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Hannah Moscovitch

ハンナ・モスコヴィッチ

Hannah Moscovitch

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1978-06-05 （Ottawa, Ontario, Canada）
Nationality
Canadian
Languages
English
Residence History
Toronto, Ontario, Canada → Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Career

Occupations
Playwright, Screenwriter
Active Years
2005-
Affiliations
Tarragon Theatre (playwright-in-residence)
Nominations
Siminovitch Prize finalist (2014, 2017), Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominee, Governor General's Award (past nominations)

Education

National Theatre School of Canada
Acting stream / Theatre / Acting
Country: Canada
Studied in the acting stream. Exact graduation year not specified.

Awards

Governor General's Award (English-language drama)
2021
Work: Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes
Category: Drama
Organization: Governor General's Awards (Canada)
Result: Won
Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (Drama)
2016
Work: East of Berlin
Category: Drama
Organization: Windham–Campbell Prizes (Beinecke Library, Yale University)
Result: Won
Trillium Book Award
2014
Work: This Is War
Category: Outstanding work of literature (Ontario)
Organization: Government of Ontario
Result: Won
Dora Mavor Moore Awards
2010
Work: In This World
Category: Best New Play for Young Audiences
Organization: Toronto theatre community (Dora Awards)
Result: Won
Dora Mavor Moore Awards
2015
Work: Infinity
Category: Best New Play
Organization: Toronto theatre community (Dora Awards)
Result: Won
Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award
2018
Work: Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story
Organization: Nova Scotia Masterworks
Result: Won
Toronto Theatre Critics' Award
2014
Work: This Is War
Category: Best Canadian Play
Organization: Toronto theatre critics
Result: Won
Toronto Theatre Critics' Award
2018
Work: Bunny
Category: Best Canadian Play
Organization: Toronto theatre critics
Result: Won

Awards & Nominations

Governor General's Awards 1 appearances
  1. Edition 86 (2021) Winner
    Work: Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes

    The archetypal student-teacher romance is cleverly turned on its head for the post-#MeToo era in this striking new play by the acclaimed author of What a Young Wife Ought to Know and Bunny.

    The archetypal student-teacher romance is cleverly turned on its head for the post-#MeToo era in this striking new play by the acclaimed author of What a Young Wife Ought to Know and Bunny.

    90 pages

Works

Major Works

East of Berlin

2007 Contemporary drama

A play about the legacy of the Holocaust, focusing on the child of a Nazi war criminal who travels from Paraguay to Berlin and meets the daughter of an Auschwitz survivor.

memory and historyguilt and redemptionintergenerational conflict

This Is War

2013 Contemporary / social drama

Depicts the lives of Canadian troops in Afghanistan and explores moral ambiguity, sexual harassment and the human cost of war.

effects of warethics and responsibilitygender and power

Infinity

2014 Contemporary / philosophical drama

A play about the nature of time and love, centering on a physicist whose theoretical questions intersect with a personal love story.

timescience and relationshipsphilosophical inquiry

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story

2017 Musical / music theatre

A music-theatre piece using humour and tragedy to tell refugee stories, exploring immigration, assimilation and memory.

immigration and refugeesmemoryidentity
Adaptations
  • [Stage / musical] Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story (2017)

Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes

2020 Contemporary / social drama

Examines power structures and sexual misconduct within the middle classes, depicting the intersection of private relationships and public justice.

power and harassmentsocial responsibilityjustice and relationships

Bibliography

  • Essay (2005)
  • The Russian Play (2006)
  • East of Berlin (2007)
  • In This World (2008)
  • The Children's Republic (2009)
  • Little One (2011)
  • Other People's Children (2012)
  • This Is War (2012)
  • I Have no Stories to Tell You (2013)
  • Infinity (2014)
  • What a Young Wife Ought To Know (2015)
  • Bunny (2016)
  • Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story (2017)
  • Secret Life of a Mother (2018)
  • Sky on Swings (2019)
  • Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (2020)
  • Post-Democracy (2021)
  • Fall On Your Knees (adaptation, 2023)

Adaptations

  • Little Bird (TV series; co-creator/co-writer)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Contemporary realist drama blended with dark humour and satireDialogue-driven, brisk pacing
Recurring Motifs
family and intergenerational conflicttransmission of memory and historyimmigrant and refugee experiencesboundaries of power and ethics

Legacy

A highly regarded Canadian playwright known for incisive works on social issues; a leading voice among a generation of playwrights whose theatre work has travelled internationally and who has expanded into television writing.

Academic Societies

  • Playwrights Guild of Canada (associated)

In Popular Culture

  • Broadened mainstream recognition through co-creating the TV series 'Little Bird'

Quotes

  • She has said she was "raised as an atheist" but that there is an "implicitly Jewish sensibility" to her plays.
    Source: Interviews / press articles (e.g. Toronto Star) (2007)

Trivia

  • Her father, Allan Moscovitch, is a social policy professor at Carleton University.
  • Her mother is a labour researcher; family active in left-wing politics.
  • Spouse: Christian Barry; they have one child.
  • Gained early notice at Toronto's SummerWorks festival and later international recognition for full-length plays.