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San Francisco-based playwright/filmmaker Philip Kan Gotanda is known for daring to be different, a quality that has won him a following in the Bay Area and made him an influence for aspiring Asian American writers and filmmakers.
Gotanda's new play, The Wind Cries Mary, which will begin its world premiere run at the San José Repertory Theatre on Oct. 19, is the latest example of the Japanese-American playwright's preference for edgy, challenging material over safe, predictable plays. An Asian American version of Henrik Ibsen's 1891 play Hedda Gabler, The Wind Cries Mary is directed by Steppenwolf Theatre member Eric Simonson, who says he enjoyed the script because of its timelessness and universality.
Gotanda, whose plays include 1988's Yankee Dawg You Die and 1999's The Sisters Matsumoto, prefers to stick to edgy material at a time when a "comfort food" mentality seems to be pervading all of entertainment, especially the stage. Safe material, like crowd-pleasing, family-oriented musicals based on old movies, currently rules the box office.
"The more works become like that, then the less opportunity and work are going to come my way. At the same time, one of the things you have to do as an artist is just keep doing what you do," Gotanda says. "Maybe right now, it's not the thing that's popular, but it doesn't matter to me, and in some way, it's going to work out for me. So far, so good."
Instead of the original play's 19th-century Norwegian high society setting, The Wind Cries Mary is set against the backdrop of the '60s Bay Area Asian American student protest movement and is accompanied by a '60s rock soundtrack. Gotanda borrowed the play's title from a 1967 Jimi Hendrix song.
Ibsen's title antihero was a pistol-packing Norwegian schemer, bored with her lifeless marriage and the constraints placed upon women in her time. In The Wind Cries Mary, the Hedda figure is Eiko Hanabi (played by Filipino-American stage actress Tess Lina), the unhappy, conflicted Japanese-American wife of a white academic. Eiko's encounter with her ex-lover, an outspoken, mentally unstable Japanese-American activist, forces her to break out of her dull existence. Her weapon of choice in this remake? Her great-grandmother's sword.
"One of the things I wanted to do for awhile was explore the late '60s, a time when this whole idea of identity politics and an Asian American sensibility were coming into being. I thought, 'Maybe I could put this character in that time period,' " Gotanda says.
One of Gotanda's favorite recent films is independent director Justin Lin's comedy/drama Better Luck Tomorrow, which has drawn both praise and criticism on the film festival circuit for its complex depiction of Asian American high-schoolers who resort to crime. When Better Luck Tomorrow was screened at last year's Sundance Film Festival, an irate moviegoer accused Lin of selling out his own race and contributing to the negative Asian stereotypes that pervade pop culture.
"I just think that's a bogus criticism," Gotanda says.
Will The Wind Cries Mary receive similar responses from some theatergoers because of its equally amoral lead character? Gotanda thinks his play might invite criticism, but he isn't worried about the negative feedback.
"There was always some question about how you should present only positive role models and whatnot. That's never been of interest to me," Gotanda says.
Gotanda explains that he prefers to create complex Asian American characters instead of only positive Asian American role models or one-dimensional, stereotypical villains.
"I think Philip's a force to be reckoned with," Simonson says. "His craft gets better and better. It's going to be an event."
The Wind Cries Mary will be performed Oct. 19Nov. 17 at the San José Repertory Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose. For more information, call 408.367.7255 or visit www.sjrep.com.
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