WETMORE, Kevin J. (Jr.) 1969-

PERSONAL: Born February 1, 1969, in New Haven, CT; son of Kevin J., Sr. (in business) and Eleanor (a media technician; maiden name, Maher) Wetmore; married Maura Chwastyk, October 20, 2001. Ethnicity: "American of Anglo-Irish descent." Education: Bates College, B.A., 1991; University of Leeds, M.A. (theater studies), 1992; University of Pittsburgh, Ph.D. (theater and performance studies), 1999. Politics: "Independent." Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES: Home—11836 Gorham Ave., No. 8, Los Angeles, CA 90049. Offıce—Department of Theater, California State University, Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, CA 91330-8320.

CAREER: Denison University, Granville, OH, professor of theater, 1999-2002; California State University, Northridge, professor of theater, 2002—. Works as actor, director, and stage combat choreographer, primarily for stage productions; also performs standup and improvisational comedy.

MEMBER: International House of Japan, Society of American Fight Directors, Theater Communications Group, Association for Asian Studies, California Faculty Association.

WRITINGS:

The Athenian Sun in an African Sky (theater studies), McFarland and Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2002.

Black Dionysus (theater studies), McFarland and Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2003.

The Empire Triumphant (film studies), McFarland and Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2004.

(Editor, with David Jortner and Keiko I. McDonald) Modern Japanese Drama and Performance, Lexington Press (Lanham, MD), 2005.

(With Jennifer Hulbert, Hy Bender, and Robert L. York) Dude, Where's My Bard, Palgrave (New York, NY), 2005.

Author of scripts for solo stage presentations, including The Man in the Ironic Mask and . . . And the Horse You Rode in On, and contributions to Sketch Me if You Can and Steve's Garage. Contributor to periodicals.

WORK IN PROGRESS: American Negotiations: The Theater of Lee Blessing (tentative title); two volumes on Japan and China respectively called Revenge: East and West; Black Medea: An Anthology of Plays.

SIDELIGHTS: Kevin J. Wetmore told CA: "I am a theater scholar who also works as a practitioner. In addition to acting, directing, and working as a stage combat choreographer, I am very active in the world of sketch, standup, and improvisational comedy. So there are actually two sides to my writing: the academic side, which has produced books and articles in numerous journals on Shakespeare, Japanese theater, African theater, and Greek tragedies; and the theatrical side, which has produced one-man shows.

"My work as a performer has taken me to Africa and to Japan, which has subsequently shaped my scholarly studies. I am particularly interested in intercultural theater: theater that is the product of more than one culture. I researched Japanese stage-musical versions of Gone with the Wind while writing a book about the post-colonial construction of the 'Star Wars' films and editing a book that compares revenge plays in Renaissance England with revenge plays in Tokugawa Japan.

"I suspect having a wide variety of interests helps shape my writing. I find so many things to be fascinating. One of the best teachers I ever had said the most important part of the learning process was being able to draw connections. Much of my work has sprung from that idea as well: seeing the links between Asian and African theater and culture and Star Wars, or being able to link the worlds of Elizabethan England and Tokugawa Japan. Part of the job of the actor is to illuminate the hidden world. That is the scholar's job, too. I suppose ultimately my writing springs from the same place my theater does—an urge to create and communicate and to explore things beyond myself.

"I hope to write more in the near future. I have several scholarly books in various stages of development, but I've also been working on plays and hope to someday tackle a novel or a screenplay. I'm working on an analysis of the playwright Lee Blessing, as well as projects on postmodern Kabuki, Christianity on the Japanese stage, and youth-culture adaptations of Shakespeare."