From Performance To Performativity: David Henry Hwang’s Strategy Of Staging Asian American Identity

David Henry Hwang is one of the most celebrated Asian American playwrights in modern American drama.Transcending confines of his Asian American identity,Hwang’s plays resonate with audience in both America and Asia.Considering his status as a leading Asian American playwright,it is impossible for scholars to examine his plays without referencing to his Asian American identity.Some scholars tend to conduct analyses on Hwang’s specific work in isolation while this thesis attempts to access to his strategy of staging identity more comprehensively by examining his works of different periods.Three plays will be parsed to probe into Hwang’s strategy of staging Asian American identity.FOB,Hwang’s first play,lays ground for his exploration journey of identity.M.Butterfly triggers heated debate on presenting Asian American identity.And Yellow Face is the culmination of his exploration of identity.Contextualizing these three plays in the broad milieu of Asian American community,this thesis contends that they mirror Hwang’s response to the specific issue which Asian American community confronts.Starting from meta-theatrical form shared by these three plays,this thesis conducts textual analysis through the lens of Judith Butler’s notion of “performativity”.On the theoretical basis of cultural identity,this thesis maintains that Hwang stages Asian American identity as performative through performance,which is achieved by meta-theatrical form.With the assistance of meta-theatrical form,Hwang stages collective Asian American identity,individual gender identity and individual racial identity as performative in FOB,M.Butterfly as well as Yellow Face.