Hakchon: from live concerts to childrens shows

By Chung Ah-young

Since Hakchon Theater opened on March 15, 1991, it has been the birthplace for live concerts and a variety of experimental art performances. Behind its continuous influence on the local art scene lies Kim Min-gi, iconic singer, director and president of the theater.

Now better known as cultural incubator for children’s shows and its representative rock musical “Line 1,” the theater is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its foundation. To mark the occasion, a variety of celebratory events are planned for this month.

Events

The special performance, “Hakchon Repertoire: from Line 1 to Gochujang Tteokboki” (rice cakes in hot sauce) will combine all 12 works that were staged at the theater from 1994 to 2011. They include “Line 1,” an 80-minute condensed version, mixed with scenes and songs from “Blood Brothers,” “Mosquito,” “Good Morning School,” “Gaeddongi,” “Pink Soldier” and “Do Do.” The performance will be staged from March 10 to 20. Tickets cost 50,000 won.

Also, various artists are to appear in concerts titled “Roh Young-sim’s Small Recital” throughout the month. Roh, a composer, pianist and singer, will perform from March 22 to 30. The program created and named by Kim initially began at the theater in 1991 and was held through 1994. After three performances at the theater in 1991, the concert became a weekend TV show on KBS for two years. It was the first of its kind for a musician, not a celebrity, to have a namesake program in an improvised format.

For her concert, veteran ’80s singers who attended the concert in the past, such as Park Hak-gi, Kwon Jin-won, Kim Hyung-suk, Ko Chang-yong, the band Zoo, pianist Kim Kwang-min, actor Park Sang-won, singer Lee Mun-se, guitarist Shin Dae-chul and indie singer Jang Ki-ha will perform together at Hakchon. Tickets cost 50,000 won.

Kim Min-gi, voice of the time

Born in 1951, Kim has many titles, from singer, painter and director to producer. He is often associated with his signature song “Morning Dew,” which was released in 1970, and sung by many young Korean university students who fought against the military dictatorship and governmental oppression in the 1970s and ’80s.

His album was banned by the government and he was arrested several times. His public activities, including his artistic career, were restricted under the dictatorial governments.

In 1980, when the democratization movement peaked in Gwangju, Kim returned to his hometown in North Jeolla Province to farm. Despite his absence from the public scene, his songs continued to be circulated mouth to mouth among the Korean youngsters.

In 1983, he returned to Seoul to pursue his artistic career but he was still not allowed to engage in public activities under his own name. In 1987, he was finally able to openly resume his professional work.

Then, Kim opened the theater in March 1991 in Daehangno as a small, 198-seat experimental space to offer a wide variety of performances from traditional plays to modern rock musicals. The opening of the theater heralded his second heyday as a thespian as well as making him a far-flung influence on the local performing arts scene.

Since then, Kim has translated and produced high-quality stage works and reinterpreted them into unique Korean tastes reflecting both traditional and contemporary values. In 1996, a second Hakchon Theater (186 seats) opened in the same area. The original theater was renamed Hakchon Blue, while the new one was named Hakchon Green.

From live concerts, rock musicals to children’s shows

Although the theater contributed to the boom in live concerts in Daehangno in the early days of its opening, it gradually found its own identity as a playhouse with a strong repertoire.

“Line 1” has become one of the nation’s most representative musicals with more than 4,000 performances over 15 years at home and abroad. The musical has been performed in Japan, Hong Kong, China and Germany. The show was originally a German work but Kim modified it into a Korean adaptation and Volker Ludwig, author of the original work, and its composer Birger Heyman exempted the theater from further royalties because of the originality of this version.

In addition to “Line 1,” the Hakchon troupe produced other musicals, including “Mosquito” in 1997, an adaptation of Willy Russell’s “Blood Brothers” in 1998 and recently “Gaeddongi” as well as the play “We Are Friends” for children.

The theater has also modernized other traditional genres, such as “pansori” (traditional Korean opera), Japanese kabuki and Chinese opera to Korean styles. But it is more committed to children’s shows, mixed with the Korean ethos and emotions, through down-to-earth stories and descriptions.

“It’s an ‘analogue’ sense that people can see actors person to person and meet other spectators. In Korea, children and teenagers don’t have such activities. So I want to work on cultural artwork based on this sense for them,” Kim said. “Korean children don’t have playing fields. They just have schools, hagwon and games. I want to infuse preschoolers with awareness and portray realism through stage work rather than fantasy.”