Onstage Transformation and Identity Politics in Contemporary Asian American Theater
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Onstage Transformation and Identity Politics in Contemporary Asian American Theater A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Yining Liu December 2017 © 2017 Yining Liu. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Onstage Transformation and Identity Politics in Contemporary Asian American Theater by YINING LIU has been approved for Interdisciplinary Arts and the College of Fine Arts by William F. Condee Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts Matthew R. Shaftel Dean, College of Fine Arts 3 ABSTRACT LIU, YINING, Ph.D., December 2017, Interdisciplinary Arts Onstage Transformation and Identity Politics in Contemporary Asian American Theater Director of Dissertation: William F. Condee This dissertation is an in-depth investigation of the aesthetic and ideological function of onstage transformations (by means of costume and makeup change) as employed in contemporary theater performance written by Asian American artists. I explore the questions of how the device of transformation functions to embody ethnic and cultural identities that are implicated with gender and sexuality, and how such performances of identities intervene into the discourse of racialization and identity politics. To address these questions, I conduct textual analysis through the lens of semiotics of theater (to examine transformations as visual and corporeal signifiers), Bertolt Brecht’s theory of Verfremdungseffekt and critical theories on the formation and representation of identities. My analysis focuses on four objects in detail: David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly (1988), Naomi Iizuka’s 36 Views (2001), Julia Cho’s BFE (2005) and D’Lo’s solo performance Ramble-Ations: A One D’Lo Show (2007). My examination reveals that onstage transformations serve to present the multiplicity, hybridity and transformability of one’s identities, and therefore contest any essentialist or stereotypical notion of identity formation. Hence, in addition to intervening into the discourse of Asian American identities, these performances also complicate the issue of identity and problematize the ideology of identity politics in general. The 4 hybridity and heterogeneity embodied in onstage transformations imply the porousness of identity categories of ethnicity, race, gender and sexuality. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 7 Preface................................................................................................................................. 9 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1: Methodology and Prior Studies ....................................................................... 19 The Semiotics of Theater .............................................................................................. 19 The Actor’s External Appearance as a Signifier of Identity ......................................... 21 Onstage Transformation as a Brechtian Technique ...................................................... 24 Identity and Identity Formation .................................................................................... 28 Prior Studies .................................................................................................................. 32 Chapter 2: Performing Identities in Transformations: On David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly............................................................................................................................. 38 Madame Butterfly and Orientalism ............................................................................... 41 “A Decontructivist Madama Butterfly” ........................................................................ 47 The Actors’ Transformations Onstage .......................................................................... 52 Butterfly and the Dragon Lady ..................................................................................... 55 From Kimono to Armani Suit: Butterfly’s Metamorphosis .......................................... 62 The Naked Body and Masked Identities ....................................................................... 67 Becoming Butterfly: Gallimard’s Metamorphosis........................................................ 72 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 77 Chapter 3: Questioning Cultural Authenticity and the Boundaries of “Asian American”: On Naomi Iizuka’s 36 Views ............................................................................................ 81 Setsuko Hearn’s Transformations ................................................................................. 83 The Myth of Cultural Authenticity ............................................................................... 89 The Androgynous Mind: John Bell’s Transformation .................................................. 91 Passing for Mobility and Resistance: Claire Tsong’s Transformation ....................... 100 Pushing the Boundary of “Asian American” .............................................................. 110 Chapter 4: Cosmetic Transformation and Asian American Female Identities: On Julia Cho’s BFE ....................................................................................................................... 113 The Landscape of BFE................................................................................................ 116 The Hyphenated Asian American Identities ............................................................... 118 6 The Discourse of Beauty and the Cosmetic Gaze ....................................................... 125 The First Cosmetic Transformation ............................................................................ 130 The Final Transformation ........................................................................................... 133 Asian Eyelid Surgery .................................................................................................. 137 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 143 Chapter 5: Queering the South Asian Diaspora: Transformations in Ramble-Ations: A One D’Lo Show ............................................................................................................... 145 D’Lo and Amma ......................................................................................................... 149 D’Lo and Vanathi ....................................................................................................... 155 D’Lo and Nic(ole) ....................................................................................................... 158 D’Lo and D’Lo in Flesh .............................................................................................. 163 D’Lo and “G” .............................................................................................................. 168 Six Characters in Search of an Author ........................................................................ 170 The Transformative Aesthetics of Solo Performance ................................................. 175 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 178 Epilogue .......................................................................................................................... 186 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 188 7 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Tadeusz Kowzan’s classification of the sign-systems of theater ....................22 Figure 2: Gallimard narrates the plot of Madame Butterfly and his fantasy appears upstage where Butterfly is played by Song Liling ..........................................................51 Figure 3: Gallimard’s costume transformation into Pinkerton in Guthrie Theater’s production .......................................................................................................................53 Figure 4: Linda Cho’s design of the qi-pao dress for Guthrie Theater’s production .....57 Figure 5: Production by TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, CA in 2006 .................................58 Figure 6: Screenshots from the film M. Butterfly ...........................................................59 Figure 7: Broadway production in 1988 .........................................................................61 Figure 8: Screenshots of the TV commercial of M. Butterfly in 1988 ............................64 Figure 9: Song Liling in an Armani suit in TheatreWorks’ production .........................67 Figure 10: Song touches Gallimard’s face in TheatreWorks’ production ......................69 Figure 11: Gallimard’s transformation ...........................................................................73 Figure 12: Screenshots of the TV commercial of M. Butterfly in 1988 ..........................76 Figure 13: Hikinuki costume change in kabuki performance .........................................84 Figure 14: Myung