Mangwon Theater Project blurs language and space inside Seoul cafe
A promotional image for Mangwon Theater Project / Courtesy of Tasha Park
A one-day experimental theater project in Seoul will challenge how audiences experience performance by dissolving boundaries of language, space and form.
On Sunday, the Mangwon Theater Project will stage five original short plays inside a working cafe, Bumgoal Coffee in western Seoul, blending Korean and English dialogue and placing audiences directly within the action.
Rather than separating performers from viewers, the production will unfold within an everyday environment. Actors will be among the audience, with no fixed stage or backstage, the performances beginning before viewers realize they have started, transforming the cafe into an immersive setting.
Staging the work in a cafe is central to the project’s concept, but the intimacy it creates also brings uncertainty. Kwon Min-chun, who wrote three of the five plays and is directing four of the performances, said the lack of physical separation between audience and actors makes each show unpredictable.
“This is my first time directing, so we’re all figuring this out together,” he said. “This setting has good aspects, but there are obstacles, too. In a theater you have stage lights shining on you blocking out the audience, and that helps you focus. This time, the audience is all around us — it is more difficult to predict.”
The Mangwon Theater Project grew out of ROOOPRI, a small independent collective created by Kwon and his partner, Tasha Park. Through ROOOPRI, the pair host what they’ve dubbed the Mangwon Salon, a semiregular gathering for writers, performers and artists to create and share their work.
Kwon describes the salon as “kind of an incubator,” where ideas develop into larger artistic projects.
“We have all these different people and they plant their own seeds, and it grows into something bigger,” he said.
The theater idea was shaped in part by the recent publication of Kwon’s Korean-language poetry book, which Park said highlighted how language barriers can create distance in shared artistic spaces. While ROOOPRI has previously hosted art exhibits, fashion shows and musical performances — forms that often transcend language — theater, especially at a small scale, can exclude audiences when language becomes a gatekeeper, she noted.
The theater project has been in development since last October, when Park put a call out for original scripts. Rehearsals began soon after, with 14 performers cast, including four foreign actors.
A promotional image for Mangwon Theater Project / Courtesy of Tasha Park
For Roseann Orthober, 39, who appears in “Copacabana” and has never acted before, the informal setting lowers the stakes of performing live.
“It definitely makes it feel less risky,” said Orthober, who moved to Seoul last year after teaching English for nine years in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. “It’s such an organic process. As we rehearse, it feels like we’re growing together. 'Connect' is the word that often comes to mind.”
Across the five plays, the scripts blend Korean and English, sometimes within a single performance, in an effort to broaden audience appeal. The bilingual structure aims to create a shared experience even when audience members do not understand every word.
Brittan Fischer, 23, who came to Korea four years ago as a fashion student and later entered the entertainment industry, acts in “Merry go round,” which is being performed in both English and Korean. While she has acted and modeled on sets, the project marks her first live performance.
“It’s been interesting to see the different acting styles between the English-language performers and the Korean actors as we rehearse,” she said. “We have the same lines in each language, but the delivery is so different, and the audience will see that.”
The event will take place at Bumgoal Coffee in Mangwon on Sunday, beginning at 4 p.m. Each play runs about 15 to 20 minutes, with a total run time of about 80 minutes. Tickets must be reserved in advance. Follow @rooopri_kr on Instagram or contact 010-5462-4090 for more information.