Philip Kan Gotanda


Philip Kan Gotanda is an American playwright and filmmaker and a third generation Japanese American. Much of his work deals with Asian American issues and experiences.
WWW Official Site

Life and career

Gotanda wrote the text and directed the production of Maestro Kent Nagano's Manzanar: An American Story, an original symphonic work with narration. His newest work, After the War, premiered at the American Conservatory Theater in March 2007. After the War chronicles San Francisco's Japantown in the late 1940s, when Japanese Americans returning from the internment camps encountered a flourishing African American jazz scene. A Japanese translation of his play, Sisters Matsumoto, opened in Tokyo with the Mingei Theatre Company.
Gotanda is also an independent filmmaker; his works are seen in film festivals around the world. His most recent film, Life Tastes Good, was originally presented at the Sundance Film Festival and can presently be seen on the Independent Film Channel. Along with executive producers Dale Minami and Diane Takei, he is currently developing his newest film, Inscrutable Grin, with their production company, Joe Ozu Films.
Gotanda holds a J.D. degree from Hastings College of the Law, studied pottery in Japan with the late Hiroshi Seto, and resides in Berkeley with his actress-producer wife Diane Takei. His play collections include No More Cherry Blossoms and Fish Soup and Other Plays, published by the University of Washington Press. Other published plays include The Wash, The Dream of Kitamura, Day Standing on its Head, Yohen, and The Wind Calls Mary.
Theaters where Gotanda's works have been produced include A Contemporary Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, American Place Theater Asian American Theater Workshop Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Campo Santo+Intersection, East West Players, Eureka Theater, The Group Theater, La Mama, Manhattan Theatre Club, Mark Taper Forum, Magic Theater, Mingei Geikidan – Tokyo, Missouri Rep, New Federal Theater New York Shakespeare Festival, Pan Asian Rep, Playwrights Horizons,Promenade Theater/National Theater – London, Asian American Theater Company, Robey Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and South Coast Repertory.
He has been Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Plays

  • The Avocado Kid
  • Song For a Nisei Fisherman
  • "Bullet Headed Birds"
  • "Jan Ken Po"
  • American Tattoo
  • The Wash
  • Yankee Dawg You Die
  • The Dream Of Kitamura
  • Fish Head Soup
  • Day Standing on Its Head
  • Yohen
  • In the Dominion of Night
  • The Wind Cries Mary
  • The Ballad of Yachiyo
  • Sisters Matsumoto
  • A Fist of Roses
  • Floating Weeds
  • Manzanar: An American Story
  • After the War
  • Under the Rainbow
  • #5 The Angry Red Drum
  • Child is Father to Man
  • Apricots of Andujar
  • The Life and Times of Chang and Eng – The Inescapable Truth of Love That Binds
  • Love in American Times
  • Body of Eyes
  • "Night Fishing". Podcast. Collaboration with composer David Coulter.
  • The Jamaican Wash
  • #CAMPTULELAKE
  • Rashomon
  • Pool of Unknown Wonders: Undertow of the SoulBoth Eyes Open Opera. Librettist. Composer: Max Giteck DuykersWest of Grove Street. A Play About Old Love. Dying. And The Crossing of Red Lines.

Films

  • The Wash — screenplay
  • The Kiss — director, screenplay, actor
  • Drinking Tea — director, screenplay
  • Life Tastes Good — director, screenplay, actor
  • The Other Barrio — actor

Awards and honors