James Rodger Brandon
| James Rodger Brandon | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1927 Mazomanie, Wisconsin |
| Died | September 19, 2015 (aged 87–88) Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Education | B.Ph., University of Wisconsin, 1948 M.S., University of Wisconsin, 1949 Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1955 |
| Occupation | Professor of Asian theater |
| Years active | 1968-2000 |
| Spouse(s) | Reiko Mochinaga Brandon |
James Rodger Brandon (1927 – 19 September 2015) was an American academic who was a professor of Asian theater specializing in Kabuki and Sanskrit theater at the University of Hawaii. He was an outstanding member of the generation of scholars who first brought Asian theater to English-speaking audiences in the post-War period, translating dozens of plays and directing many performances, some of which toured widely throughout the United States.
Brandon 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 Ph.D. in theater on the G.I. Bill.
After completing his Ph.D., he entered the foreign service where he was a cultural affairs officer stationed in Jakarta, Indonesia from 1955-1957.
The Japanese government awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Rosette, Imperial Decoration in 1994.
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.
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