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 Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

theater at the University of Hawaii. 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, Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,652 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The village is located within the Mazomanie (town), Wisconsin, Town of Mazomanie. It ...

. 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 Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

in 1955. After completing his PhD, he entered the foreign service, 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 Andrew Takahisa Tsubaki (November 29, 1931 - December 16, 2009) was a 20th & 21st century Japan, Japanese theatre scholar who contributed to the presence and practice of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre styles in the Western world. Tsubaki recei ...

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 The Association for Asian Performance (AAP) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the dissemination and preservation of Asian theatre, performance techniques, and history. The Association focuses on scholarship, education, and e ...

. 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, p. 352

References

Bibliography

Selected works by Brandon

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

Works cited

* *

External links

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

James R. Brandon memorial webpage