Irene Sankoff and David Hein Book, Music and Lyrics
IS: A couple of weeks before everything shut, something tipped me off that things were not going to be good. I called one of our co-producers who is a doctor and who was in Toronto during SARS, Allan Detsky, and he was like, “Yeah, this is not going to be good.”
We started to hear that they were going to close our daughter’s school before March break. We didn’t realize she is never going back to that school.
DH: It was heartbreaking on a million levels: losing our community and our lives in New York City after three years living there.
When Prime Minister Trudeau said it was time for all Canadians to come home, we rented a car, we put our daughter and our two cats in it and as much as we could carry, and got an Airbnb in Toronto.
IS: We were still ahead. People were like “the cats?” and I was like, “Give it a day or two.” We moved four or five times since we’ve been back and are in Newmarket now. My mom is in long-term care here. They had an outbreak, but Mom didn’t get sick. We helped with sourcing PPE and went to her window to see her. Now, once a week, we are able to sit on a patio with her.
If you had said to me seven months ago that I’d buy a house in Newmarket, I’d say you were crazy.
DH: When we left we were about to celebrate the threeyear anniversary of “Come from Away” on Broadway. That was cancelled at the last minute; it wasn’t safe for us to come together. Many of our cast and crew have got sick with coronavirus; luckily they’ve had mild cases.
It’s been a relatively soft landing for us. We’re near friends and families. There are thousands of people who’ve worked in all five companies of the show. What you see onstage is 12 actors and eight musicians, but that’s just the tip of the Newfoundland iceberg. There are concerns about people not being able to pay their rent, being scared about that. We’re trying to make sure that everyone is able to apply to the Actors Fund and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and that we can support them through those and other organizations.
IS: I am getting emails from people on our press and marketing teams, saying “I’m no longer working for our firm … this was not the way I thought I was going to leave your show.”
DH: We’re incredibly proud of Canada’s response in flattening the curve, especially out in Newfoundland. That continues to inspire us and our entire company — the level of what you can do in the time of crisis.
IS: In terms of work, we have our (seven-year-old) daughter at home with us, it’s challenging. She is handling it remarkably well, but at the same time we’ve noticed that there are signs of anxiety, of everything having changed so much.
DH: There are so many “kids from away” in our companies — so many artists trying to school at home. The balance for us is that there are wonderful moments. We’ve started cooking more, we’re around the table a lot more, more time as a family.
IS: I worry about women in the arts. I have got a lot of female friends in high positions who have to make the decision, or had the decision made for them, to leave their jobs in the arts to care for their families. I worry about what this is going to do in terms of representation of women.
DH: There is this circuitous feeling of being behind, of being unproductive. We’ve turned in a draft of the “Come From Away” movie, that’s exciting. There are countless more projects and meetings.
IS: I have this sign I’ve put up, that says you’re only unproductive by the old standards, and that world has changed.
DH: I don’t think that anyone doubts that theatre will come back. The question is how and when.
People want to be in the same room; it is a unique experience integral to humankind for thousands of years. Maybe I shouldn’t be quoting “Jurassic Park,” but life finds a way. Theatre finds a way. We can’t wait for that.