Hannah Benitez

Hannah Benitez

Hannah Benitez is a New York based writer/performer.
A Cuban/Jewish American, named 1 of 6 Theatre Workers You Should know by American Theatre Magazine.
Insta @hannahbenitezzz

COMING UP
The High Desert Play Development with Southwest Theatre Company at NM University.
"End of the Exodus" selected for workshop, reading & season consideration Feb-Jan 8,...
Hannah Benitez is a New York based writer/performer.
A Cuban/Jewish American, named 1 of 6 Theatre Workers You Should know by American Theatre Magazine.
Insta @hannahbenitezzz

COMING UP
The High Desert Play Development with Southwest Theatre Company at NM University.
"End of the Exodus" selected for workshop, reading & season consideration Feb-Jan 8, 2020.

UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS
After a recent trip to visit family in Havana, she's begun writer her commissioned play with music, "Gringolandia". It premieres with Zoetic Stage May 8-24 2020, slot TBA. *English & Spanish language.

Hannah has also starting working on a commissioned for Miami New Drama to premiere in their 2020/21 season.

RECENT
Her two-female two-hander "B1TC0N" had a reading directed by Hannah Ryan at Teatro Latea NYC.

Her all-female-cast play "Dike" was workshoped with The New York Theater Workshop for director Tatiana Pandiani's 2050 Fellowship project. Dike subsequently received further development and an 8-week run at Urbanite Theater

Her commissioned play "Ashe in Johannesburg" recently ran at Burning Coal Theatre in Raleigh, NC.

Her short play "The No-No Box" is published and for sale at http://www.infinitystage.com/10-minute with Infinity Stage, Sound and Film.

ABOUT
She was a recipient of the Playwright Development Program (2 year grant cycle).

She studied playwriting under Tarell Alvin McCraney & Marco Ramirez at New World School of the Arts High School.She subsequently received her B.F.A in Acting from FSU, where she studied playwriting under Sheri Wilner and Mark Wheatley (London Theater Academy).

Plays

  • Adaptive Radiation by Hannah Benitez
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: adventure, comedy + 5 more
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    Keyword: internship, millenial comedy + 8 more
    Genre: adventure, comedy, fable/folktale, fantasy, movement/physical, romantic comedy, science fiction
    Keyword: internship, millenial comedy, bromance, comicfantasy, magicalreaism, the woods, queer, exit pursued by bear, Shakespeare, wildlife
    Four millennials are catapulted into whimsical chaos by a strange, contagious, other-worldly spec of light.
    An energetic, alternative rom-com adventure. 90 mins.

    ​ "In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is the process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms."-science

    New York premiere with Denizen Theater
  • Ashe In Johannesburg by Hannah Benitez
    Cast: 
    6–7
    ·
    Genre: adventure, biography + 5 more
    ·
    Keyword: arthur ashe, sports + 8 more
    Genre: adventure, biography, docudrama/historic, drama, movement/physical, period, political
    Keyword: arthur ashe, sports, people of color, african dance, History, Tennis, 1970's, big cast, apartheid, South Africa
    1973. Johannesburg. The tail-end of apartheid. African American tennis champion Arthur Ashe journeys to South Africa despite being denied a visa and a wide-spread boycott of the country. He finds himself at a tea-party amongst the white South African elite, and in the middle of what becomes a legendary, history-changing debate.
    90 mins.
    Commissioned for Burning Coal Theatre, UPCOMING premiere Jan. 24-Feb 10th, 2019.
  • B1TC0N by Hannah Benitez
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller + 2 more
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    Keyword: Dystopia, futuristic + 2 more
    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller, political, science fiction
    Keyword: Dystopia, futuristic, net neutrality, female stage combat roles
    In the subtly dystopian future of 2060, media and internet is reserved for the privileged. Alexis, a top-ranked computer engineering student turned hacker, risks everything to bring free information back to the people. After the sudden death of her mother, she hunkers down in a basement for nine months, engaging in digital warfare with the government. Visited only by her step-sister Jessica, the two women...
    In the subtly dystopian future of 2060, media and internet is reserved for the privileged. Alexis, a top-ranked computer engineering student turned hacker, risks everything to bring free information back to the people. After the sudden death of her mother, she hunkers down in a basement for nine months, engaging in digital warfare with the government. Visited only by her step-sister Jessica, the two women challenge each other on what it means to be a true patriot. B1TC)N is subtly science fiction. So subtle that we question if B1TC0N is the world in which we are already living.

    An intimate, high-action two-character play.

    2 women
    90 minutes
  • Goy Toy by Hannah Benitez
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: drama, faith-based
    ·
    Keyword: Jewish, coming of age + 4 more
    Genre: drama, faith-based
    Keyword: Jewish, coming of age, parenthood, othrodoxy, divorce, teenagers
    Micah finally sneaks his girlfriend into his room after hours. Without a lock on the door, two teens attempt something they've been planning forever, only to clash against the very Judaic custom that tore Micah's parents apart years ago.
    *Explicit Content. Adult language. Mosh pits.*
    An aggressive challenge of tradition and family.
    90 minutes
    3 Ashkenazim characters and 1...
    Micah finally sneaks his girlfriend into his room after hours. Without a lock on the door, two teens attempt something they've been planning forever, only to clash against the very Judaic custom that tore Micah's parents apart years ago.
    *Explicit Content. Adult language. Mosh pits.*
    An aggressive challenge of tradition and family.
    90 minutes
    3 Ashkenazim characters and 1 mixed Ashkenazim/Asian or African American Actress
  • The Weight of the Water by Hannah Benitez
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: Latinx, religion + 8 more
    Genre: drama, mystery/thriller, tragedy
    Keyword: Latinx, religion, immigration, Cuban, hatian, Santeria, Afro-Cuban, Miami, racism, urban
    A Play. A Ritual.
    In the Miami area of Little Haiti, a Cuban immigrant struggles to free her cousin from servitude to a gang. Elements of Afro-Cuban mysticism propel the conflict forward, putting into question the reality, rules and world of the play.
    2 hours. Intermission.
    English, Spanish, Creole language
    *1 LatinX child (male or female)
  • The No-No Box by Hannah Benitez
    Cast: 
    2–4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Sisters, female sexuality + 2 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy
    Keyword: Sisters, female sexuality, coming of age, college
    Two young sisters; one home from college and the other trapped in high school, grapple over the mysterious disappearance of an embarrassing item.

    A 2-character 10 minute comedy
  • GringoLandia by Hannah Benitez
    Cast: 
    4–10
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
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    Keyword: bilingual, Cuba + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: bilingual, Cuba, roadtrip, brother sister, family, capitalism vs communism, developing nation, sex work, sex trafficking
    Returning to the country he escaped from 50 years ago, a man returns to Cuba in search of a family heirloom. Accompanied by his non Spanish-speaking son and fluent daughter, the family commences on a journey of closure, truth, and an examination of their cultural identities.
  • Death Benefits by Hannah Benitez
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: death, older woman younger man + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: death, older woman younger man, new mother, family, America's middle class, terminal illness
    A woman participates in a reality TV show in order to save her dying husband.
    He has plans of his own.
  • Whitewashed by Hannah Benitez
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: Jewish, Latinx + 7 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: Jewish, Latinx, whitewashing, plays about theatre and acting, Afro-carribean, Caribbeanwomen, Jamaicanwomen, diversity, blackface
    After finding a last-minute replacement for a play, a white male director finds himself at war.
    Who gets to represent your people? And more importantly, who decides that?
  • Dike by Hannah Benitez
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: queer, lesbianism + 4 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, faith-based
    Keyword: queer, lesbianism, all female cast, Catholicism, The Church, 20-somethings
    After two years of separation, a pair of sisters from an ecclesiastical family reunite to navigate the murky waters of identity. The four millennial women united by this reunion struggle for clarity in their most significant relationships; those with God, those with lovers, those with family. A wrenching exploration of love, sexuality, and sisterhood, Dike questions the walls religion and social conditioning build in us.
  • Gray Mare by Hannah Benitez
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    4–5
    ·
    Genre: drama, period
    ·
    Keyword: puppets, illiteracy + 3 more
    Genre: drama, period
    Keyword: puppets, illiteracy, family farm, family, developmental disability
    A dark period piece, reminiscent of a Lorca or Steinbeck story.
    On an isolated farm, a family struggles to adapt to famine.
    The arrival of an outsider propels a challenge of family structure, gender dynamics and education traditions.
    Puppetry. Graphic violence and explicit content.
    90 minutes