Cal Graduation Speech

Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies
Philip Kan Gotanda
Playwright and filmmaker

Some may ask, “Does what I do matter?” In a time of world crisis, where cyclones and earthquakes kill thousands, where civil and religious wars destroy lives daily, can someone with a degree in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies do something impactful?

Yes. All the yelling, attacking, demanding, speechifying — and yet, no one hears. No one listens. Look around. See. No one is communicating on the most basic human level — my soul to your soul.

Art can do that. It speaks and communicates below the surface, between the gaps of rationality and empirical argument. It provides the bed of commonality for transmission of human experience without violence or censorship. It is the larger truth that must always be spoken regardless of political winds and individual sacrifice.