David Hein

For the American professor and scientist, see David W. Hein.

David Hein is a Canadian librettist, composer-lyricist, musician, and actor best known for co-writing the Broadway musical Come from Away with his writing partner and wife, Irene Sankoff.^[1]

David Hein
Occupations	Librettist, composer-lyricist, musician
Years active	2000s - present
Notable work	My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding Come from Away
Spouse	Irene Sankoff

Early life and education

Hein was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. As a teenager he attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute in Ottawa where he developed an interest in Newfoundland folk music after hearing the band Great Big Sea.^[2]

Hein began his university studies at Carleton University before transferring to York University in Toronto, Ontario, where he met Irene Sankoff.^[3][4]

Early career and move to New York

After graduating, he and his fiancée moved to New York City in 1999 so that Sankoff could study acting at the Actors Studio while Hein worked as a musician and songwriter.^[2][1]

They were living in New York during the September 11 attacks, and Hein has said that the mutual support among neighbours after 9/11 later informed themes in ''Come from Away''.^[5]

My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding

After spending several years studying and working in New York the couple returned to Toronto where Hein wrote a song "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding", about his mother’s coming out and later marriage, which he performed at her wedding reception.^[2] Encouraged by the response, he and Sankoff expanded it into an autobiographical stage musical.^[1]

The musical premiered at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2009, where it became a sold-out hit,^[6][7] and then picked up by Mirvish Productions for a run at Toronto's Panasonic Theatre before touring Canada.^[8][9][10]

Come from Away

As a result of My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding's success, theatre producer Michael Rubinoff approached Hein and Sankoff with his idea about a show based on Operation Yellow Ribbon in which residents of Gander, Newfoundland, housed 7,000 airline passengers who had been stranded at Gander Airport as a result of the grounding of all North American air flights following the September 11 attacks, which became the musical Come from Away.^[11]

Following the success of Come from Away, in 2023 Sankoff and Hein were awarded honorary doctorates by Memorial University of Newfoundland.^[12]

Writing style and themes

Hein’s work, particularly in collaboration with Sankoff, draws on personal or real stories and is shaped by extensive interviews and community research.^[2][4] Their musicals often blend folk- and pop-influenced music with direct audience address and emphasise community, identity and belonging.^[13][14]

Personal life

Hein is married to writer and composer Irene Sankoff, with whom he frequently collaborates on musical theatre projects.^[15] The couple have a daughter.^[1] They divide their time between Canada and periods of work in New York and other cities where their shows are produced.^[16]