Concurrent Panel Session Five
Abstract Title
Young Jean Lee’s Performance of Whiteness: Resisting Colorblind Casting Through Theatrical Realism
Start Date
7-4-2018 2:00 PM
End Date
7-4-2018 2:50 PM
Abstract
This paper aims to provide an alternative interpretation of Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (Songs) that incorporates both Asian and white plots through examining Young Jean Lee’s race plays altogether and creating a context for Lee’s double-plot structuring of Songs. Lee is a recognized Korean American playwright leading the Young Jean Lee Theatre Company. Lee is often categorized as an avant-garde playwright who experiments with and introduces new forms of theatre, encouraging the audience to think outside the box. What makes Lee stand out from other experimental playwrights is her skillful exploration of racial issues in Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (2006), The Shipment (2009), and Straight White Men (2014).
The paper intends to reveal the significance of Songs in the history of Asian American theatre that has been overlooked since its premiere. The paper argues that through structurally and characterally stereotyping whiteness in nonwhite narratives, Lee dismantles standardization of whiteness as the norm of the society. Hopefully, the analysis would open up possibilities for nonwhite American plays to cast nonwhite Americans in the role of white Americans, which both mirrors previous white-dominated theatre practices in reverse and creates a visualization of whiteness being performed.
Keywords
Young Jean Lee, whiteness, colorblind casting, Asian American theatre, Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, The Shipment, Straight White Men, theatrical realism
Young Jean Lee’s Performance of Whiteness: Resisting Colorblind Casting Through Theatrical Realism
This paper aims to provide an alternative interpretation of Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (Songs) that incorporates both Asian and white plots through examining Young Jean Lee’s race plays altogether and creating a context for Lee’s double-plot structuring of Songs. Lee is a recognized Korean American playwright leading the Young Jean Lee Theatre Company. Lee is often categorized as an avant-garde playwright who experiments with and introduces new forms of theatre, encouraging the audience to think outside the box. What makes Lee stand out from other experimental playwrights is her skillful exploration of racial issues in Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (2006), The Shipment (2009), and Straight White Men (2014).
The paper intends to reveal the significance of Songs in the history of Asian American theatre that has been overlooked since its premiere. The paper argues that through structurally and characterally stereotyping whiteness in nonwhite narratives, Lee dismantles standardization of whiteness as the norm of the society. Hopefully, the analysis would open up possibilities for nonwhite American plays to cast nonwhite Americans in the role of white Americans, which both mirrors previous white-dominated theatre practices in reverse and creates a visualization of whiteness being performed.