Joanna Rotté, writer, actor, director and teacher, is Professor
Emeritus at Villanova University, where she served as Chair of the Theatre
Department and Director of East Asian Studies. In Japan in the late 1970s
she studied Zen Yoga and Japanese cultural arts and cultivated an interest
in Buddhism. In 2001 she adapted and directed Prajna, a play by Chogyam
Trungpa Rinpoche, for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. In 2009, she wrote
(and for subsequent years performed the title role in) All Victorious Ocean
based on the tantric life of Yeshe Tsogyal. She is a meditation practitioner
and teacher and is devoted to equal appreciation of women in Buddhism.
Her speaking voice may be heard via Shambhala Publications on five Pema Chodron Books.