Ms. Irene Sankoff

  • Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

Meritorious Service Decorations - Civil Division

  • Meritorious Service Cross

    • Awarded on: April 4, 2018
    • Invested on: December 07, 2023

    David Carl Hein, M.S.C.
    Irene Sankoff, M.S.C.
    New York, New York, United States of America
    Michael Rubinoff, M.S.C.
    Toronto, Ontario

    David Hein and Irene Sankoff are the creators of Come From Away, the wildly successful Broadway musical based on the story of airline passengers who were stranded in Gander following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Michael Rubinoff, artistic director and founder of the Canadian Music Theatre Project at Sheridan College, is one of the producers. He proposed the concept of a musical based on those events, which was then brilliantly written by Mr. Hein and Ms. Sankoff. The production has shone a light on the Newfoundlanders’ hospitality and has shared with the world a little-known tale of kindness and generosity in the face of overwhelming tragedy.