Hannah Manikowski

Hannah Manikowski

Originally from Georgia, Hannah is an award-winning new play artist who holds a BFA in Directing from the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University. As a playwright, Hannah's work arises from the often-paradoxical intersection of her Southern and her lesbian identities, and her sweet spot exists at the crossroads of "campiness" and "authenticity." She is most compelled by intimate,...
Originally from Georgia, Hannah is an award-winning new play artist who holds a BFA in Directing from the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University. As a playwright, Hannah's work arises from the often-paradoxical intersection of her Southern and her lesbian identities, and her sweet spot exists at the crossroads of "campiness" and "authenticity." She is most compelled by intimate, human theatre that is by and for women.

Hannah's work has been recognized and presented throughout the country. Her play, "earth's most customer-centric company," was the winner of the National 2018 - 2019 Judith Barlow Prize - advancing from her 2017 -2018 success, when her play, "Compensation," was named runner-up. She is an alumna of "The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals," Horizon Theatre's "Young Playwrights Festival" in Atlanta, and the inaugural "Tepper Semester Playwriting Program" through Syracuse University. Her most recent work, The Sunrise from the Moon, has upcoming readings through both San Francisco Playhouse and the MACH 33 Festival - a collaboration between Pasadena Playhouse and CalTech.

When not in the rehearsal room, Hannah can likely be found volunteering at the local rabbit rescue (it's a thing!), leading a yoga class, or subjecting an exhausted friend to an unsolicited conversation about her recent personality-test-of-choice.

Plays

  • The Sunrise from the Moon by Hannah Manikowski
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: LGBT, science-based + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, science fiction, tragedy
    Keyword: LGBT, science-based, love and loss, lesbianism, lesbian loneliness, space, the moon
    The year is 2096, and Annaliese Gardner, a refugee from the defunct Lunar Colony Montgomery, is returned to Earth and housed in the Georgia Aquarium’s jellyfish room.

    Mina Espinoza, a researcher from NASA, is assigned to Annie’s case. If she can extract from Annaliese what caused Montgomery’s failure and simultaneously mold her into something resembling a typical American citizen, she is...
    The year is 2096, and Annaliese Gardner, a refugee from the defunct Lunar Colony Montgomery, is returned to Earth and housed in the Georgia Aquarium’s jellyfish room.

    Mina Espinoza, a researcher from NASA, is assigned to Annie’s case. If she can extract from Annaliese what caused Montgomery’s failure and simultaneously mold her into something resembling a typical American citizen, she is confident she’ll win over the public opinion and reinstate NASA’s prestige. But the intentionally difficult, pointedly bizarre, and deeply traumatized Annaliese is wary.

    Intermittently (and overlapping-ly) funny and achy, The Sunrise from the Moon is an exploration of lesbian loneliness and the profundity of suffering that aims to interrogate where and why we situate our love.
  • Compensation by Hannah Manikowski
    Recommendations: 3
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: feminism, abortion + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: feminism, abortion, agency, LGBTQ, surrogacy, gay family
    Tara, a young, lonely woman, drops out of college unbeknownst to her mother and becomes a surrogate for Gabriel and Elliott, a well-established gay couple. Suddenly, Tara finds herself carrying not only their future child, but a terrible secret as well. Compensation is a dialogue about the complex systems that coerce women into outsourcing their bodies for income, the ethical implications of men purchasing...
    Tara, a young, lonely woman, drops out of college unbeknownst to her mother and becomes a surrogate for Gabriel and Elliott, a well-established gay couple. Suddenly, Tara finds herself carrying not only their future child, but a terrible secret as well. Compensation is a dialogue about the complex systems that coerce women into outsourcing their bodies for income, the ethical implications of men purchasing access to those bodies, and the profound yearning for family that drives these people to entangle themselves in these systems in the first place.
  • earth's most customer-centric company by Hannah Manikowski
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, satire
    ·
    Keyword: simple set, One-Act + 1 more
    Genre: comedy, satire
    Keyword: simple set, One-Act, 40-minute
    Teresa is an idyllic upper middle-class housewife, and she lives an idyllic upper middle-class life – except that her six-year-old daughter, Maddie, won’t speak: not to her mother, not to her schoolteacher, and not to her therapists (multiple – with an ‘s’!). Teresa’s only window into Maddie’s mind is the orders she places on Amazon.com. So, when new Amazon delivery girl, Nat, communicates with Maddie more...
    Teresa is an idyllic upper middle-class housewife, and she lives an idyllic upper middle-class life – except that her six-year-old daughter, Maddie, won’t speak: not to her mother, not to her schoolteacher, and not to her therapists (multiple – with an ‘s’!). Teresa’s only window into Maddie’s mind is the orders she places on Amazon.com. So, when new Amazon delivery girl, Nat, communicates with Maddie more effectively than Teresa ever has, Teresa is immediately defensive… but Nat might be just what Teresa needs to finally confront a deep and secret well of familial pain. A snappy comedy with heart, “earth’s most customer-centric company” argues that women, when given the chance to truly know each other, find we are more connected than our world encourages us to realize.
  • Screaming, Humming by Hannah Manikowski
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Lesbian, LGBTQ + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Keyword: Lesbian, LGBTQ, quirky, coming of age, slice of life, simple set
    Art school dropout, Heather, works at a pizzeria, where she must spend every agonizing cigarette break staring down the undeniably hideous mural she painted on the side of the adjacent building. Much to the chagrin of her co-worker and best friend, Stephanie, Heather has just moved in with her boyfriend, Michael - which is, of course, a whole thing, because maybe Steph knows what she's talking about, and...
    Art school dropout, Heather, works at a pizzeria, where she must spend every agonizing cigarette break staring down the undeniably hideous mural she painted on the side of the adjacent building. Much to the chagrin of her co-worker and best friend, Stephanie, Heather has just moved in with her boyfriend, Michael - which is, of course, a whole thing, because maybe Steph knows what she's talking about, and maybe it's time Heather figured out what she really wants.

    A lesbian coming-of-age story involving goldfish, dead-end-jobs, and the simultaneous beauty and heartache present in liminality.
  • ☆ Aug. 13 - first (and final) meeting of the tj-maxx dying dreams conglomerate?? details wthn by Hannah Manikowski
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: burlesque, Whitney Houston + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: burlesque, Whitney Houston, boy bands, eating disorders, discussions of suicide
    the evansville tj-maxx is scheduled for demolition at 6 am sharp on the morning of august 14th, 2018. interested parties who have been failed by family, friends, romantic partners, bosses, pets, and society at large are hereby cordially invited to meet in the tj-maxx's gutted halls the evening prior to demolition in order to spend a single night living the lives we could have lived, had we been born richer...
    the evansville tj-maxx is scheduled for demolition at 6 am sharp on the morning of august 14th, 2018. interested parties who have been failed by family, friends, romantic partners, bosses, pets, and society at large are hereby cordially invited to meet in the tj-maxx's gutted halls the evening prior to demolition in order to spend a single night living the lives we could have lived, had we been born richer or kinder or more talented. but probably just richer.

    the tj-maxx dying dreams conglomerate believes in quality of life over quantity of life. don't you owe yourself one good night as the person you wish you'd always been?
  • ...But a 24 Hour Diner by Hannah Manikowski
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: magical realism, angels + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, faith-based
    Keyword: magical realism, angels, Americana, liminality
    Following her deadbeat father's passing, fourteen-year-old Cassidy unwittingly connects with her deadbeat guardian angel - who just so happens to be working the night shift at the local diner.

    Think, like, It's a Wonderful Life - except not really that at all.
  • In the Cards by Hannah Manikowski
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Lesbian, LGBTQ + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, romantic comedy
    Keyword: Lesbian, LGBTQ, tarot, witchcraft, self-discovery
    Miranda has a cat named Booger, an ex named Miles, and an attitude problem.

    She also has a date with a cute witchy girl named Taylor, who might just hold her fate in those tarot cards she pulled. Or maybe not.

    Either way, Miles needs to get the fuck out of her apartment.