Philip Kan Gotanda

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Philip Kan Gotanda
Born December 17, 1951 (1951-12-17) (age 56)
Stockton, California
Occupation playwright, filmmaker
Nationality USA
Writing period 1979-
Notable work(s) The Wash
Yankee Dawg You Die
Notable award(s) Guggenheim Fellowship
NEA Fellowship
Rockefeller Playwriting Award
Spouse(s) Diane Takei
Official website

Philip Kan Gotanda (born December 17, 1951) is an American playwright and filmmaker. Much of his work deals with Asian American issues and experiences.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

He was born in Stockton, California, and attended University of California, Santa Cruz, receiving a BA in Asian studies. He received a JD from Hastings College of Law. He resides in Berkeley with his actress-producer wife, Diane Takei, and their dog Mochi.

[edit] Career

Gotanda is considered a leading American playwright and one of the most prolific playwrights in Asian American theatre. Theaters where Gotanda's works have been produced include Asian American Theater Company, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Campo Santo+Intersection, East West Players, Manhattan Theatre Club, Mark Taper Forum, Missouri Rep, New York Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights Horizons, Robey Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and South Coast Repertory. Notable plays include Song for a Nisei Fisherman, The Wash, Yankee Dawg You Die, Fish Head Soup, Sisters Matsumoto and After The War. He has also written screenplays for The Wash (1988 film), and Life Tastes Good which he also directed and acted in.

Gotanda is a member of New Dramatists and co-founder of Asian American Musicians Organization. He is a Guggenheim Fellow, NEA Fellow, TCG Fellow and recipient of three Rockefeller Playwriting Awards. He has been Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

[edit] Plays

  • The Avocado Kid
  • Song For a Nisei Fisherman
  • American Tattoo
  • The Wash
  • Yankee Dawg You Die
  • The Dream Of Kitamura
  • Fish Head Soup
  • Day Standing on Its Head
  • Yohen
  • 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

[edit] Films

  • The Wash (1988) — screenplay
  • The Kiss (1992 short) — director, screenplay, actor
  • Drinking Tea (short) — director, screenplay
  • Life Tastes Good (1999) — director, screenplay, actor

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bio at his website

[edit] See also

Literature Portal

[edit] Critical studies

as of March 2008:

  1. From Ethnic to Mainstream Theater: Negotiating 'Asian American' in the Plays of Philip Kan Gotanda By: Dunbar, Ann-Marie; American Drama, 2005 Winter; 14 (1): 15-31.
  2. Die Imaginierung ethnischer Weltsicht im neueren amerikanischen Drama By: Grabes, Herbert. IN: Schlote and Zenzinger, New Beginnings in Twentieth-Century Theatre and Drama: Essays in Honour of Armin Geraths. Trier, Germany: Wissenschaftlicher; 2003. pp. 327-44
  3. Philip Kan Gotanda By: Randy Barbara Kaplan. IN: Liu, Asian American Playwrights: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Greenwood, 2002. 69-88.
  4. Philip Kan Gotanda By: Maczynska, Magdalena. IN: Wheatley, Twentieth-Century American Dramatists, Fourth Series. Detroit, MI: Thomson Gale; 2002. pp. 116-27
  5. Asian American Theatre History from the 1960s to 1990s: Actors, Playwrights, Communities, and Producers By: Kim, Esther Songie; Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 2001 Feb; 61 (8): 2998-99. Ohio State U, 2000.
  6. Yankee Dawg You Die by Philip Kan Gotanda By: Cho, Nancy. IN: Wong and Sumida, A Resource Guide to Asian American Literature. New York, NY: Modern Language Association of America; 2001. pp. 185-92
  7. Philip Kan Gotanda By: Ito, Robert B.. IN: Cheung, Words Matter: Conversations with Asian American Writers. Honolulu, HI: U of Hawaii P, with UCLA Asian American Studies Center; 2000. 402 pp. pp. 173-85
  8. Philip Kan Gotanda By: Hwang, David Henry; BOMB, 1998 Winter; 62: 20-26.
  9. Choice and Chance By: Siegal, Nina; American Theatre, 1996 Feb; 13 (2): 26.
  10. Fish Head Soup and Other Plays By: Omi, Michael. Seattle: U of Washington P; 1995.
  11. David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly and Philip Kan Gotanda's Yankee Dawg You Die: Repositioning Chinese American Marginality on the American Stage By: James S. Moy, Theatre Journal, Vol. 42, No. 1. (Mar., 1990), pp. 48-56.

[edit] External links


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