James Rodger Brandon (1927 – 19 September 2015) was an American academic who was a professor of Asian theater specializing in

Kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

and

Sanskrit drama The term Indian classical drama refers to the tradition of dramatic literature and performance in ancient India. The roots of drama in the Indian subcontinent can be traced back to the Rigveda (1200-1500 BCE), which contains a number of hymns in ...

theater at the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offic ...

. He was a member of the generation of scholars who first brought Asian theater to English-speaking audiences in the postwar period, translating dozens of plays and directing many performances, some of which toured widely throughout the United States.

Biography

Brandon was born in

Mazomanie, Wisconsin Mazomanie is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,768 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The village is located within the Mazomanie (town), Wisconsin, Town of Mazomanie. It is part of the Madison ...

. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a B.Ph. degree in 1948, and a M.S. degree in 1949. He was drafted into the military in 1950 and was stationed in Japan and Korea during the Korean War. It was with only two days left before his tour ended and he returned to the United States that he saw his first kabuki performance. It was this performance that awakened his interest in Asian theater. He returned to the University of Wisconsin–Madison to take a PhD in theater on the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

in 1955. After completing his PhD, he entered the

United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carr ...

, where he was a cultural affairs officer stationed in Jakarta, Indonesia from 1955 to 1957. The Japanese government awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Rosette, Imperial Decoration in 1994.

Scholarly contributions

In 1965, along with Andrew T. Tsubaki and Farley Richmond, he founded the Afro-Asian Theater Project, which after a series of reorganizations has been known since 1987 as the Association for Asian Performance. He co-founded the ''

Asian Theatre Journal The ''Asian Theatre Journal'' is an academic journal dedicated to the performing arts of Asia, focusing upon both traditional and modern theatrical forms. It contains descriptive and analytical articles, original plays and play translations, as wel ...

'' with Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak in 1984.Jortner and Foley, 2001, page 352

Bibliography

Selected works by Brandon

;Authored books * * * ;Edited books * * * ;Translations * * * * * * * ;Academic journal articles * * * *

References

Works cited

* *

External links

*
Asian Theater Journal
' page at the University of Hawaiʻi
The Association for Asian Performance

James R. Brandon memorial webpage