Academic
Biography
Alex Rogals currently serves as the Interim Director of Japanese Studies at Hunter College in NYC.
Alex received his PhD from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, focusing on the guiding role regionalization plays in the preservation and contemporary practice of the Japanese traditional performing art, Sagi kyōgen. He was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Asian Performance as an emerging scholar and his work has been published in the Asian Theatre Journal. Before coming to Hunter, Alex taught World Theatre, Introduction to Arts Education, and Stage directing. He also worked in arts education departments for the Geffen Playhouse and Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles, and for Japan Society in New York. As an artist he has directed, written, and performed in theater and film productions in New York, Los Angeles, Hawai'i and Japan. Alex is deeply interested in the intersection between creativity and community, both in Japanese culture and beyond. Since coming to the Hunter Japanese Program, he has pioneered a variety of Japanese arts and culture courses which include: Japanese Contemporary Theatre, Mythology and Folklore, Detective Ficiton, Japanese Horror, Animals in Japanese Culture, and Contemporary Society and Technology. Alex received his BA from Vassar College and his MFA in directing for the stage from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Positions Held
Interim Director of Japanese Studies, Japanese Program, Hunter College, NY, NY Present
Substitute Distinguished Lecturer, Japanese Program, Hunter College, NY, NY 2023-2025
Japanese Studies Fellow, Japanese Program, Hunter College, NY, NY 2022-2023
Adjunct Lecturer, Japanese Program, Hunter College, NY, NY 2019-2022
Adjunct Lecturer, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 2011
Education
PhD., Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 2022
Dissertation: Locale, Liminality, and Legitimacy in Contemporary Sagi Kyōgen:
Conceptualizing Tradition Outside Kyōgen’s Professional World
Committee: Julie Iezzi (chair), Markus Wessendorf, Kirstin Pauka, Christine Yano
Inter-University Center for Japanese Studies (IUC), Yokohama, Japan 2014-15
Inter-University Center for Japanese Studies (IUC), Summer Program, Yokohama, Japan 2012
MFA, Department of Theater, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 2007
Directing for the Stage
Thesis Production: The Inspector General, by Nikolai Gogol
Advisor: Michael McLain
BA, Vassar College, Department of Drama, Poughkeepsie, NY 2000
Research And Teaching Interests
Japanese Theatre & Performance Non-professional/Community Performance
World Theater (Asia Focus) Horror Performance & Culture
Stage Directing Arts Education/Family Theatre
Comedy performance traditions Film and Media Performance
Publications
Peer Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters
“Contemporary Sagi Kyōgen.” Noh and Kyōgen Companion. Brill, 2024.
“Trapping the Heron: The Curious Case of Sagi school kyōgen.” Asian Theatre Journal. Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 2019, pgs. 189-204.
Web Articles
"Sagi-ryū: The Elusive Third School of Kyōgen." The Theatre Times, 11 Feb. 2017. WEB.
https://thetheatretimes.com/sagi-ryu-elusive-third-school-kyogen/
Reviews
“Butoh and Suzuki Performance in Australia” by Jonathan W. Marshall. Theatre Research International. Forthcoming.
“The Comic Storytelling Of Western Japan: Satire And Social Mobility In Kamigata Rakugo” by M.W. Shores. Asian Theatre Journal. Vol 41, No. 1, Spring 2022
“Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo” by Sondra Fraleigh and Tamah Nakamura. Asian Theatre Journal. Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 2019. pgs. 266-269.
“Satoshi Miyagi Returns to Japan Society With Mugen Noh Othello.” The Theatre Times, 10 Feb. 2018. https://thetheatretimes.com/satoshi-miyagi-returns-japan-society-mugen-noh-othello/
“Learning to Kneel: Noh, Modernism, and Journeys in Teaching” by Carrie J. Preston. Theatre Journal. Vol. 69, No. 4, December 2017. pgs. 601-602.
“Acting Comedy” by Christopher Olsen. Theatre Topics. Vol. 27, No. 3, November 2017. pgs. 242-243.
Fellowships and Awards
Institution Project Support Grant (IPS), Japan Foundation NY 2023-2026
PSC CUNY Research Award 2025
Center for Global Partnership (CGP) Salary Assistance Grant for 2022-2023
U.S.-Japan Community Grassroots Exchange (JFNY)
Online Studies Grant, Japan Foundation, New York Fall 2020
Emerging Scholar, Association for Asian Performance 2017
Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) 2012 (Summer), 2014-15 (annual)
Center for Japanese Studies Directed Research Award 2013
Kovler Family Fellowship for Stage Directing 2006
James Pendelton Foundation Grant 2005
Conference/Symposium Presentations
Panels Organized
Association for Asian Performance Annual Conference at Hunter College (organizer) 2025
“Pathways to Equity, Access, and Belonging through Interdepartmental Collaboration.” 2024
Association for Theatre In Higher Education. Atlanta, Georgia. Aug 2-6th
Anti Racism Committee: Call to Action. Association for Asian Performance, Annual 2023
Conference. Austin, Texas. Aug 2-6.
“The Problem of Pronunciation” Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) 2023
Annual Conference. Austin, Texas. Aug 2-6.
“Horrific Potential: Integrating Horror into Theatre Practice and Pedagogy.” 2022
Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Annual Conference.
Detroit, MI. July 26-Aug. 1.
“(Re)envisioning Japanese Traditional Performing Arts Through the Non-Professional.” 2020
Hunter College. Online. Nov. 14.
“The Professional and Non-professional Artist as Collaborator in Preserving East 2017
Asia’s Traditional Performing Arts.” Association for Asian Performance (AAP),
Annual Conference. Las Vegas, NV. Aug. 2-3.
Papers Presented
"New Work in Traditional Performance: Yamaguchi Sagi Kyōgen's Deceiving the Badger." 2023 Association for Asian Studies, Annual Conference. Seattle, WA. March 14-17
“Yamaguchi Sagi kyōgen: Acquiring Cultural Significance Through Furusato.” 2022
Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Annual Conference. Detroit,
MI. July 26-Aug. 1.
“Yamaguchi Sagi kyōgen: Acquiring Cultural Significance Through Furusato.” 2022
Practicing Japan – 35 years of Japanese Studies in Poznań and Kraków. Online.
March 3.
“Yamaguchi Sagi kyōgen: Local Tradition and the Yamaguchi Community.” Hunter 2020
College. Online. Nov. 14.
“Trapping the Heron: The Curious Case of Sagi School kyōgen.”Association for Asian 2017
Performance (AAP), Emerging Scholars Panel, Annual Conference. Las Vegas, NV.
Aug 2-3.
“A Tradition of Challenging Tradition: Contemporary Yamaguchi Sagi kyōgen 2017
Versus the Institutionalized Model of Japan’s Traditional Comedic Performing Art.”
Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Panel for Theatre and
Social Change (TASC), Annual Conference. Las Vegas, NV. Aug 4.
“Lingering Phantoms: Ghosting and Intercultural Pluralism in Ong Keng Sen’s Lear 2014
Dreaming.” University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Theatre and Dance Graduate Research
Symposium. Honolulu, HI, March 17.
“An Influential Stranger: Tsuka Kōhei's The Atami Murder Case and Identity Crisis in 2013
1970s Japan.” University of Colorado at Boulder, Asian Studies Graduate Conference,
March 8-9.
Invited Talks
"Contemporary Sagi Kyōgen: Liminal Spaces & Conceptualizing Tradition Outside 2022
Kyōgen's Professional World." Hosted by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa,
Center for Japanese Studies. Online. November 16th.
“A History of Japanese Theatre.” West Texas A&M University. Online. November 9th. 2022
“Manga in Libraries: Spooky and Scary Manga.” Hosted by New York Public Libraries. 2021 Online. October 11.
Teaching Experience
Hunter College, New York NY
Japanese Video Games: Visual and Narrative Culture Fall 2024, Spring 2026
Contemporary Culture of Horror in Japan Spring 2020-2026
Japanese Myths, Legends and Folklore: Spring 2020-2026
Building a Nation out of Fact & Fiction
Felines of Japanese Fiction Fall 2023/2025
Mystery Japan: Japanese Detective Fiction Fall 2021-2025
(Re) Imagining Modern Japan: Technology Society and the Fall 2020-2025
Uncanny Valley
Neighborhood Tokyo. Fall 2021, Spring 2023
Deciphering the Japanese Zodiac: Animals in Japanese Culture Spring 2021
Contemporary Japanese Theater Fall 2019, Spring 2024, Spring 2025
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI
Introduction to Arts Education Fall 2011
Introduction to World Theatre (Instructor of Record, five semesters) 2012-2014
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA
World Acting (Instructor of Record) Spring 2007
Directing for the Stage (Graduate Assistant) Fall 2006, Spring 2007
Introduction to World Theater (Graduate Assistant) Fall 2004, 2005 & 2006