James Rodger Brandon
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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 though ...
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 A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
. 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 1,652 at the 2010 census. The village is located within the Town of Mazomanie. It is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Mazomanie is ...
. 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 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'' 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


See also

*
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 though ...
*
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 ...
* Javanese shadow puppetry *
Chūshingura is the title given to fictionalized accounts in Japanese literature, theater, and film that relate to the historical incident involving the forty-seven ''rōnin'' and their mission to avenge the death of their master, Asano Naganori. Including th ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandon, James Rodger Kabuki Historians of theatre Theatre studies 1927 births 2015 deaths University of Hawaiʻi faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Place of birth missing American military personnel of the Korean War People from Mazomanie, Wisconsin