Hannah Free

Sharon Gless delivers a gutsy performance as an aging lesbian in HANNAH FREE, adapted from a play by Claudia Allen. After a long life spent working in Alaska and South America, Hannah is condemned to end her days in a Michigan nursing home. She carries on imaginary conversations with her life-long lover Rachel, who lies in a coma in another room in the facility. While young, Rachel had married a man who gave her children but soon died. Rachel and Hannah then shocked their Midwestern town by living together as a couple. Now, at the end of their lives, Rachel's religious daughter won't allow Hannah to visit her. Help comes in the form of a young student who plots Hannah's final reunion with Rachel. Author Claudia Allen writes, “Few plays are written about elderly lesbians. Fewer plays deal with their extreme vulnerability in a system that doesn't recognize our rights. I wanted to deal with those issues while also creating a love story about two women who loved each other for decades despite a few flaws and more than a few differences.” –B.B.