질병의 신체/공연의 주체: 미국 일인극에 나타난 치유의 내러티브와 공동체

Ill Bodies/Performing Subjects: Therapeutic Narratization and Community in American Solo Performance

This essay explores the healing properties of autobiographical cancer monologues, concentrating on Susan Miller’s My Left Breast and Brian Lobel’s BALL. These plays follow the tradition of American solo performance, while firmly predicated on the discourse of drama therapy. When Miller and Lobel perform personal narratives of illness, their solo performances integrate the performative “doing” and the past events; their storytelling serves as a means of (re)structuring and taking control of their past experience, redefining their identities. Even though they repeat the tradition of the cancer survivor narrative, Miller and Lobel reject the moniker of the heroic survivor/“cancer heroine.” Instead, their narratives present them as performers rather than as survivors. As in drama therapy, the two performers distance themselves from the protagonists of the narrative to reflect on themselves as well as on the past and present problems. This results in a heightened sense of their identities. The performers encourage the spectator to participate as a “witness” to their “testimonies” and thus to negotiate the fear of death and illness. The performer/audience interaction leads to a sense of community and mutual transformations, which is an integral part of drama therapy. In this sense, the narratives of Miller and Lobel offer healing opportunities to both the performer and the spectator.