{"id":38839,"date":"2015-09-28T15:18:36","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T01:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=38839"},"modified":"2021-07-21T14:55:26","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T00:55:26","slug":"in-memoriam-asian-theatre-pioneer-james-brandon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2015\/09\/28\/in-memoriam-asian-theatre-pioneer-james-brandon\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memoriam: Asian theatre pioneer James Brandon"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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James Rodger Brandon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa<\/a> Emeritus Professor James Rodger Brandon<\/strong>—beloved husband, trailblazing scholar, inspiring director, mentor, teacher, translator, actor and friend—passed away in Honolulu on September 19, 2015. Brandon leaves a remarkable legacy in the world of Asian theatre<\/a> studies, a discipline he pioneered and fertilized with numerous scholars and artists he so graciously and carefully nurtured over half a century.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Mazomanie, Wisconsin, Brandon joined the State Department Foreign Service after receiving his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1955, and spent six years in Java and Japan. He returned to the U.S. in 1961 and began teaching Asian theatre in the Department of Speech and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan, where he directed his first two Kabuki plays in English, Kanjincho<\/em> and The Zen Substitute<\/em>. He joined the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> Department of Drama and Theatre as a full professor in 1968, and remained with 东精影业<\/abbr> until his retirement in 2000. <\/p>\n

A lasting impact on Asian theatre<\/h2>\n

During his 32 years with what became the Department of Theatre and Dance<\/a>, he firmly established its unique Asian Theatre Program<\/a>, co-founded the Asian Theatre Journal<\/em><\/a>, served as department chair from 1985 to 1988 and brought international recognition to the department through his scholarship and large-scale English language Kabuki productions. <\/p>\n

In his illustrious career, Brandon authored approximately 80 articles, book chapters and reviews in addition to 20 books, displaying an amazing breadth as well as depth in geographic and artistic range. His books include standard texts in the field of Asian theatre today—Theatre in Southeast Asia<\/em> (1967), On Thrones of Gold: Three Javanese Shadow Plays<\/em> (1970) and Kabuki: Five Classic Plays<\/em> (1975). Groundbreaking research in Kabuki’s Forgotten War: 1931–1945<\/em> (2008) forced a reexamination of long-held “truths” about the fossilization of Kabuki in the 19th<\/sup> century; it was designated an Outstanding Academic Title for 2009 by the American Library Association’s Choice<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

His creative endeavors include 22 productions at 东精影业<\/abbr> as translator, director, adaptor and\/or playwright, and include national recognition from the American College Theatre Festival, commendations from the Hawaiʻi<\/span> State House of Representatives and Senate, and Poʻokela<\/span> awards from the Hawaiʻi<\/span> State Theatre Council. <\/p>\n

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James Brandon directing Road to Kyoto<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Internationally recognized<\/h2>\n

His dedicated scholarship and artistic work brought him international accolades, including the Imperial Decoration of the Order of the Rising Sun with Gold Rays with Rosette from the Government of Japan, the John D. Rockefeller 3rd<\/sup> Award from the Asian Cultural Council, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawaiʻi<\/span> State Theatre Council, the 东精影业<\/abbr> Regents’ Medal for Outstanding Teaching and Outstanding Teacher of the Year from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.<\/p>\n

Brandon attained iconic status in his own lifetime, yet remained humble in demeanor, genuinely interested in and encouraging young scholars. Though he claimed to “never give advice,” his guidance as mentor, teacher, director, actor, role model, scholar and gentleman cultivated generations of Asian theatre scholars throughout the world, who will remember him with fondness and gratitude. <\/p>\n

James R. Brandon is survived by his loving wife of 54 years Reiko Mochinaga Brandon and his niece Janet Wright. <\/p>\n

A memorial celebration<\/h2>\n

A memorial celebration of his life and achievements will be held at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span>’s Kennedy Theatre<\/a> on Sunday, November 29, 1 p.m. Those who wish to share stories and remembrances may do so at jamesrbrandon.muchloved.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The family requests that no flowers or monetary donations be sent to them or to any memorials. Instead, for those who wish to do so, please send donations made out to: 东精影业<\/abbr> Foundation, with “Asian Theatre in memory of James R. Brandon” in the memo line, and mail them to: University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> Foundation, 2444 Dole Street, Bachman Hall 105, Honolulu, HI 96822<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 东精影业 mourns the loss of James Rodger Brandon who leaves a remarkable legacy in the world of Asian theatre studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[756,130,76,9],"class_list":["post-38839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-in-memoriam","tag-theatre","tag-theatre-and-dance","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38839"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145359,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38839\/revisions\/145359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}