Both Eyes Open

“UC Berkeley professor and playwright Philip Kan Gotanda tells the story of a young Japanese American farmer who loses everything in Both Eyes Open, to be performed on campus Feb. 15 and 16.”

“Philip Kan Gotanda spent more than four decades as a filmmaker and playwright before he decided to try storytelling in a new format: opera. Gotanda, whose work focuses primarily on the Japanese American experience and World War II, was feeling creatively blocked; he was looking for a new approach to his work. With the help of a composer (Max Giteck Duykers) and a director (Melissa Weaver), Gotanda took on the role of librettist for his first experimental opera, Both Eyes Open…”

“Todd London interviews 2020-21 Legacy Playwrights Initiative Award winner Philip Kan Gotanda.

The Legacy Playwrights Initiative honors playwrights for their sustained influence on the American theater and gives renewed attention to their body of work.

The Initiative has five main components: 1) Two monetary Legacy Playwright Awards; 2) Advocacy and financial incentives for professional theatre production for the awarded playwrights; 3) New publication efforts and the reissuing of previously published plays; 4) Work to build awareness and opportunity within the theater field and in American universities; 5) Filmed interviews highlighting the careers of these Legacy Playwrights.”

As the Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action at colleges, Bay Area actors, composers, directors and arts leaders speak out.

The Wash, adapted from a play by Philip Kan Gotanda, this keenly perceptive drama focuses on the upheavals that rock a Japanese American family when the sixty-something Masi (played by Nobu McCarthy) announces she is leaving her conservative, emotionally neglectful husband, Nobu (played by Mako), after forty years together. As she finds rejuvenation in a new relationship, he struggles to move forward. Touching on issues of assimilation, generational conflict, and the legacy of the Japanese internment, The Wash is a moving and beautifully performed look at the intricacies of love in old age.

Now streaming on the Criterion Channel as part of its Asian American 80's film offering. Membership required to view but a 7 day free trial is available.

“The American Academy of Arts & Sciences announced its new fellows this week, among them six distinguished UC Berkeley faculty members.

The new UC Berkeley fellows are medical anthropologist Charles Briggs, philosopher John Campbell, neuroscientist Marla Feller, playwright Philip Kan Gotanda…”