Amy Mi-hyang sheds light on adoptees

By David Kendall

Contributing writer

Adopted from Korea in 1983, Cho Mi-hyang grew up as Amy Ginther, an all-American girl. “I chose Mi-hyang as my stage name because I wanted it to more accurately reflect my ethnicity on my resume and at auditions.”

An ethnic Korean in mostly Caucasian West Sand Lake, New York, she naturally became interested in the issue of adoption. Her one-woman show “between” came out of her thesis for a BFA at Hofstra University on Long Island. She plays the starring role of an adoptee in search of her real mother. It was performed as a workshop there and then at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006. She’s now preparing for the Asia debut in Seoul.

The additional characters in the play were inspired by friends and other adoptees in America who are struggling with serious problems. The setting is the roundtrip flight to Korea for the reconnection with her birth mother. She wanted to voice their stories and those of unwed mothers because she has discovered that while many experiences are commonly shared, each individual is impacted in very different ways.

Her play has gone through many revisions and the birth mother roles will now be spoken in Korean. The entire play has been translated, and English and Korean supertitles will be shown as required. “I felt it was important for the Korean community to understand what our lives were like in the U.S. after we were adopted, so they could support the rights of adoptees and unwed mothers,” she later added by e-mail.

Both her adoptive and birth families have been very supportive. In contrast she said, “When I started to research adoptees, I discovered how unique that type of support actually was.”

“Some adoptees think that once they find out where they came from their identity issues will be solved, but it opens up many more questions. Suddenly, they might be faced with this whole new Korean family telling them how they should speak and act.”

Many adoptees and birth mothers, according to Mi-hyang, are going around agencies to find each other through online registries. One site providing such a service is www.koroot.org. They also offer low-cost lodging and cultural activities to returning adoptees at a house by Gyeongbok Palace. Mi-hyang is using the Koroot house for rehearsal space, and that’s where this interview took place on March 31.

“I went to the adoption agency in America for help finding her, but the process was very bureaucratic. A Korean friend at my university got on the phone and called the offices in Seoul and was able to find her.” Mi-hyang is skeptical about agencies’ willingness to help adoptees reunite with their birth families: “It’s a conflict of interest for them to reunite us once again.”

She will give the proceeds from her play to the Korean Unwed Mothers & Families Association.

“When I met these mothers and children, the love and commitment between them was so obvious. I think there would be far fewer babies given up for adoption in Korea if unwed mothers had more chances.”

Club After Mainstage in Itaewon will run “between” from April 8 to 17 on Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tickets are W15,000 and all proceeds will go to KUMFA.

There will be audience talkback sessions after the 4 p.m. shows on Saturdays. Directions: Itaewon Station (Line 6, Exit 3); U-turn immediately after exiting the subway, turn left at the corner in front of Cold Stone Creamery and left soon again into the street after Family Mart. Go straight about 60 meters and turn right. The sign “After” can be seen on the left side of that side street. See ticketing@seoulplayers.com and www.seoulplayers.com for tickets and more detailed information.