Writing

Hannah Irene Rubenstein is a poet, playwright, essayist, and journalist. She aims to create work that captures complex coexistences in everyday life: humor and grief, isolation and community, past and present. Her work has been published in the Broadway News, Michigan Public, Juilliard Journal, Bicoastal Review, Meliora, Laurel Moon, and Communicator, among others. For more details about her published, completed, and ongoing projects, click on the desired genre.

  • Hannah recently completed an intensive poetry course with Oxford University, where she was mentored by poet Jacqueline Saphra. Her poetry grapples with themes of personal and environmental loss, form and function, and cycles of history and generational grief.

    Published work:

    For you, always” - Featured in Robin Speth’s Down Looking Up - a collection of drawings, writings, & whales

    My Own Voyeur” - Bicoastal Review, Issue 4, February 2024

    The Lake” - Laurel Moon, Fall 2020-Spring 2021

    The Window I” - Laurel Moon, Fall 2020-Spring 2021

  • Hannah writes essays that deal with personal history, popular culture, and the relationship between past and present. Her essays cover a wide range of topics, from generational grief, to Joni Mitchell, to semi-spiritual encounters with strangers on the streets of New York, to friendship formed through a shared love for Taylor Swift. Her academic essays typically focus on topics of intersectional identity, performance theory, and theater and literary history.

    Published works:

    Toward a Third Side” - Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine, issue #22 (Spring/Summer 2025)

    "What are revivals for?" (On the 2024 Broadway Cabaret Revival) - Broadway News, July 29, 2024 (accessible PDF version here)

    Representing Shylock: The Performance History of Shakespeare’s Jew as an Indicator and Instigator of Cultural Change” - Meliora, vol. 1 no. 2 (Winter 2021-Spring 2022)

  • Hannah’s journey as a theatermaker and budding playwright has led her to work with organizations including the Juilliard School Drama Division, the New York Neo-Futurists, and Theatre for a New Audience, among others. Her work deals with themes of loss (both personal and global), grief, childhood, memory, and community. Please reach out to Hannah with any inquiries about her work.

    Plays:

    We Drift In and Out - 3F/2M. Ella and Sebastian are caught in a loop of meet-cutes—on a plane, in their apartments, in the Times Square Toys R Us Barbie Dream House. Is it the universe drawing them together? In a parallel timeline, Jess is a recently-dumped, part-time pizza place employee, and to make matters worse, her parents are coming to visit. As Jess reconnects with her family, these stories intertwine to reveal buried truths about love, memory, and sisterhood, in this ensemble comedy with a beating, bleeding heart.

    Wonder/Land - Immersive monologue. Curiouser and curiouser! Follow us down the rabbit hole to explore our individual and collective relationships with our natural and built environments. Lose control and embrace chaos in this multimedia, interactive performance piece that allows us to rediscover a childlike sense of wonder. Also, there are volcanoes. Remember, to wonder is to ask questions, not to find answers. (Premiere: February 2024, Barnard Movement Lab)

    All the Lonely People - Large ensemble/flexible casting. A collection of intertwining vignettes inspired by the music of The Beatles, ranging from surreal movement pieces to grief-stricken monologues to slapstick comedy.

  • Hannah is a journalist who loves to build relationships with interviewees and get to the heart of stories through conversations. She has written for publications including Broadway News, Michigan Public, and the Juilliard Journal.

    Selected published works:

    Two-part series on the cultural differences between producing on Broadway and in the West End: Part 1 and Part 2 - Broadway News (PDFs of Part 1 and Part 2)

    The rise of box office opening events” - Broadway News (PDF here)

    Raymund Returns for 4th-Year Films” - The Juilliard Journal

    Exploring Artistic Aspirations” - The Juilliard Journal

    Picturing Classmates” - The Juilliard Journal

    Report: Michigan doesn't need Line 5 for propane” - Michigan Public

    John Engler to testify about Nassar sex abuse scandal before Congress” - Michigan Public

    GAO report: After Flint, fewer than half of U.S. schools test for lead in drinking water” - Michigan Public

    Ann Arbor Demands Justice for Flint” - The Communicator (pages 6-9)

    Housing Built to Last” - The Communicator