The Cave Painter/The Woodcutter: Eight Plays

Dianne is a printmaker who derives her imagery from pre-history—Neanderthal teeth, the Jericho skulls, old bones. Too many people close to her have passed away, and her only son has rebelled by embracing a life of religious fundamentalism. The Cave Painter is a funny, moving one-woman show about being an artist and dealing with loss.

“Don Hannah has written a brilliant one woman play, a monologue… A whole life was lived, not just in summary, but with telling specific details. All it needed was a simple stage.” —Nancy Bauer, Telegraph-Journal, Saint John, New Brunswick

In The Woodcutter, a scruffy, exhausted man is lost in the woods at nightfall with only a few sentimental objects in his pockets. Alone in a clearing, he unloads his thoughts to the surrounding wilderness, ranting and raging, unravelling a story of a troubled past and of the family he adores, eventually coming to terms with the impossible truth of what he’s done.

“I am so glad to have read Don Hannah's two plays, The Cave Painter and The Woodcutter, and to again have his voice in my ear. He is one of my favorite writers. These plays are archeological excavations of the soul; theatrically intimate and emotionally urgent, these two dramas create a vivid connection between performer and audience. As always, his language is robust, his characters complex, and his empathy without limit. After reading or watching his work, we walk the earth with new skin.” —Paula Vogel, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning play How I Learned To Drive