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Berkeley Writers at Work

Wed Oct 28, 2020 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Virtual
Philip Kan Gotanda to be Featured Wednesday, October 28, in Berkeley Writers at Work Series on Zoom Philip Kan Gotanda, Professor of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, will be the featured writer in the Fall 2020 Berkeley Writers at Work Series. The event will take place on Zoom. Advance registration is required. Professor Gotanda is the author of dozens of plays, including The Wash, Song For a Nisei Fisherman, Yankee Dawg You Die, Ballad of Yachiyo, Yohen, and Fish Head Soup. His plays have been produced widely, at such theaters as American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, East West Players, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, and South Coast Repertory, to name just a few. He wrote and directed the films Life Tastes Good, Drinking Tea, and The Kiss, all presented at the famed Sundance Film Festival. His most recent project is the opera Both Eyes Open, which explores the psychological abuse interned Japanese-Americans experienced during World War II and suggests paths towards healing. Mr. Gotanda has specialized in investigating the Japanese American family, writing a cycle of works in theater, film, song, and opera that chronicle Japanese America from the early 1900s to the present. Mr. Gotanda holds a law degree from Hastings College of Law, and studied pottery in Japan with the late Hiroshi Seto. He has been awarded numerous prizes and fellowships including the Guggenheim Award, the National Endowment for the Arts – Theater Communications Playwriting Award, Asian American Theater Company Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Chinese for Affirmative Action Award. The Berkeley Writers at Work series provides a venue for campus writers to talk about their writing process, from getting ideas, to drafting, to revising. Professor Gotanda will read from his work, be interviewed about his writing process, and answer questions from the audience. The event is free and open to the public. For more information on Berkeley Writers at Work and how to register for this year’s virtual event, visit https://writing.berkeley.edu/resource/berkeley-writers-work.