphia, where it was directed by longtime Artistic Director Seth Rozin. It would go on to be named as an honorable mention on the 2014 Kilroy List and was later published by nytheatre.com. Her play Fata Morgana,^[5] an honorable mention on the 2015 Kilroy List, had its world premiere at Boise Contemporary Theater where it was the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Her plays including: Kandahar, Come Rain or Come Shine, Running in Circles Screaming, The Martyrdom of Washington Booth, American Eyes, Scatter, Light, Salty, ChuckRoastToast, Mercy Falls, The Feast of the Flying Cow... and Other Stories of War and Fata Morgana, have been presented at The Source Theatre Festival,^[6] Moving Arts, And Toto Too, The Lark, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Greenwich Playhouse^[7] (London), Circus Theatricals,^[8] Key City Public Theater, Boston Theater Marathon, among others. Her plays have been published by Applause, Playscripts^[9] and Smith & Kraus. Jeni is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.^[10]

When Lloyd Richards, longtime Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference retired in 1999,^[11] Jeni was inspired to create a Conference that reflected the artistic support and creative rigor she'd experienced under his leadership and, in 2001, in conjunction with the already established id Theater, the first Seven Devils Playwrights Conference took place at the Alpine Playhouse in McCall, Idaho; a rural mountain town 120 miles north of Boise, Idaho where Jeni and husband Ben Sahl owned a small cabin.

Over the course of 23 years, the Conference would grow from an initial company of 12 artists working on 4 plays and mentoring 4 high school students to an annual event employing up to 50 artists per year and supporting the work of more than a dozen local students each year. The success of Conference led to additional programming to support alumni artists after the Conference experience including a writers group and monthly readings in New York City, and during the COVID pandemic offered online writing sessions and professional seminars for playwrights.

Notable plays developed at Seven Devils include: The Velocity of Autumn by Eric Coble (Broadway), The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter (made into a feature film with Brandon Fraser), Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley (Humana Festival), You Will Get Sick by Noah Diaz (Roundabout Theater), Good Enemy by Yilong Liu (Minetta Lane), brownville song (side b for tray) by Kimber Lee (LCT3/Lincoln Center), Lemonade by Mark Krause (Woodward/Newman Drama Award), Suicide, Inc. by Andrew Hinderacker (Roundabout Underground), Swimming with Whales by Bob Bartlett (6 Helen Hayes nominations), as well as new works by Robert Schenkkan, Lee Blessing, Caridad Svich, Elaine Romero, Sherry Kramer, James Still, and Randy Reinholz.

As dramaturg, director and/or consultant she has supported numerous new play festivals, conferences and workshops including Key City Public Theater's PlayFest in Port Townsend, Washington where she directed developmental workshops of plays by Richard Dresser, Tira Palmquist and A.P. Andrews, among others, Durango PlayFest where she directed Mike Ferrell in Stephan Nathan's The Dizziness of Freedom, and the National Winter Playwrights Retreat where she directed How to Hide Your Monster by Heidi Kraay and was dramaturg for D.W. Gregory's Memoirs of a Forgotten Man.

A sought after thought leader in the new play development arena, she has served as panelist, speaker and guest artist. She has written about new play development for Howlround^[12][13] and The Dramatists, and has been featured in articles, interviews, and podcasts about the process of developing new plays.^{[14][15][16][17]}

As Head of Playwriting at Playwrights Horizons Theatre School/NYU Tisch School for the Arts, Jeni developed curriculum, taught, and steered programming for studio's BFA playwriting program for 10 years. Other teaching assignments have included: Einhorn School for Performing Arts at Primary Stages, Franklin Pierce University, and Ohio University. She currently teaches Scriptwriting at Stonecoast, the University of Southern Maine's low residency MFA program in Creative Writing.

Jeni's bring her experience as a storyteller to her role as Historian and V.P. of Digital Media for Fleischer Studios writing historical content, editing video and working with museum from L.A. to Milan, and documentary filmmakers around the world to celebrate the legacy and continuing influence of Fleischer Studios. She is featured prominently in Clair Duget^[18]'s award winning documentary Betty Boop Forever^[19] and Asaf Galay^[20]'s upcoming documentary Cartooning America^[21] (winner of the 2024 Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film),^[22] and in 2024, spoke at San Deigo ComicCon, sat on a panel titled Becoming Betty Boop.^[23] Her content is featured on all official Fleischer Studios and Betty Boop social platforms and websites.

Jeni lives in New Hampshire with her husband Ben Sahl, a lawyer who specializes in special needs and housing issues, and her daughter Noa, who is blind and multiply disabled.