Mahonri Stewart

Mahonri Stewart is a national award-winning playwright, screenwriter, novelist, poet, theatre producer, and educator. Mahonri writes in numerous genres, but specializes in probing, historical dramas and soaring fantasy-adventures. He earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing (screenwriting/playwriting) from Arizona State University.

Mahonri has received numerous honors for his plays, including the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s National Selection Team Fellowship Award and their National Student Playwriting Award (second place) for his debut play FAREWELL TO EDEN. He also received the Ruth and Nathan Hale Comedy Playwriting Award for LEGENDS OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. Two dozen of Mahonri's plays have been produced, including JIMMY STEWART GOES TO HOLLYWOOD, SECRETS OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, THE DROWNED BOOK, EMPEROR WOLF, MANIFEST, EVENING EUCALYPTUS, A ROOF OVERHEAD, among many others.

As an emerging screenwriter, Mahonri is a Finalist in Final Draft's Big Break Competition, a two-time ScreenCraft Finalist (Feature and True Story/Public Domain), Top 25 finalist for Roadmap Writer's Jumpstart Competition, and a Emerging Screenwriters Animation Screenplay Competition Finalist. He has also placed as a second rounder, semi-finalist, and quarterfinalist in the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, Launchpad TV Pilot and Feature Competitions, WeScreenplay Feature Lab, Big Apple Film Festival, Script2Comic Contest, Filmatic Sci-fi/Fantasy Awards, and ScreenCraft's various competitions, including TV Pilot, Animation, and Action/Adventure.

Mahonri's screenplays have also placed high on Coverfly’s Red List, especially WRIGHTSBOROUGH, which is (as of January 2024) #1 in Historical/Historical Features this past month, #2 in Historical Features in the past year, #3 in Historical, #8 in Features, in the past month, #9 Overall in the past month, Top 1% in genre/format, Top 1% Overall, and one of the Top 20 Overall scripts of 128,135 projects. He has also received a high score of an “8” on one of his evaluations for Wrightsborough on Blacklist.

Mahonri has two screenplays currently optioned (JIMMY STEWART GOES TO HOLLYWOOD and EMPEROR WOLF) with Motion Foundry Studios and Park City Pictures. He has been featured on Coverfly's Red List for both WRIGHTSBOROUGH (Historical, top 1% Overall) and PROSPERO'S ISLAND (Fantasy and Fantasy TV, Top 7% Overall).

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Mahonri has also had extensive experience as an educator (both high school and university levels), a theatre director, a theater producer, a novelist, a poet, an anthology editor, and as a playwright-in-residence at the Noorda Regional Theater for Children and Youth.