ABOUT ME
Storyteller. Educator. Mother. Partner. Collaborator.
I’ve been working as a freelance director, designer, actor, coach, and educator for 20 years. I founded and ran Youth Shakespeare Company for seven years which became a segue for running various educational wings. I’ve been the head of four educational theater departments and have sat on myriad artistic boards and collaborations. I love spending time with my children and find that I learn so much about the human experience that I fold into my work from watching them move through the world.
My Story I’m a Twin Cities based freelance director and educator, specializing in educational theater, monologue coaching and college preparation. I’m really interested in the relationship between an actor’s lived experience and a character’s narrative that they are embodying. I find that bridge exciting to explore. How do we carve away one personality to reveal another? Why is this character’s story relevant right now and what can we do to illuminate it’s relevance?
ServicesReady to tell your story? Let’s make some art! Feel free to reach out for a free consultation to discuss how we can collaborate or work together.
Theatrical Direction
Monologue and College Coaching
Text Coaching, Theatrical Consultation, or Workshops
Dream Plays
Emma adapted by Kate Hamill, by Jane Austen
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare
Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
The Wolves by Sarah Delappe
Thérèse Raquin adapted by Helen Edmundson, by Emile Zola
The Little Prince adapted by Rick Cummins
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
Alice in Wonderland
Any Chekhov
Any Shakespeare
(The Comedy of Errors, Two Gents, Hamlet, R&J, H4 pt.1, Macbeth, As You Like It, Twelfth Night are higher than others)
Dream Musicals
Heathers The Musical by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe
Urinetown by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann
Company by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth
Oklahoma by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein
Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell
Cabaret by John Kander and Fred Ebb
West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins
Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler
Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey
Oliver! by Lionel Bart
Matilda by Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly
Chicago by John Kander Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb
Sweet Charity by Cy Coleman Dorothy Fields and Neil Simon
Come From Away by Irene Sankoff and David Hein
Little Shop of Horrors by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman
White Christmas by Irving Berlin, David Ives, and Paul Blake
Meet Me In St. Louis by Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane, Hugh Wheeler
Hello, Dolly! by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart
TESTIMONIALS
“What sets Hannah apart is her unique ability to encourage performers to step into themselves fully, exploring character work with radical empathy and curiosity. I owe her the world, and anyone fortunate enough to cross paths with her is destined to experience a profound change in their artistic abilities.”
Chloe Mutebi • NYC Based Actor and Writer
“Hannah taught me to be bold, playful, brave, and thoughtful. She taught me to work harder than anyone, and not fear failure. She taught me to trust myself. I have worked professionally in Minneapolis and Chicago, and recently graduated with my Master’s in Classical Acting from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London where I now live and work as an actor. I know this all has so much to do with everything I was lucky enough to learn from Hannah over my 10+ years of working with her.”
Audrey Anderson • London Based Actor
“Hannah not only recognized my potential as a young artist, but she unlocked it through her extensive knowledge and intuitive sense of the craft. Her disciplined technique coaching, combined with her dynamic creative freedom, fostered a love of performing that I carry with me in everything I do.”
Spencer Levin • L.A. Based Actor
"Over my years of working with Hannah, I grew immensely not only as an actor, but as a student of theater, art, and life. She has equipped me with all the tools necessary for a career in theater, and has pushed me to heights I never thought attainable. Every rehearsal or coaching spent with Hannah was a new challenge confronted, a new lesson learned, and a new story told.
If you are looking to develop and grow in any facet of your artistic journey, there is no better guide than Hannah Steblay."
David Michaeli • Twin Cities Based Actor