Jack Heifner is best known for his play Vanities, which ran for five years in New York and became one of the longest running plays in off-Broadway history. His is also the author of Patio/Porch, Natural Disasters, Bargains, Boys’ Play, Home Fires, Heartbreak, Comfort and Joy, Earth to Bucky, Bury Me In This and over thirty other plays produced in New York, Los Angeles and theatres around the world. Mr. Heifner has written the book to six musicals, including Leader of the Pack on Broadway and Vanities—A New Musical, which opened in New York in 2009 and London in 2016. He has also written for television and film.

Before joining the School of Art at Stephen F Austin State University in 2021, Mr. Heifner was the playwright-in-residence at the School of Theatre at SFA for twenty-five years. Along with teaching play, screen and television writing one semester each academic year, he also founded The Festival of New American Plays which brought major American playwrights and their work to Nacogdoches, Texas. He directed over twenty plays at SFA including The Seagull, The Member of the Wedding, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Stage Door, The Importance Of Being Earnest, The Skin Of Our Teeth and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Mr. Heifner is a member of The Dramatists Guild, The Writers Guild of America, Actors’ Equity Association and has been elected to The Texas Institute of Letters and The Texas Playwrights Hall of Fame. He lives in New York City.