Philip Kan Gotanda is known primarily as a playwright, but he is also the author of songs, screenplays, and spoken-word performances. Not limiting himself to the role of writer, Gotanda participates in the production process in the capacities of musician, director, producer, actor, and performer. The breadth of his artistic interests is reflected in the stylistic and genre variety of his plays: from quasi musicals to realistic family dramas and biting satires. In spite of this diversity, the playwright's works are united by a common thematic concern--an examination of the complex relationships between the lives of individuals and their sociohistorical circumstances. In the words of Michael Omi, in his introduction to Gotanda's Fish Head Soup and Other Plays (1995), Gotanda's plays "reveal a deep appreciation for both history and biography, and for the intimate connection between the two." This connection is explored through careful studies of small, closely knit...