Bio/Contact
Hannah Hartmann McClaskey (H.H. McClaskey) is an NYC-based writer who identifies as a New Englander turned New Yorker with some Appalachian flair. Hannah’s journeyed from violinist to songwriter to actor to playwright, but she’s settled that the pen has always been her most profound and faithful companion (besides her husband, of course).
The short –
Hannah Hartmann McClaskey (H.H. McClaskey) is an NYC-based writer who identifies as a New Englander turned New Yorker with some Appalachian flair. Hannah’s journeyed from violinist to songwriter to actor to playwright, but she’s settled that the pen has always been her most profound and faithful companion (besides her husband, of course).
The statement –
Two statements sum up my work:
I believe light always beats the darkness.
I think the dirt is a remarkable place.
My love abounds for the places people pass by and the overlooked people in the dusty and dull corners of our attention. Call me a miner, a picker, a comber for every scrap of meaning in the places people cry out, "Useless! Meaningless!" Instead, I say, Beauty! Hope!
If you want to picture me rightly, set me in a dingy Northeast diner with two eggs over medium, rye toast, bacon, and a coffee. I know all the servers, and they ask about my mother. If you sat in the booth across, you and I'd end up talking about "the things we live and die for as if I knew you better than anyone else you may know" (Tennessee Williams).
Some have called it intensity. Others have called my eyes a winepress. But my husband thankfully calls it "The I-love-you brain." And as you visit with me in my work, know that I lovingly long to ignite a spark of deep thought in you. To consider: What is the meaning of your daily insignificance, failure, and fight? To take on eternally collective questions: What is grace, usefulness, elderly and youthful purpose, un-broadcasted self-sacrifice, dying well, and joy despite suffering?
But I promise we’ll face reality with levity, light, and relentless hope.
The honors –
She Goes Before Me – Semifinalist, The Clive Award, 2024
NIGHTJAR – Selection, Barter Theater Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights, 2020
NIGHTJAR – Nominated for Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2020
NIGHTJAR – Semifinalist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, 2018
MARBLEHEAD – Finalist, The Woodward/Newman Award, 2021
MARBLEHEAD – Semifinalist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, 2020
NATIVE – Finalist, The David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize, 2017
NATIVE – Semifinalist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, 2016
Louise Rockwell Scholar, Primary Stages ESPA, 2021-2022
BFA Drama, Honors Scholar, NYU Tisch School of the Arts
