亞裔男性演員在美國：五反田寬的《美國狗去死吧》

Asian Actors in America: Philip Kan Gotanda’s Yankee Dawg You Die

一九六○年代以平權為訴求的社會運動使美國長期以來的白人男性中心權威逐漸鬆動，邊緣族群開始發聲，挑戰主流，一時間百家爭鳴。美國亞裔劇場運動即伴隨著這股風起雲湧的民權潮流而興起。亞美劇場經歷七○年代趙健秀（Frank Chin）等劇作家的開疆闢土，終於在八○年代嶄露頭角，第二波亞裔劇作家如黃哲倫（David Henry Hwang）、五反田寬（Philip Kan Gotanda）的作品已成功躋身主流，儼然為亞美劇場的中流砥柱。本論文所要談論的《美國狗去死吧》（Yankee Dawg You Die，1988）即為日裔作家五反田寬（1951-）的作品。此劇藉由兩位不同世代的男演員彼此的互動，思索是否該與主流對抗、有所為有所不為，還是只能隨波逐流淪為共謀。亞裔族群在美國長期被主流媒體塑造為異己，身為這個產業結構中的亞裔演員究竟如何看待自己的職業？美國亞裔表演工作者的創作往往要與種種行之有年的東方形象協商對話，亞裔劇作家如何善用刻板印象而進行顛覆？本論文以美國演藝產業的大環境來看亞裔演員相對邊緣的地位，同時試著將《美國狗去死吧》放入此歷史脈絡中分析：一開始兩位演員似乎代表了兩種不同的生命型態路線，但在劇末作者暗示，媚俗與堅持，順從與抵抗，對於亞裔演員來說，實乃一體的兩面。

The Asian American theatre movement emerged with the rise of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, which challenged white-male dominance and gave voice to minorities. The efforts of pioneering Asian American playwrights such as Frank Chin in the 1970s paved way for the “second wave” playwrights, among whom David Henry Hwang and Philip Kan Gotanda (1951-) gained mainstream acceptance and visibility since the 1980s. This essay discusses one of Gotanda’s plays, Yankee Dawg You Die. By portraying the interactions between two actors of different generations, the play debates what role an Asian American actor should play in the entertainment business. The Asian American community had long been constructed as alien by the mainstream media. In what way does an Asian American actor, as part of the industry, regard his own profession? The work of Asian American performing artists often has to negotiate with various established oriental stereotypes. How does an Asian American playwright play with these images and further subvert them? In this article, I examine the US performing arts industry, and the relatively marginal position of Asian American actors, while attempting to situate the play Yankee Dawg You Die in this historical context for analysis. In the beginning of the play the two actors seem to represent two totally different visions, but in the end the author suggests that compliance and confrontation, submissiveness and resistance, are actually two sides of a coin for an Asian American actor.