Master / The Convention of Cartography

by W. David Hancock

Overview

Two plays from a wholly original artist that reach beyond the traditional boundaries of theater to engage in the tangible artistic landscapes of their invented subjects. In Master, Hancock creates the character of a 20^th century African-American artist called “Uncle Jimmy” Clemens, who left behind an enormous body of work for which he was never recognized, now on display in an art installation. The Convention of Cartography is a traveling art exhibit featuring the collected works of a nomadic artist named Mike whose work has posthumously been collected and installed in a pop-up museum. In these two works, Hancock explores the liminal spaces between language and silence, fiction and truth, and the known and the unknown.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781559369190
Publisher:	Theatre Communications Group
Publication date:	11/26/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook

About the Author

W. David Hancock's plays include Master, The Convention of Cartography, The Race of the Ark Tattoo, Deviant Craft, The Puzzle Locker, and Our Lot (with Kristin Newbom). Hancock’s work has been produced by the Foundry, Frontera, Clubbed Thumb, Rude Mechanicals, New City Theatre, Studio Roanoke, Salvage Vanguard, People’s Light & Theatre Company, Empty Space, Abbey Theatre (Dublin), Compagnie Elapse (Paris), and Théâtre des Carmes (Avignon). Ark Tattoo was recently installed at the Christian Bernst Gallery (Paris). Hancock’s fiction has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Hunger Mountain Review, Permafrost, and (with Spencer Golub) Chicago Quarterly Review and Pear Noir!. He has received two Obie Awards for Playwriting, the Whiting Award, and a Cal Arts/Alpert Award. Current projects include Cathexis, an interactive, robot facilitated judicial event co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, and created in collaboration with Compagnie Elapse and partners in Holland, Belgium, Serbia and Bosnia.

Editorial Reviews

"Disturbing...Powerful...the perspectival spirals and the formal riddles announced by the artwork before the play proper expand dizzyingly within it... The drama is something that seems to be leaking from the very forms so elaborately carpentered to contain it."

New York Times on Master

"One of the most arresting pieces I’ve seen... a tantalizing new wrinkle in the art of participation."

New York Newsday on Convention of Cartography

"Master is one of the most fascinating theatrical experiences you will see this season... a mind-bogglingly intricate and multilayered experience that delves into the issue of race in startling, chilling ways."

Theatermania

"A precious feast for all the senses, from the tactile to the analytical... and reminds us that the future is never unsurprising."

Village Voice on Convention of Cartography