Playwriting Masterclass with Philip Kan Gotanda
Theatre Diaspora Presents: Playwriting Masterclass with Philip Kan Gotanda
Philip Kan Gotanda will teach a playwriting master class as part of the Dramatists Guild Fund’s Traveling Masters Program. This prestigious national outreach program brings prominent dramatists into communities across the country to lead master classes, workshops, talkbacks, and other public events.
Philip Ken Gotanda’s plays and adovacy for the past 30 years have been instrumental in bringing stories of Asians in the United States to mainstream American theatre, as well as to Europe and Asia. The creator of one of the largest bodies of Asian American themed work, Gotanda’s plays and films are studied and performed at universities and schools across the U.S.
Challenges of Writing From a Racial and Cultural Perspective
Using the experience of writing his play After The War Blues, Kotanda will discuss his own personal views on race and culture. He'll look at how the post-World War II San Francisco setting provided a unique moment in American history of intersection between two deeply disenfranchised groups – Japanese Americans and African Americans.
He will discuss the challenges of writing from a racial and cultural point of view other than his own and writing stories that purposefully de-center the widely accepted Black and White binary to open the discussion to other minoritarian intersections.
The playwright will also show slides from two of the productions and draw from his experiences working on the American Conservatory Theater and UC-Berkeley productions.
Additional Events: MediaRites’ Theatre Diaspora presents the Oregon premiere of After the War Blues by Philip Kan Gotanda, directed by Bobby Bermea and Jamie Rea at Portland State University’s Lincoln Hall June 4 & 5, 1:30pm. More information and tickets here.
Masterclass with Philip Kan Gotanda
Friday, June 3, 2016
5:30-7:00 PM
Portland Center Stage Vigeland Rehearsal Hall
128 NW 11th Avenue
Portland, OR 97209
Price: Free!
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