Human First
Hannah Ervin's Journey from Apology to Authenticity
Hannah Ervin’s parents are therapists, which might explain why she understands something fundamental about performing: “Your humanness is not your enemy. Actually, it’s totally necessary.”
It took her years to learn this lesson. Growing up in competitive dance in Bloomington, Minnesota, she spent her childhood feeling “apologetic for who I was.” The dance world, with its relentless criticism and pursuit of perfection was tough. Then, in seventh grade, a friend pulled her into a middle school rehearsal of a play, which led to her auditioning for - and starring in - “Singin’ in the Rain.”
Everything changed.
“Theater was different from dance.” Ervin recalls. “I just got to try things without the pressure of doing it right.”
Ervin embodies complexity. A family revelation sent ripples through generations, eventually leading Hannah to explore her own Jewish identity at CCM through Hillel, even traveling to Poland to see where her family came from.
“I spent a long time feeling very ashamed for being complicated,” she admits. Now she sees it differently—complexity as strength rather than something to apologize for.
It was her parents’ support that shaped everything. They drove her 40 minutes each way to the performing arts high school in St. Paul when her local district cut arts funding. Her mother would drive her to school, then 40 minutes to Chanhassen Dinner Theatre where Ervin performed in “The Music Man” eight times a week for six months during her senior year. Her father would pick her up at 11 PM.
“Now that I’m older, I’m like, wow. You really gave up a lot of your peace for me,” she reflects.
That senior year proved transformative. Working alongside CCM alum Michael Gruber and other professional actors who’d been through the BFA process, she found mentors who helped her navigate college auditions. Her acting coach Marcus Guy, from her MTCA coaching service, was the one who convinced her to even look at CCM. The reputation for superb vocalists was intimidating. “I’m not good enough for that,” she told him.
The irony is striking, given what audiences witnessed in “Hair” last year—a performance that made her one of the standouts of the production. Yet even after that triumph, Ervin says, “I never really until very recently felt like a singer.”
She came to CCM thinking she was a dancer. Instead, she discovered something else: “I love everything. I love dancing and I love singing, But I really love acting. I just think it’s the most human part of what we do.”
This humanity came through powerfully in “Hair” and later as a swing in “Rutka” at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where she had to memorize entire scenes for four different tracks, remembering who said which line while dealing with heavy subject matter. The depth required for both roles revealed what she’s been cultivating over the last four years—not just vocal technique, not exceptional movement, but emotional truth.
Ervin has a rule: create something every day. It might be a new recipe, a journal entry, a poem, something on piano. This daily practice alongside her voracious reading habits—from Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” to Emily Henry and Donna Tartt–helps her process and decompress.
“I let a lot out with my words,” she says, whether journaling, talking to her parents, or curling up with her cat who “literally has changed everything for me.”
Her college journey has been about fighting her own humanness in order to “get better and hold my own in this industry that feels really scary.” But what she’s discovered, especially now in her senior year, is that trying so hard to be good is “the enemy of creativity and art.”
“Once you get to Broadway, you’re still you,” she observes. “You still have to sit with who you are, so you better be good friends with you.”
As she prepares for “And the World Goes Round” and shapes her showcase, Ervin carries the wisdom of someone who stopped apologizing for her complexity. She’s a therapists’ daughter, who learned that feelings aren’t obstacles to overcome but the very foundation of great acting.
“Stop trying so hard to be good,” she says now, with the clarity of someone who’s learned that excellence comes not from perfection but from embracing everything you are—complicated, human, and real.
Hannah Ervin appears in CCM’s production of “And the World Goes Round,” running December 4-6 at the University of Cincinnati’s Cohen Family Studio Theatre. Tickets available at ccmonstage.universitytickets.com.