Irene Sankoff

Irene Sankoff is a Canadian playwright and lyricist best known, alongside her husband and creative partner David Hein, for co-writing the musical «Come From Away». The show tells the true story of the small Newfoundland town of Gander, which took in thousands of stranded airline passengers after North American airspace closed on September 11, 2001, and became a major critical and commercial success on Broadway and around the world.

Sankoff and Hein developed «Come From Away» after traveling to Newfoundland to interview residents and passengers who lived through the events, weaving their real testimonies into the show's songs and dialogue, including numbers like «Welcome to the Rock», «Me and the Sky» and «38 Planes». The musical was celebrated for its warmth, its folk-influenced score, and its ensemble-driven storytelling, earning the writing team a Tony Award and other major theatre honors.

Beyond «Come From Away», Sankoff and Hein have built a career writing musical theatre together, often drawing on real-life stories and personal experience to craft emotionally grounded, community-centered narratives.