MFA, Sarah Lawrence College. Potter-Takata is a Bronx-based artist of Japanese descent working at the intersection of Japanese religious ritual and butoh. His work, which centers on Japanese-American experience, is preoccupied with the consumer culture runoff from the Japanese archipelago. Born into a Buddhist family in Los Angeles, Potter-Takata was raised in the Shingon and Jodo-Shin traditions of Buddhism and, as an adult, has become a practicing Shingon monk. Shingon is notable for its extensive pantheon of buddhas and bodhisattvas, as well as its intricate ritual practices. His work reinterprets these practices in ways that reflect the values of his American context. By utilizing Buddhist ideas of embodiment to create performances around the body as a historical site, Potter-Takata's work uproots latent narratives of Japanese internment through performance. He is a 2022 Bronx Dance Fund Award recipient, a current Movement Research artist-in-residence, and has been awarded residencies through Rogers Art Loft, Gibney Dance Center, amandaplusjames, and Lehman College/CUNY Dance Initiative. His performances have also been shown at Triskelion Arts, HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, Arts On Site, Abrons Art Center, WestFest, and with Pioneers Go East at Judson Church. When studying at Sarah Lawrence College, Potter-Takata focused oin multimedia performance and studied butoh under Kota Yamazaki and Mina Nishimura. SLC, 2017–
Undergraduate Courses 2025-2026
Theatre
Projection and Media Design
Open, Component—Year
THEA 5689
This course will serve as an introduction to theatrical video design, exploring the use of moving images in live performance, fundamental design principles, editing and playback software, content creation, and basic hardware concerns. The course will examine the function and execution of video and integrated media in theatre, dance, and live art environments. Exercises in videography, nonlinear editing, and playback design will provide students with the basic tools needed to execute projection and video design in a live-performance setting.
Faculty
Sound Design
Open, Component—Year
THEA 5530
This course will serve as an introduction to theatrical sound design. Students will learn about basic design principles, editing and playback software, content creation, basic system design, and sound theory. The course will examine the function and execution of sound in theatre, dance, and interdisciplinary environments. Exercises in recording, editing, and designing sequences in performance software will provide students with the basic tools needed to execute sound designs in performance.
Faculty
Graduate Courses 2024-2025
MFA Theatre
Sound Design
Component—Year
5530
This course serves as an introduction to theatrical sound design. Students will learn about basic design principles, editing and playback software, content creation, basic system design, and sound theory. The course examines the function and execution of sound in theatre, dance, and interdisciplinary environments. Exercises in recording, editing, and designing sequences in performance software will provide students with the basic tools needed to execute sound designs in performance.
Faculty
Video and Media Design
Component—Year
5689
This course, which serves as an introduction to theatrical video design, explores the use of moving images in live performance, basic design principles, editing and playback software, content creation, and basic system design. The course examines the function and execution of video and integrated media in theatre, dance, and interdisciplinary environments. Exercises in videography, nonlinear editing, and designing sequences in performance software will provide students with the basic tools needed to execute projection and video design in a live-performance setting.