Derek Ahonen

Derek Ahonen (Dec. 23, 1980- ) is an American playwright, director, and filmmaker born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother was a children’s theatre director, and he performed in her plays as a child. After graduating from Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois, Ahonen moved to New York City and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He founded The Amoralists theatre company in 2006 and had many of his plays produced there. The company’s mission was “an honest expression of the American condition.” Ahonen’s plays often feature morally ambiguous characters.

Ahonen’s 2009 play The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side became a cult hit. His other plays include Happy in the Poorhouse, Pokin the Bears in a Zoo, and Pink Knees on Pale Skin. After he parted ways with The Amoralists in 2014, The Village Rep theatre in Charleston, South Carolina commissioned Ahonen to write The Transcendents. He wrote and directed a film adaptation of the play in 2018.