Blake Hackler

Blake Hackler

Blake Hackler is a writer and actor originally from Texas. As an actor, Blake has appeared in productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theatres throughout the country as well as in TV and film. Most recently, his play What We Were, was named one of the winners of the 2017 Ashland New Play Festival. His play The Necessities was named Best Play of 2017 by the Dallas Theatre Critics Association, and...
Blake Hackler is a writer and actor originally from Texas. As an actor, Blake has appeared in productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theatres throughout the country as well as in TV and film. Most recently, his play What We Were, was named one of the winners of the 2017 Ashland New Play Festival. His play The Necessities was named Best Play of 2017 by the Dallas Theatre Critics Association, and is nominated for the prestigious Harold and Mimi Steinberg Award. Other productions include This Sweet Affliction – Yale Cabaret and Margo Jones Theatre, The Boss in the Satin Kimono - New York International Fringe Festival, 10 Reasons I Won’t Go Home With You (lyrics) – Midtown Theatre Festival, Winner Best of Fest, The Lady in Red – Gene Frankel Theatre, Mother Courage of Westchester – NYTE, Barry Horowitz: A Jewish Fantasia on Catholic Themes – Prospect Theatre and The Wasp Woman – a musical written with Phillip Chernyak. Blake was the runner up for the ATHE Playwriting award in 2015. He is a member of the esteemed BMI/Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Program, and is the recipient of the Harrington Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre Writing. He holds an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama and is a Fulbright Senior Scholar.

Plays

  • Enemies/People by Blake Hackler
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    6
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    Genre: adaptation, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: Henryk Ibsen
    Genre: adaptation, drama, experimental, translation
    Keyword: Henryk Ibsen
    A modern, loose adaptation of Ibsen's Enemy of the People set in West Texas. Tom, an intrepid urban planner, suspects that a new city-sponsored hot springs project may be more dangerous than the local government is willing to admit. But when Tom speaks out against the project, he is met with resistance from several unexpected sources. The divide between right and wrong proves to be anything but black and...
    A modern, loose adaptation of Ibsen's Enemy of the People set in West Texas. Tom, an intrepid urban planner, suspects that a new city-sponsored hot springs project may be more dangerous than the local government is willing to admit. But when Tom speaks out against the project, he is met with resistance from several unexpected sources. The divide between right and wrong proves to be anything but black and white, and Tom finds himself risking everything for a town that doesn’t seem to want his help.

    "It screams. It provokes. It maddens. It antagonizes." TheatreJones

    "Enemies/People is the perfect pinch of sizzle needed to amp up your already hot summer." Selig Film News
  • The Light Collectors by Blake Hackler
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    5
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    Genre: adventure, comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: Jewish, Fantasy
    Genre: adventure, comedy, dark comedy, fable/folktale, fantasy
    Keyword: Jewish, Fantasy
    Esther's quiet Brighton Beach existence is upended when a mysterious woman arrives at her door. It seems Esther's sister, Laila, has been kidnapped by a dybbuk, who's taking people's stories. Soon Esther is on her way to Japan to do battle with the dybbuk and her past. And she's going to bring Laila home, no matter the cost.
  • What We Were by Blake Hackler
    Recommendations: 7
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: sexual violence, Texas + 1 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: sexual violence, Texas, Sisters
    Set in East Texas over a span of 20 years, What We Were traces the lives of three sisters, Nell, Tessa, and Carlin, whose adult lives have all been impacted by a childhood of abuse.

    After disappearing 17 years ago, Tessa, the youngest sister, resurfaces. It seems she has spent her adult life on the run, moving from state to state and foster family to foster family, pretending to be a teenage...
    Set in East Texas over a span of 20 years, What We Were traces the lives of three sisters, Nell, Tessa, and Carlin, whose adult lives have all been impacted by a childhood of abuse.

    After disappearing 17 years ago, Tessa, the youngest sister, resurfaces. It seems she has spent her adult life on the run, moving from state to state and foster family to foster family, pretending to be a teenage girl. When Nell gets word that Tessa, now 35, has finally been found out, Nell must decide how much of her past she’s willing to face in order to save her sister.

    Weaving scenes from the past and present, What We Were is a meditation on responsibility, on what we do to cope, and on the very difficult work of healing.
  • The Necessities by Blake Hackler
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama
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    Keyword: LGBTQ, Battlestar Galactica + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: LGBTQ, Battlestar Galactica, Walmart, Texas
    The Necessities, set in East Texas, explores the universal and sometimes devastating search for connection. Debbie, a woman desperate to escape her past and make a new start, meets Peter, a former minister looking to do the same. They strike up a friendship that quickly grows into something more. But Debbie also meets Carly, a single mom and Reiki therapist. And Peter meets Ward, Carly’s 17 year-old son,...
    The Necessities, set in East Texas, explores the universal and sometimes devastating search for connection. Debbie, a woman desperate to escape her past and make a new start, meets Peter, a former minister looking to do the same. They strike up a friendship that quickly grows into something more. But Debbie also meets Carly, a single mom and Reiki therapist. And Peter meets Ward, Carly’s 17 year-old son, who thinks there’s a wormhole on the edge of the town that can transport him to another time and place. As Debbie and Carly become closer, so do Peter and Ward. But the center can’t hold, at least not in a town like this, and soon everyone will decide how much they are willing to give to get what they need.
  • This Sweet Affliction by Blake Hackler
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    7
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    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Based loosely on an actual event, This Sweet Affliction tells the story of Anna, a 17 year old girl stuck in a tiny town in Texas. With a mother that works 80 hours a week and a best friend who has defected to the "popular girls, " Anna longs for a way to be seen - to be noticed. When her one chance at getting out and moving on is dashed, , Anna decides to fake a mysterious illness, a choice that...
    Based loosely on an actual event, This Sweet Affliction tells the story of Anna, a 17 year old girl stuck in a tiny town in Texas. With a mother that works 80 hours a week and a best friend who has defected to the "popular girls, " Anna longs for a way to be seen - to be noticed. When her one chance at getting out and moving on is dashed, , Anna decides to fake a mysterious illness, a choice that brings her much wanted attention at first, but soon spins dangerously out of control. As her friends, family, and her own body turn against her, Anna is forced to ask how far she is willing to go to be seen.

    Using video, dance, and cheerleading (yes, that's right, cheerleading) This Sweet Affliction creates a face-paced mediated world that investigates our need to be noticed, at any cost.

    Workshop, Primary Stages, NYC - DRILLS Festival
    Finalist, ATHE Playwriting Award
    Great Plains Theatre Conference, 2016
  • Shekinah by Blake Hackler
    Recommendations: 1
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    Cast: 
    4
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    Genre: drama
    Genre: drama
    Raised from a young age to believe she is a servant of God, Laura now lives in seclusion with her mother in the middle of nowhere. When Aaron, a journalist who's writing a book about faith healers, arrives to interview Laura, he finds his ideas about faith and belief challenged in ways he never expected.