SANKOFF, Irene

Sankoff was born in North York, Ontario, and double-majored in psychology and creative writing at York University, where she met Hein. After graduating, the couple moved to New York City in 1999 where he worked at a music studio and she studied at the Actors Studio and performed in theatres.

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 and her later life partner. Sankoff and Hein expanded the song into a play that became a hit at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2009 and then picked up by Mirvish Productions for a run at Toronto's Panasonic Theatre before touring Canada.