Seven Devils Playwrights Conference Director Jeni Mahoney Announces Departure

Jeni Mahoney, long-time Producing Artistic Director and Founder of the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, will step down from her leadership position following the upcoming 2023 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference (in McCall, Idaho June 5 - 17, 2023). This move will also usher in a new team leadership model with Founding Managing Director Paula Marchiel, Associate Artistic Director Mallory Metoxen, and a third artist/leader (TBA) co-leading the Seven Devils New Play Foundry and Playwrights Conference.

"I couldn't have imagined, way back in 2001," says Mahoney, "that Seven Devils would still be here 23 years later; that it would develop hundreds of new plays that would be produced across the USA, on Broadway, and around the world. It's been a wonderful journey."

Inspired by her own experience as an emerging playwright at the National Playwrights Conference in 1997, Mahoney joined forces with Paula Marchiel (current Managing Director), Sheila McDevitt (who stepped down in 2018), and a company of thirteen other theater artists to launch the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference in the rural mountain community of McCall, Idaho, in 2001.

During her 23-year tenure, Mahoney was instrumental in transforming this intimate, volunteer run producing company, with a budget of less than $5K/year, into a staffed, nationally renowned new play development organization with an annual budget exceeding $100K. Under her leadership, Seven Devils developed and presented more than 250 new plays by playwrights from across the country including: established luminaries like Robert Schenkkan, Lee Blessing, Caridad Svich, and Eric Coble (whose play "The Velocity of Autumn," developed at Seven Devils in 2010, went to Broadway); the early careers of Jen Silverman, Jennifer Hailey, recent Susan Smith Blackburn Award Winner Sarah Mantell, and McArthur Grant Recipient Samuel D. Hunter (whose play "The Whale," presented at the 2011 Conference, is now a major motion picture); and exciting new voices that express the diversity of the American experience including Shannon TL Kearns, Anya Pearson, and Ramón Esquivel.

"We feel incredibly grateful to have had such a leader for Seven Devils," says Board President Tira Palmquist. "Seven Devils is what it is today because of Jeni's vision and passion - and will continue to be a force for new play development because of the firm foundations that she built."

Combining a passion for new work with a commitment to community engagement and belief that plays and audiences can, and should, be developed together, Mahoney and Seven Devils have partnered with McCall's community theater the Alpine Playhouse, the local high school, small business owners, and individuals to create a unique model for new work that offers artists and audiences the opportunity to have an active stake in each other's success.

"Jeni has worked to build an environment at Seven Devils that is incredibly supportive of playwrights--she's a playwright herself, so she understands what writers need." says 2017 alumni playwright and Board Member, Patrick Gabridge, "...she's fiercely protective of playwrights, which is so important in a world that doesn't often feel like it's on our side. When you're in the fold of Seven Devils, you know someone has your back and is going to make sure you can develop your play, and yourself, to its fullest potential."

In addition to developing new work by both national writers and local students, the Conference created programs that responded to specific needs. In an effort to support playwrights who needed access to dramaturgical support, a Playwrights Intensive was created. Writing workshops and Insta-Play events invited community members to try their hand at playwriting. In recent years, two self-directed programs were added to the Conference: Writer-in-residence and Private Idaho; and in partnership with Tofte Lake, Ignition Arts, HBMG Foundation, the National New Play Network and Launch Pad, Seven Devils is a founding member of the 4 Seasons Playwriting Residency.

Mahoney has also been instrumental in the development of Seven Devils programs supporting, and creating support networks for alumni playwrights including the Sit In! reading series, Bridgeworks (for playwrights taking their work to full production), the id-iots at Play writers' group, and online events like Tuesday Night Writes, Shoot the Sh*t, and Devil2Devil seminars.

In 2019, Seven Devils' IDEAA efforts increased the diversity of the play submission pool by actively reaching out to underrepresented communities. The impact has been significant: from 2001-2011, 5% of 7D playwrights identified as BIPOC; by 2018, 14%; since 2019, 55% including plays by Noah Diaz, R. Eric Roberts and Yilong Liu (all developed during the pandemic) all having already gone on to high-profile productions.

While serving as Seven Devils AD, Mahoney has continued her own award-winning playwriting career, directed and dramaturged numerous productions, authored many theater essays/articles, served for a decade as the Head of the BFA Playwriting Program for Playwrights Horizons Theatre School at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and currently teaches in the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast Creative Writing MFA Program. She was inducted into the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame in 2014.

SEVEN DEVILS NEW PLAY FOUNDRY

2023 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference: Coming to Alpine Playhouse in McCall, Idaho June 5 - 17, 2023

Mission: Seven Devils supports the development of plays that embrace the diverse landscape of the American experience. By offering work for free and asking audiences to participate in the development process, Seven Devils empowers artists and audiences to have a greater stake in each other's success; creates opportunities for dialogue that broadens our understanding of ourselves and others; and fuels the creation of work that reflects, challenges, and celebrates us.

History: Founded by Sheila McDevitt and Simon Brooking in 1997 as a producing company, under the name id Theatre, the company began to shift its focus to play development in 2001 when it joined forces with Jeni Mahoney and Paula Marchiel to launch Seven Devils Playwrights Conference. In 2020, the organization dropped the use of "id" in favor of Seven Devils New Play Foundry; a name that is in clearer alignment with its efforts.

More than 50% of the plays developed as Seven Devils have gone on to full production on Broadway and at venues around the country including: The Humana Festival/Actors Theater of Louisville, Roundabout Theatre, Denver Center, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Barrington Stage Company, Chicago's Gift Theater, Kitchen Theater, Montana Rep and Boise Contemporary Theater, among many others.

Jeni is a playwright, director, dramaturg, teacher and all around development geek.

Jeni's plays including Mercy Falls, Fata Morgana, Kandahar, The Feast of the Flying Cow... and Other Stories of War, Come Rain or Come Shine, Running in Circles Screaming, The Martyrdom of Washington Booth, American Eyes, Scatter and Light have been presented at the National Playwrights Conference at the O'Neill Center, InterAct Theater, Source Theater, Greenwich Playhouse (London), L.A. Theater Center, The Lark, Rattlestick, And Toto Too, Circus Theatricals, Key City Public Theater, Boston Theater Marathon and Boise Contemporary Theater, among others. Her work is published by Applause, Playscripts and Smith & Kraus.

Inducted into the IndieTheatre Hall of Fame in 2014, Jeni's plays The Feast of the Flying Cow... and Other Stories of War and Fata Morgana were named honorable mentions on the Kilroy List, and the world premiere of Fata Morgana, was awarded an ArtWorks Grant by the National Endowment of the Arts.

Jeni has served as a panelist or/and guest artist for the Dramatists Guild, The Statera Conference, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs Association, the Seabury Quinn Jr., Playwriting Festival and Bermuda's Famous for Fifteen Minutes New Play Competition. She has written about new play development for Howlround and The Dramatists and has been featured in numerous interviews and podcasts including David Dower's Friday Phone Call.

Jeni served for a decade as the Head of the BFA Playwriting Program for Playwrights Horizons Theatre School at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Other teaching assignments have included Franklin Pierce University, Primary Stages Einhorn Performing Arts School and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

Jeni currently teaches Scripting at Stonecoast, the University of Southern Maine's low-residency MFA in Creative Writing Program. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and The National Theatre Conference, where she served on the Board of Trustees for six years.

To post a comment, you must register and login.