Hanna Rovina

• Name — Hanna Rovina • Native Name — חנה רובינא • Born — 15 September 1888 • Birthplace — Byerazino, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire • Died — 3 February 1980 • Place of death — Ra'anana, Israel • Citizenship — Russian Israeli • Occupation — Actress • Spouse — Moshe Halevy • Partner — Alexander Penn • Children — Ilana Rovina • Illustration — Sol Hurok and Hana Rovina (1954)

Hana Rovina (Rubina) was born in Byerazino, Igumensky Uyezd, Minsk Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Belarus), to David Rubin, a timber merchant and Sarah-Rivka Rubin. She had one sister, Rahel and one brother, Zvi. She trained as a kindergarten teacher at a course for Hebrew-speaking kindergarten teachers in Warsaw (prior to the First World War). She had a daughter, Ilana, born in 1934, with the Hebrew poet Alexander Penn.

She began her acting career at the "Hebrew Stage Theatre" of Nahum Zemach. She joined Habima Theatre in 1917 just as it was being launched, and participated in its first production, a play by Yevgeny Vakhtangov. She became famous for her role as Leah'le, the young bride who is possessed by a demon in The Dybbuk by S. An-sky. In 1928, Rovina and the other actors of Habima immigrated to Mandate Palestine. Habima became the flagship of the new national theatre movement, and Rovina was recognized as the movement's leading actress. The image of Rovina in her role as Leah in the Moscow performance of The Dybbuk, in a white dress, with her long black braid, became an icon of the emergent Hebrew theatre. • Illustration — Rovina's dressing room at Habima Theatre Rovina took her acting very seriously and tried to live the life of the character, as prescribed by the Stanislavski School. Nisim Aloni wrote a play, Aunt Liza, especially for her and Rovina played the lead. Rovina made high demands of her audience. She frequently stopped a play in the middle if she felt that the audience was not attentive enough. In one instance, she stopped the play Hannah Senesh in the middle of a scene and told the teenagers in the hall to stop eating sunflower seeds. She remained active on stage until her death, in 1980. She died in Ra'anana, aged 91.

• Illustration — Hanna Rovina • Illustration — Rovina's room in Habima theatre, Tel Aviv • Illustration — Hanna Rovina in Mirele Efros costume by Yitzhak Frenkel