John D. Hancock
| John D. Hancock | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 12, 1939 Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Director, producer, screenwriter |
John D. Hancock (born February 12, 1939) is an American stage and film director, producer and writer. He is perhaps best known for his work on Bang the Drum Slowly. Hancock's theatrical work includes direction of both classic and contemporary plays, from Shakespeare to Saul Bellow.
John was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Ralph and Ella Mae Rosenthal Hancock. His father was a musician with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, Illinois, and his mother a schoolteacher. Hancock spent his youth between their home in Chicago and their fruit farm in La Porte, Indiana. In high school, he was the Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Youth Orchestra playing the violin.
Hancock graduated from Harvard University. He continued his theatrical studies in Europe with a grant from Harvard and observed Bertolt Brecht's Berliner Ensemble.
He made his directorial debut at age 22 with the Off-Broadway hit production of Bertolt Brecht's Man Equals Man. This was followed by Robert Lowell's Endicott and the Red Cross. In 1968, Hancock directed Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which won him the Obie Award for Distinguished Director for the 1967–68 season.Cue Magazine noted, "This brutal, vulgar and erotic production of Shakespeare's sex fantasy is the most original and arresting I've ever witnessed. This is the best of all the Dreams and an important pioneering effort in re-interpreting the play."
Hancock's success on the New York stage led to his appointment as Artistic Director of the famed San Francisco Actor's Workshop in 1965. He later was appointed Artistic Director of the Pittsburgh Playhouse and The New Repertory Theatre in New York City.
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