Cross-Cultural Theater Group to Perform on Street
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
A cross-cultural theater group with a cast of Koreans and foreigners will present a performance titled ``Brief Encounters’’ around the city between Aug. 30 and Sept. 27.
Root Experience, the performing arts troupe, will explore cultural differences in the upcoming street performance.
The actors blend facial expressions, body language and unrecognizable, yet seemingly familiar, sounds in a home-grown project anyone can enjoy.
The performance is the result of a number of workshops that have taken place over the last four months with participants from six different countries, ranging in age from 21 to 55.
“In an emerging international environment like Seoul, it’s interesting to see how we all interact with one another, sometimes in response to our cultures and sometimes on a purely human level,’’ said Nam Eun-jung, an actor in the production.
"Brief Encounters" is sure to make both natives and foreigners laugh and reflect on their daily social interactions.
In the performance, the actors make use of masks to interact with the audience, part of a series of wordless short scenes controlled by a protagonist ― the actor approaches a person, predicts what he or she might be like, and then acts out the predicted characteristics using a mask.
Under the artistic direction of Simon Magnus, a London-based theater director with 10 years of experience in the industry, Root Experience works on the belief that at its essence, theatre is about bringing stories to life ― creating magic from the mundane.
``Brief Encounters’’ is free to all audience members. The performance will be playing on various streets around Seoul, including Aug. 30 at 5 p.m. at Marronnier Park, Hyehwa; Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. at Marronnier Park; Sept. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at Cheonggyecheon Plaza; Sept. 20 at 4 p.m. at Hongdae Playground; and Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. at the Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival held at Peace Gate in Olympic Park.