Bilingual play explores race, love and struggle

On January 29, playwright Philip Kan Gotanda will direct a bilingual Japanese-English reading of excerpts from his play “Yohen,” followed by a discussion with the playwright and actors. The reading will be performed by Mrs. Ayako Nagaime and Mr. David Moore. Gotanda is currently artist-in-residence at UC Berkeley for the spring ‘09 semester.

The reading of Yohen is presented by UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) in association with UC Berkeley’s Center for Japanese Studies and Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. Gotanda’s residency at UC Berkeley is made possible with support from the Arts Research Center.

In Yohen, 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 have found an accepting Los Angeles suburb to call home - but their peaceful world is changing. More than a study of clashing cultures, Yohen is the poetic, resonant story of two partners who discover that intimate relationships change with environments - and love, however time-tested, is never constant.

Yohen premiered in 1999 in Los Angeles as a co-production of the East West Players and the Robey Theatre Company, featuring Danny Glover as James and Nobu McCarthy as Sumi. The play has been widely produced, but the upcoming reading at UC Berkeley will be the first time that the play will performed bilingually in Japanese and English.

Philip Kan Gotanda is a widely influential playwright and independent film-maker. His innovations in theatrical storytelling bring to the stage a multiplicity of voices, expanding the meaning of “Asian-America” and exploring intercultural exchange and alliance. He is the recipient of multiple honors and awards, including the Guggenheim, Rockefeller, PEW Charitable Trust, and the Civil Liberties Education Fund.

Gotanda, a Berkeley resident, has collaborated with many local, national, and international theater companies, such as the East West Players, A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and Campo Santo+Intersection, as well as London’s Gate Theatre and Tokyo’s Mingei Theatre. His plays include After the War, The Wash, Life Tastes Good, Sisters Matsumoto, Ballad of Yachiyo, and Yankee Dawg You Die. A collection of his works is forthcoming from the University of Washington Press.

Tickets and more information see the UC Berkeley Theatre Dept. website.

A Look Inside Baraka’s Toilet

By Marvin X

By definition a classic is a work that withstands the test of time, fad, beyond the ephemeral. A classic theme deconstructs one or more of the eternal concerns of humanity, love, hate, life and death, or the problems of life that never seem to get solved even when the solution is quite apparent. The simple solution to hate is love, so simple we must revisit the question and solution from time to time.

Almost forty-five years ago, Amiri Baraka examined the themes of racism and homophobia in his one-act play The Toilet. The set is a high school men’s room, wherein he gathers a group of young men to decipher the meaning of love and hate. Mostly black, the young men appear to be at an urban manhood training rite.

We see a myriad personalities expressing themselves in the rhythm and rhymes of the time-there are no pants sagging, no grills in teeth, but they are there seeking to discover their manhood, racial and sexual identity. [Read more]

Dame Edna is Back for the Holidays

By Ilana Wherry

Dame Edna, the lilac-tressed Australian giga-star is back in fine fettle in the city that launched her American career.

Creator Barry Humphries’ satiric characterization of a suburban Melbourne housewife has come a long way since her debut in 1955.

Ever the variety act, and enabled by strategic use of entertaining video clips bringing us up-to-date “Edna-ology”.

Edna sings, dances, performs monologues, gives us a sampling of her TV talk show, performs a wedding on-stage with willing audience participants, and introduces daughter Valmai (Erin-Kate Whitcomb), ably aided and abetted by pianist Andrew Ross.

Dame Edna is a hilarious family treat for the holidays. Come see for yourself and bring your friends, family and neighbors again and again.What a lovely gift for the holiday season from our favorite giga-star Dame Edna! Post Street Theatre, San Francisco, through Jan. 4.

Laney College to Present “The Piano Lesson” By August Wilson

By Post Staff

“The Piano Lesson,” an award winning play by August Wilson, will be presented next weekend by Laney Theater Arts and the Fusion Theater Company.
Performances will be held Thursday, Oct. 23, through Saturday, Oct. 25, as well as Thursday, Oct. 30, through Saturday Nov. 1, at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., in Oakland. All shows begin at 8 p.m. General admission is $10 and $5 for students and staff.
An opening night Gala Student Scholarship Fundraising Reception will be held Thursday, Oct. 23, 6:30 p.m., at the theater. General admission for the gala is $20 and $5 for students and staff.
“The Piano Lesson” is about a brother and sister who are arguing whether or not to sell the family’s ancestral piano. The brother wants to sell it to buy land, while his sister insists on keeping it. The piano has the carved faces of their great-grandfather’s wife and son, who were sold in exchange for the piano during the days of enslavement. [Read more]

Dimensions Dance Theater Marks 35th Anniversary

Commemorating 35 years of arts and entertainment innovation, Dimensions Dance Theater presents Celebration, a collaborative retrospective that interweaves the company’s most inspired choreography from the past three decades and demonstrates the diversity of its dynamic movement styles. This historic 35th anniversary performance debuts at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 15 at the Oakland Interstake Center (near the Mormon Temple) at 4780 Lincoln Boulevard in Oakland.
Celebration is an ambitious, multi-media presentation featuring the combined efforts of twenty artists and excerpts from Dimensions Dance Theater’s most renowned works, including Panther, Rhythm Harvest (commissioned by World Arts West), Beneath The Baobab by Donald McKayle,(choreographer of Raisin and Sophisticated Ladies), Between Shores, Mudzimu (in collaboration with Banrara of Cuba choreographer Isais Rojas and African mbira musician Stella Chiweshe), Lifted, Sweet Savory Sunday (in collaboration with veteran R&B vocalist Linda Tillery and gospel singer Terrance Kelly) and Cross Currents, a recent collaboration with jazz percussionist and composer Anthony Brown. [Read more]

Opportunities for Artists

 $200,000 available to purchase artworks

The Alameda County Arts Commission is offering new opportunities for artists to have their work considered for the Alameda County Art Collection. Artists who make two-dimensional, low-relief, or wall sculptural artwork, and artists at all levels of professional development are invited to apply. More than $200,000 is available to purchase existing artwork and to commission artists to create new works of art. Through the Artwork Purchase Program existing artwork will be acquired and installed at County buildings.
The final selections must be approved by the Arts Commission Board. Applications for these opportunities must be submitted online through the CaFÉTM website, www.callforentry.org (search for “Alameda County”). A free technical application workshop will be held at the Alameda County Conference Center (125 12th Street at Oak, Oakland) on Thursday, April 3 at 1pm. Space is limited; call the Arts Commission Office to make a reservation. [Read more]