August 27, 2006
Philip Kan Gotanda’s The Wash
Philip Kan Gotanda’s play The Wash tells the story of a newly-separated Nisei couple, Nobu and Masi, and their individual and collective struggles with their traditional past. While Masi is able to move on and begins dating the widower Sadao, Nobu is forced to confront his traumatic memories of the internment camps. The Wash was first performed as a play in 1985. Gotanda then wrote the screenplay for the 1988 independent film version.
In teaching this text as part of a course on Asian American literature, it is useful to present both versions and ask the students to consider the differences and benefits of each version. The following discussion questions were designed to follow a two-part assignment in which students were asked to read the play and view the film.
Discussion Questions for Philip Gotanda’s The Wash
- Which version of The Wash did you like better and why? What were some differences between the two?
- Nobu’s and Masi’s past experiences in the Japanese internment camps during WWII are brought up only very briefly. How important do you think the camps are for the storyline? Why only introduce the camps subtly?
- How were Nobu’s and Masi’s experiences in the camps different? Why? What does this mean? Is the difference a question of gender?
- Related to this, Nobu and Masi are described as Niseis, or second-generation Japanese Americans. Does Nobu seem to fit into the Nisei community? Does he fit in better with a different generation? Which one?
- Both the play and the film are dialogical insofar as the actions and characters unfold through dialogue. List elements or characters in the play that do not seem to be so dialogical. Can silence “speak”? What might be the reason for such silence?
- Does the silence come across equally well in the written play and the film? How does the film signify silence differently?
- Is the silence featured in this play and film the same as repression? If so, what is being repressed?
For Further Information on Gotanda and/or The Wash
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/drama/gotanda.htm
This site contains a biography about Gotanda as well as links to other pages devoted to Gotanda and/or his work.
http://www.philipkangotanda.com/
Gotanda’s homepage it features a bio, a list of publications, a page of photographs, contact information, and more.
http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsG/GotandaPhilipKan.htm
This page is part of an online project to list every play written or produced in English since 1956. The page on Gotanda contains synopses of his plays and information about their initial production.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096424/
The IMDB page contains information on the cast and production of the 1988 film.