Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
National Theater Company of Korea to present plays on diversity issues
“Tears of unknown artist and Zaytun pasta” Courtesy of NTCK
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
Poster for “Setup 202” by the National Theater Company of Korea (NTCK) / Courtesy of NTCK
The National Theater Company of Korea (NTCK) will showcase experimental plays exploring diversity issues as part of its project to question conventional wisdom and formats of plays at the theater from April 16 to May 10. Titled “Setup 202,” meaning taking one step further from 101, the art troupe will present four plays on sexual minorities, robots and hybrid art, which the art company underlined as key issues in society.
So far, the NTCK has been adapting classic novels such as “The Plague” and “1984” and novels written by veteran authors into stage plays. This time, however, it tried to cultivate young authors so that it could expand the horizons of theatrical works and raise awareness of social issues.
“In The Tears of an Unknown Artist, or Zaytun Pasta,” an adaptation from author Park Sang-young's novel with the same title, would talk about the lives of sexual minorities through funny and ordinary daily episodes. It uses the whole stage and seats of the theater for the performance while audiences would be seated in 360-degree swivel chairs so that they can see the whole play by turning around. The play will be showcased from April 16 to May 10.
Performed by actress Sung Soo-yeon, who won the prize for young play-actor in 2019 at the Baeksang Arts Awards, “Actress One: Robot Actor No. 1” and “Actress Two: Villain Actor” will be centering on questioning the nature of being human and arts by showing a robot actor in the future when AI becomes more a part of daily life. The former play will be performed between April 16 and 25 while the latter will be played from May 1 to 10.
“Dangkeulmaeda” or “Spirit Awaits” is a media art performance by EASThug showing a unique musical interpretation of gut, a ritual performed by Korean shamans to cleanse the bad energy. During the performance which can be seen at the outdoor spaces of the theater on May 1, 2, 8 and 9, audiences will watch a lighting projection changing according to sounds while listening to it through Bluetooth headphones.
Tickets will go on sale April 9. Visit ntck.or.kr for more information.