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| Kim Kwang-bo, artistic director of National Theater Company of Korea, speaks during an online press conference, Monday. Courtesy of NTCK |
'Angels in America' to premiere in Korea
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The National Theater Company of Korea (NTCK) will strengthen its online screening repertoire, pursue a barrier-free theater experience and reduce its carbon footprint this year.
Kim Kwang-bo, the new artistic director inaugurated about two months ago, said that during his three-year term, the NTCK will embrace new, relevant discourse into productions as he believes that the value of a play should be enjoyed by everyone, equally.
The three major tasks of the NTCK this year are strengthening public awareness, guaranteeing freedom of expression and participating in actions to mitigate climate change.
Kim is a seasoned director who gained experience in "art management" as artistic director at the Seoul Metropolitan Theatre from 2015 to 2020.
"It's been 70 days since I was officially inaugurated and about 100 days including the take-over period. The NTCK from the insider's perspective is quite different from what I saw from the outside. I will try my best for the NTCK and its members to get their efforts properly recognized," Kim said during an online press conference, Monday.
To reduce the theater's carbon footprint, Kim will encourage productions to be more efficient.
"For instance, as a director, I found some of the sets or props were not needed during rehearsals. If I had planned more meticulously in advance, I could have reduced some carbon dioxide emissions. Reducing carbon footprints is a global trend and we need to recognize such contemporary issues to take a step further," Kim explained.
The NTCK was involved in the former Park Geun-hye administration's cultural "blacklist" as the national troupe's staging of Park Kun-hyung's play "Frog," satirizing former President Park Chung-hee, the father of Park Geun-hye, led to Park Kun-hyung being excluded from future state funding at the time.
As an attempt to detail the events of the time, Kim said he will publish a source book on the cultural blacklist cases that impacted within the NTCK to learn from the incident and prevent any similar recurrence.
While some of the plays in this year's lineup are ones pushed back from last year due to the pandemic, the NTCK will also present a few highly-anticipated premieres and reruns from its repertoire.
Among the new works, Kim picked the barrier-free performances of "Roadkill in the Theater" by Khoo Ja-hye in October, and the Korean premiere of Tony Kushner's 1991 play "Angels in America" in November as highlights.
"Roadkill in the Theater" brings the theme of animals killed on roads to the stage, expanding from the human-centered perspective. Every performance will be barrier-free for the visually- and hearing-impaired, providing a theatrical experience for a diverse audience. It will also be one of the NTCK's online presentations.
"Angels in America" will present part one in November with part two planned for February 2022. The Korean production will be directed by Shin Yu-cheong, known for his interpretations of "Incendies" and "Wife."
"This play premiered about 30 years ago, but I find it still resonates with contemporary issues as it discusses universal questions we face now," Kim said.
"I expect the young directors Khoo and Shin to show their unique characteristics in these new productions," Kim added.
"Faust Ending," a rendition of "Faust" by German writer Goethe, will be presented at the Myeongdong Theater from Feb. 26 to March 28. The titular role will be played by veteran actress and former National Changgeuk Company of Korea artistic director Kim Sung-nyo.
A major piece from the troupe's repertoire, "The Orphan of Zhao: Seeds of Revenge," directed by Koh Sun-woong, will be presented again this year at the Myeongdong Theater from April 9 to May 9 as well as online.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the online screening of theatrical performances has become a "new normal" and to keep up with the times, the NTCK assigned a 1 billion won ($906,000) budget to video its productions.
