Extra ordinary people making un-ordinary theatre

read playbill.com’s feature on Karin McCracken

OFF-BROADWAY MARCH 20 - April 19, 2026 at DR2 Theatre

This one’s for the young hearts, the old hearts, and the broken hearts.

From the acclaimed New Zealand company EBKM comes a new comedy about grief. Karin McCracken is a woman navigating heartbreak and Simon Leary plays all the men in her life in this funny and moving show that is studded with lo-fi covers of classic breakup songs, bad dates and attempted fresh starts. It ingeniously incorporates science and technology to give us a holistic picture of heartbreak’s impact on our bodies and minds. You’ll want to cry. You’ll want to laugh. Welcome to the HEARTBREAK HOTEL.

Created by EBKM

Writer
KARIN MCCRACKEN

Director
ELEANOR BISHOP

Production Design
Filament Eleven 11

Sound Designer
Te Aihe Butler

Creative Producer
MELANIE HAMILTON

Cast
KARIN MCCRACKEN
SIMON LEARY

Tour Operator
PETE DAVISON

Booking Agent
Pearl Herbert for Aurora Nova

Karin
Mccracken

Writer, Performer
Co-artistic director, EBKM

Karin McCracken is an award-winning writer and performer based in Pōneke, Wellington, and the co-artistic director of EBKM, alongside Eleanor Bishop. Karin wrote and performs in Heartbreak Hotel, which has been presented at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, RISING Festival Melbourne and Soho Theatre London. She co-wrote (with Eleanor Bishop) the large-scale theatre show Gravity & Grace and Yes Yes Yes, a show for young people about healthy relationships. Yes Yes Yes has been presented in Canada, the USA, Germany, Iceland and Australia, and has been translated into Hungarian, Catalan and Welsh. Karin and Eleanor were the recipients of the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 2022, the first time in its history that it was awarded to a creative partnership. In 2025 Karin received a MacDowell Fellowship to write a new work for stage.

Simon
Leary

Performer

Simon Leary has been working professionally as an actor in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally since graduating from Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School in 2010. Film and TV credits include: The Brokenwood Mysteries, Dirty Laundry, Shortland Street, and Hilary.
Simon played the lead in A Very Good Boy directed by Samuel Te Kani which recently premiered in official selection at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. Simon has worked in over 30 plays at Circa Theatre in Wellington as an actor including Blithe Spirit, Transmission Beta, Cock, A Servant to two Masters, and most recently as Tom in The Glass Menagerie. He has performed with Auckland Theatre Company, The Court Theatre and Centrepoint Theatre. Simon is a core collaborator with EBKM, appearing in Heartbreak Hotel and the company's large-scale work, Gravity & Grace.

Eleanor Bishop Director

Co-artistic director, EBKM

Eleanor Bishop is a director and writer working across theatre, opera and film. As the co-artistic director of EBKM (with Karin McCracken), their works include Gravity & Grace, Heartbreak Hotel and Yes Yes Yes. Their work has toured to the UK, Canada, the USA and Europe and Yes Yes Yes has been translated into Hungarian, Catalan and Welsh. EBKM are the winners of the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award in 2022, the first time in the awards history it has been given to a partnership. Eleanor is a former Friedlander Foundation Associate Artist for NZ Opera and was a member of Jane Campion’s inaugural pop up film intensive “A Wave in the Ocean” supported by Netflix. Her first short film “GIRL TIME” recently premiered in official selection at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. She holds an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, USA where she studied as a John Wells Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar.