Philip Kan Gotanda

Gotanda in 2012

Philip Kan Gotanda (born December 17, 1951) is an Asian American playwright and filmmaker and a third generation Japanese American.

Quotes

• I don’t think anyone understands the Asian Americans’ place amidst this white and black culture. There’s something very specific to being Asian American that other peoples aren’t getting, and we haven’t learned how to define it, even amongst ourselves. We’re the Other. We’re always the Other, we can be here forever and we’re still foreign. We’ve impacted the culture, but third, fourth, fifth, sixth generations and still, you walk down the street and someone will look at you, and you will be foreign. That is what disturbs me.
  • On how Asians might fit into the Black-White dichotomy in the United States in “Philip Kan Gotanda by David Henry Hwang” in BOMB Magazine (1997 Jan 1)

• To me, it’s always been a matter of: Do your homework and be committed to the extent that you can capture that world. I think I’m open.
  • On doing research in order to capture authenticity in “Philip Kan Gotanda by David Henry Hwang” in BOMB Magazine (1997 Jan 1)

• To me the play is never just the play but it’s the whole journey to it.
  • On the dynamic nature of writing plays in [https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/09/17/acclaimed-berkeley-playwright-philip-kan-gotanda-opens-up-about-his-mysterious-new-play/ “

• The play is my gut's response to stories that have to do with my own bloodline. I think it is a great luxury and adventure to be able to dive into one's own history, one's own lineage, psychology and story, and illumine and at the same time fictionalize it.
  • On his play Yachiyo in “Family Secret Revealed on Stage / Philip Kan Gotanda tells tragic story of aunt he never knew in `Yachiyo'” in SF Gate (1995 Nov 5)