Hannah Coffman
Interview Highlights
Theatre should not be therapy, but it is therapeutic. Art has the power to heal.
Theatre education should not involve commenting on peoples’ bodies. Ever.
Theatre can create meaningful social change if it can transform and evolve with the times.
The stories told in theatre - and the casting of those stories - should reflect the diversity of people in the world.
Diversifying leadership in regional theatre would create important change in the industry at large.
Find Hannah Online:
Website: www.hannahdcoffman.com
Bio
Hannah Coffman (she/her) is a NYC based actor, singer, mover, and creator originally from Fort Worth, Texas. She graduated with her BFA in Musical Theatre from Coastal Carolina University in 2019. Some of her favorite performance credits include Shelby Stevens in Steel Pier, Vivienne Kensington in Legally Blonde: The Musical, and Aquata in The Little Mermaid.
“Women and femmes, do not quiet yourselves. Speak up in rooms. Speak up for what you believe in. Write what you wanna write. Produce the work that you want to be a part of.”
Meet Hannah
Hayley: We are here with the amazing, beautiful, talented Hannah Coffman! Hannah, please introduce yourself, share your pronouns and tell us about what you do in theatre!
Hannah: I’m Hannah Coffman, my pronouns are she/her. I’m an actor, singer, mover – or “dancer lite,” as I like to say – and creator in theatre. I’m originally from Fort Worth, Texas. I got my BFA in musical theatre from Coastal Carolina University, graduated in 2019, and I’ve been living in the city building my artistic life ever since!
Amy: Can you tell us about how you came to theatre and your creative work?
Hannah: Theatre found me at a very pivotal time in my life, and I think that’s why it took such a hold on me. My brother passed away when I was in middle school, and right after that is when I took my first acting class. I felt really alone and like I didn’t have any connection to the people around me. I needed to find something to channel my emotions into and connect to empathy and community. During this crazy shit show of a time in my life, theatre was the thing that made me feel grounded.
I don’t think that acting or theatre should be therapy, but I think it is therapeutic. Theatre has continued to be a source of community and a creative outlet and a way to channel my energy and my feelings about the world. That’s always been the guiding light for me.
Amy: That’s so beautiful and so sad, but it speaks to the healing power of theatre.
Hannah: It’s real! Every time I get frustrated with theatre, its healing powers show through – the catharsis, the empathy – I think that’s the most beautiful thing about it.
Amy: Yeah! We heal ourselves, and by healing ourselves, we heal the world. I really do believe that.
Hayley: Hannah, have you had influential mentors in your career?
Hannah: I’ve been lucky to have a lot of women mentors. I’m so connected to feminine energy, and those are the people who have really guided me through. My first voice teacher, Cathy Lloyd, comes to mind. She was so much more than just a voice teacher. She was a mentor and a caregiver. Adolescence is so tumultuous, and she was such an important part of my life then. She was a big part of the reason I fell in love with musical theatre.
Hannah’s Current Work and Creative Mission
Amy: Hannah, can you tell us about what you’re working on right now?
Hannah: I’m in a show right now at the Laurie Beechman. It’s a queer show, and it’s super fun. Working on a new musical has reminded me to connect into myself as a creator.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do, what I want to be a part of and what rooms I want to be a part of. So often as women, we’re told we have to be perfect and fit into these boxes. We’re told if a project doesn’t meet a white male standard, there’s no point to it. So often, I talk myself out of my own creativity because I’m afraid it’s not going to be enough. Really, I have to trust my gut and my own vision. I have a lot of things to say and I know how to say them.
Hayley: What would you say is your creative mission?
Hannah: When I think about the rooms I’ve been a part of and the work that I’ve done that’s been the most meaningful…It’s in rooms where there’s an open dialogue and there isn’t much of a hierarchy. So much of everything in theatre is rooted in racism and the patriarchy. That gets upheld in the hierarchy of these rooms.
I’m really interested in deconstructing that hierarchy, because if we can do that, that’s when we can tell important stories. I’m interested in being a part of work that breaks down stereotypes and opens the door for voices of minorities, women, and queer people. In my experience in theatre, unfortunately, that has not often been the case.
If theatre doesn’t transform, it’s not going to have a future. Once the generation that wants to see the same production of Oklahoma five times has moved on, people of the younger generation won’t want to see that. I’m not interested in going out to the middle of Ohio and doing the same cis straight white version of The Music Man. That isn’t going to enact the social change that we need in this country.
Thoughts on Gender and Identity
Hayley: Hannah, have you had experiences in which your gender has limited the way you are perceived?
Hannah: Definitely. It’s something I’ve had a painful relationship with and I’m still healing from. Particularly in my education. The school I went to was a great program, I had a wonderful time there, but it was very flawed. Especially toward women and people of color.
I can only speak from my experience as a cis white woman, but even with all of the privilege my identities hold, there was constant pressure to limit myself. This ideology of pushing us to fit into this super tiny, perfectly packaged box – that’s not how anybody exists. Nobody fits into a box like that – even the most ingenue of ingenues. Why are we limiting people to these stereotypes? We are vast humans.
It happens disproportionally to women and femme people. If I had a dollar for every time I was told to lose 20 pounds in my theatre program, I would be a millionaire. Or for every time I was sat down and told that I would never work if I didn’t look exactly like this or sound exactly like that – it’s so damaging to women. To our self-worth, self-love, and our own self-image…
Especially being a queer woman, it bled into other aspects of my life. Constantly feeling that I’m not good enough, that who I am as a multi-hyphenate human is not okay, that I have to limit myself to this tiny box. I have to fit the mold of being a straight, “pretty” girl. I’m still healing from it. And it took me a while to come to terms with how that interacted with my queerness and my womanhood. Deconstructing the male gaze. So much of my education was filtered through the male gaze.
Amy: Thank you for sharing that. I know that you know this, but for anyone reading this: It should not be a part of your education to be told that you need to change your body.
Hayley: Or anything else about you –
Amy: That is not education and should not be a part of education in this country or anywhere.
Hannah: The only time that I was ever complimented on the way my body looked was when I had mono. I was sick for two months and could not eat.
Amy: So the message you get is that your sick self is your best self. And your looks are the only valuable thing about you.
Hannah: Right! And unfortunately, most women have experienced this. Why can’t we show more body types on stage? Aren’t we supposed to be reflecting life? Reflect the people who live life! We have every size, shape, color and everything in between! It’s never made sense to me that in casting, decision makers only want to see such a limited type of person.
Hayley: (sings in a funny voice) Because it’s a boys’ club and it’s profiting off of stupid fucked up patriarchal beauty standards that aren’t the way that we should be living our lives.
Amy: Is that our new theme song for Women & Theatre?
Hannah: I love it!
Amy: Hannah, can you tell us about your gender and your queerness and what womanhood means to you and how it fits into your multi-hypenate identity?
Hannah: Totally. I identify as bi. Right now, I still identify as a woman and feel confident about that, but who knows what the future holds. I’ve had a really complicated journey with my sexuality. Growing up in a very conservative, religious place put a lot of trauma on my sexuality and my identity as a woman. Unfortunately, a lot of my experiences in theatre have just reinforced those things. I’ve made so many leaps and bounds with it, but I am still unpacking it.
Deconstructing the male gaze and deconstructing the need to fit these norms or fit the hypersexualized version of women, especially in this industry, has been a journey. I’m very proud to be queer and to be open with my sexuality. I’ve had a lot of growth in healing from the shame that was placed on me as a child and an adolescent for being queer. I’m proud to be healing from that.
It’s made me think a lot about how queerness relates to theatre and how the stories that are told are just so straight-washed. Now that I’ve come to terms with my sexuality, the blinders have come off and I can’t look at anything the same way. From the movies I watch, to TV shows, to theatre. Why does it have to be straight? If it is queer, why does it have to be about traumatic queer events?
Hayley: Or two white cis gay men.
Hannah: Literally. Why can’t we see a more diverse range of queer people existing? I would love to see theatre get to a point where that is a thing more often.
Amy: We’ve talked about the ways that the theatre industry has limited you because of your gender. Can you talk about ways it has benefited you? What do you think women bring to theatre that’s uniquely valuable?
Hannah: I think one of the benefits is that in society, people who are socialized as women are more encouraged to be in touch with our vulnerability. Unfortunately, a lot of men look at that as a bad thing, but I think it is such a beautiful thing. It is such a disservice to men that they are shied away from that. Vulnerability is such an aid in theatre and in being an artist. The stories we tell are compelling because we see people be vulnerable. We see people tap into empathy and tap into other humans’ experiences. I think that’s a strength that women have. It makes me really proud to be a woman.
Hayley: I think people who are socialized as women build community in a unique way.
Amy: We say it’s a generalization and it is, but like you said, Hayley, it’s about the way we are socialized. If we are socialized to be better at vulnerability, of course we’re going to be.
Hayley: For people who are socialized as men, it’s not seen as “normal” to talk about your feelings, lean on your friends, build an emotional support network. There’s this idea that it is better to power through things alone.
It affects people who are socialized as men, and then it flips back and affects women and femmes again because when we are in positions of leadership, in roles that historically have gone to men, we are often expected to try to appear more masculine. To show no emotion. To do everything alone. The patriarchy affects women and men, and then it's reflected back onto women again when we try to fit ourselves into this structure.
Hannah: You hear women in charge talk about it all the time! The need to be like a white man when they are in a leadership role. The female approach to things can be different. And that should be celebrated.
Hayley: It should be considered a legitimate way to lead!
How to Improve the Theatre Industry
Hayley: Let’s talk about the change you want to see in the theatre industry.
Hannah: I think it has to start with the younger generation and on the regional level. When I was growing up in Texas, I didn’t have access to New York and Broadway. A lot of people only have exposure to theatre through their drama class in school and their regional theatre. So I think diversifying who is in leadership roles in those spaces is really important. Having more women, more queer people, more people of color, and being able to educate our children that way. It starts with diversifying the industry from the ground up.
Tourists are the main Broadway theatre-going audience. So if we can shift the needle in theatrical spaces in these smaller towns, it will shift what the general population wants to see, and producers listen to money. So let’s educate people with more perspectives. I think that would ultimately change society as a whole.
Hayley: Anything else you want to see change?
Hannah: Stop telling women how we need to be. What we need to look like. Women don’t ask for that, but we get it all the time. Stop doing that! Educators, don’t comment on your female students' bodies.
Hayley & Amy: Anyone’s bodies.
Hannah: Anyone’s! I just so firmly believe we need to see people of all ilks on stages and on creative teams.
Thoughts on Work/Life Balance and Lessons Learned
Amy: Hannah, how do you balance your creative work with the rest of your life?
Hannah: It’s something I’m still figuring out. When I was fresh out of college, I was getting up at 4am every day to go to every open call whether it was right for me or not. That was SO not the way to do it. The pandemic came along, and I was already burning out and I had only been in the city for six months. That taught me a big lesson. I don’t need to show up for every single thing. Quality over quantity.
Lately, I’ve been working on finessing the balance, because I have other jobs aside from theatre, and it’s always that struggle of, “How am I gonna pursue this and pay my rent?” that we all have to deal with. I’ve been focusing on the idea of following my joy. What makes me excited? Whether that’s the auditions I go to or the day jobs I’m pursuing. What is going to fulfill me in some way? If it’s not going to make me happy, what’s the point?
Hayley: Hannah, what’s something that you wish you had known at the beginning of your creative journey? What would you tell your younger self?
Hannah: Honestly just to trust myself. Throughout my life, I’ve had such a hard time with that. Trusting I know what I want. Knowing that I am enough as myself and not feeling the need to change myself to fit other people’s perceptions. When I was younger, I did that so much. I never felt grounded. I was constantly trying to make myself what other people wanted. So I would say to trust that you’re enough. It’s such a cheesy adage, but it’s true.
Hayley: We can always do well to hear that, especially as women.
Amy: One of the best things about communities of women is we can help each other with that. Hayley and I are constantly reminding each other to trust ourselves.
Final Thoughts
Amy: Hannah, what are you most proud of in your life?
Hannah: I’m really proud of this last year of growth I’ve had. It’s the first time in a long time that I can look at myself in the mirror and say, “I like you. I love you.” I’m still working on trust, but I trust myself more than I ever have! And I’m really proud of myself for putting in that work and being able to feel good about who I am as a person and what that means for my artistry and my everyday life. That’s not easy. I’ve done a lot of healing to be able to say I’ve made a good life for myself. It’s not what I thought it was going to be when I was 18, but I wouldn’t want that now.
Amy: We’re proud of you too.
Hayley: Anything else you want to share?
Hannah: Women and femmes, do not quiet yourselves. Speak up in rooms. Speak up for what you believe in. Write what you wanna write. Produce the work that you want to be a part of. I’m saying this as much for myself as I am for every other femme-identifying person, because we are silenced so much in this society, and fuck that. Speak up.
Amy: Thank you so much, Hannah.
Hannah: Thank you both, this was so lovely.
