Philip Kan Gotanda to Direct Bi-Lingual Reading of His Play Yohen

Philip Kan Gotanda is set to direct a bi-lingual reading of excerpts from his play, Yohen, at UC Berkeley’s Durham Studio Theater, Thursday January 29 at 4 pm.

In the play, a divorced Japanese woman and an African American GI meet in post-World War II Japan and fall in love. After decades of struggle, they find the Los Angeles suburb they call home changing, and Gotanda explores how intimate relationships change with environment. The cast will feature David Moore as James and Ayako Nagaime as Sumi.

Presented in association with UC Berkeley’s Center for Japanese Studies and Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, this will be the first presentation of this work to be performed in Japanese and English. Gotanda is an award winning Berkeley playwright and film-maker and his other works include After the War, The Wash, Life Tastes Good, Sisters Matsumoto, Ballad of Yachiyo, and Yankee Dawg You Die.

For more information, call 510-642-1677 or visit berkeley.edu.