Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Sejong Center opens black box theater
Exterior of Sejong S Theater / Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Opening program lacks uniqueness
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts is one of the largest and most prestigious theaters in Korea with its Grand Theater, M Theater and Chamber Hall. Now the theater is making an attempt to nurture more experimental works at its newly built Sejong S Theater, opening Thursday.
"The Sejong S Theater is a black box theater, in which stage and seat composition can be easily modified. This is going to be a cradle for innovative theatrical productions from plays and musicals to dance, music and traditional art," Kim Sung-kyu, the theater's new CEO who took office in September, said at a press conference, Monday.
The 2,200 square-meter theater has roughly 320 seats and has an orchestra pit, which could provide a better environment for live music for small-sized productions.
However, the program of the Sejong S Theater's opening festival is rather disappointing.
Despite bragging about the versatility of the theater, none of the shows prepared for the opening festival, which runs through the end of this year, utilizes the theater's characteristics.
First on the line up are concerts by Won Mi-sol and Lee Sung-joon, two prominent composers and musical directors on Oct.18 and 21. The concert will use three sides of the seats, but is mainly designed for audience members in the front.
The Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, Theatre de Liege's “NATIVOS” and the Seoul Metropolitan Theatre's new play "Termite in Desert" will also be in staged in the traditional proscenium style.
Sejong S Theater is a black box theater for flexible staging techniques. / Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts
"We haven't prepared any black box theater-style shows for the opening festival. The first piece that will maximize the theater's versatility will be 'The Helmet' early next year. A box will be installed on the stage and audiences will watch the same plot from different perspectives from a special seat inside the box," Kim Hee-chul, the theater's director, explained.
The Seoul Metropolitan Theatre artistic director Kim Gwang-bo said the troupe has been receiving scripts for the S Theater's opening, but it was hard to find a proper one for flexible staging techniques.
“So we looked for plays with literary quality and timeliness. Termite in Desert reveals the dark side of our society through a crumbling old house. It was difficult to put this concept in central staging style, so we had to choose the proscenium style," Gwang-bo said. "We will try to produce more experimental works suitable for the black box theater in the future."
Another notable part of the opening festival is the theater's attempt to bring opera closer to the public.
The theater's affiliated Seoul Metropolitan Opera will stage two modern operas by American composer Gian Carlo Menotti at the S Theater ― "Amahl and the Night Visitors" from Dec. 19 to 23 and "The Old Maid and the Thief" from Dec. 26 to 30.
"Menotti's operas were written for television or radio and we thought those were proper for staging at a small theater, breaking away from stereotypes of opera-watching at grand theaters," Lee Kyung-jae, director of Seoul Metropolitan Opera, said.
For more information, visit www.sejongpac.or.kr or call (02) 399-1000.