LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND INVITATION TO CONTEMPLATE RESTORATIVE ACTION
Hannah Rittner She/Her was born and raised in the unceded territory of Tkaronto, the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, and the Haudenosaunee and now the current home to many diverse First Nations including Inuit and Métis peoples. She is incredibly grateful to work, live, and create on Turtle Island. She recognizes that these gestures of commemoration and remembrance are only small steps towards greater legislative and systematic change that must be done.
Before proceeding into the rest of her website, if you have the capacity, she invites you to donate to the Centre for Indigenous Theatre to acknowledge that providing fair resources to past, present, and future indigenous storytellers is a huge part of ensuring a healthy future for Turtle Island and all the beings that coexist here. Thank you for considering a donation and for taking a moment to pause and reflect on how you may help in healing the future for all beings here.
BIO
Growing up, Hannah would often be found undressing barbies, cutting up their clothes to make ‘new ones’, and covering up her mistakes with sparkly glue. Either that or coming up with one-woman shows. Her father, an educator always encouraged her to be independent, while her social worker mother inspired her to speak her mind. This generated the perfect storm of imagination and a passion for storytelling. She is grateful that she now has the opportunity to share this passion through her movies and plays.
Hannah is a member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America, and is an associate member of Women in Film & Television Toronto. Her works have been developed by leading American and Canadian institutions including: The Stratford Festival, Nightwood Theatre, The Globe Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, NYU’s Musical Theatre Department, and the University of Calgary. She is a graduate of NYU’s acclaimed MFA in Dramatic Writing where she received Distinct honours. Her play Elijah is the winner of the 2019 Canadian Jewish Playwriting Prize and on the 2022 Surefire List.
She is the 2023 playwright-in-residence at the Herald Green Jewish Theatre. To read more about the residency and her works in development head to her PLAYWRIGHT-IN-RESIDENCE PAGE.
Photo by Justine Nelson
Creative Statement
BY HANNAH RITTNER
I write what I want to see—on stage and on screen. My work is sensual, mystical, and grounded in massive desires. It is Jewish, unabashedly feminist, and queer.
My influences are wide: from the surreal pros of Clarice Lispector to the chatty longings of Nora Ephron. I like to create work that makes people feel as deeply as they think. My favourite artists range from Lulu Wang, Céline Sciamma, and Amy Sherman-Palladino—humour and poetry for me often exist in the same breath. I admire creators that finely balance profound sincerity with existential dread. For what is a Jewish writer without some uncontrollable anxiety? (and in this case, female rage).
Drawn to sprawling narratives that make statements on the effects of time, I write about women I have never seen before conquering epic things from wars to death itself. Whether it be a Sci-Fi dystopia or a queer-commune in Nova Scotia — my worlds are as vast as my characters.
I write about the risks that take place when brilliant women dare to bet on themselves and their dreams. I remain obsessed with love and its transformative power and believe this obsession is ultimately what makes my work accessible, for love touches us all. From my work you will be submerged in rich worlds with characters that feel and want things deeply.
Even when making people laugh, I take the pursuit of storytelling seriously, for in it lies the power to make people feel less alone within the chaos and the surprising beauty of the human experience. I am eternally grateful for the opportunities I have had thus far as a storyteller and cannot wait to move and inspire more people with my work.
So many beautiful things to share with you in the coming months, a potential TV pilot, a new play (or two), and a feature. 2023 is surely to be an exciting year filled with promise.
Thank you for visiting.
