Global Community

Korea4Expats sponsors quiz night

Popular expat information site Korea4Expats will again be sponsoring one of its Wednesday Trivia Nights at Craftworks in Itaewon on Dec. 21 beginning at 8 p.m. Prizes include a 50,000 won bar tab at Craftworks plus tickets to various performances in Seoul from Korea4Expats including Jump, Dulsori Percussion Performance, Countdown 2012 and Black Water Dragon New Year's Cruise. There is a maximum of six players per team. Craftworks is located in Itaewon 2-dong, in between Haebangchon and Gyeongnidan, just a short walk from Noksapyeong station (Stop 630, Exit 2). As you exit, walk straight (walking toward Haebangchon). Take the underpass to the other side of the street and come out the stairs on the left. Cross the street at the light and walk a couple of meters toward the tunnel. On your right, just past Kumho Tires is the recessed entrance to Craftworks (if you get to the overpass steps, turn back, you've gone a few meters too far).

Sven Schelwach’s solo exhibition to end Sunday

International artist Sven Schelwach’s solo exhibition “The Parallel Universes” that has been running since Dec. 3 in Yongsan-gu will wrap up on Dec. 25 “Fascinated by topics such as perception, cognition, reality, time, and space, this series observes the way of experiencing our environment. It also questions how we perceive the world in general, and how we make things become our ‘reality,’” states a press release. “The works that are printed on aluminum show fragments, and little parts of larger pictures. What the prints are of ― plants, animals, fruits, liquids, etc. ― is not the central focus of these pieces. These works are there more so to make the viewer contemplate how small pieces of information are often not enough to understand the whole. Many times, people form an opinion very early on by only seeing bits and pieces of information, without comprehending the subject matter in its entirety. This leads to falsely categorizing, putting things or people in boxes, and creating a thinking pattern, which might not do justice at all, to the subject at hand.” Some of Sch

Expat theater offers Christmas comedy

By John Redmond David Sedaris as an elf? A Christmas comedy that everyone can enjoy. Saving the cash and staying put in Korea this Christmas? Don’t worry, there is still plenty to do to maintain that festive spirit in Seoul. Probationary Theatre plans to help homesick Seoul dwellers this Christmas by staging the hilarious one man comedy “The Santaland Diaries” by David Sedaris for what was supposed to be two shows only ― this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the White Box Theatre in Yongsan. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the show, the company is proud to announce a special 4 p.m. Christmas Eve matinee performance as well. Tickets are now available, so people are urged to book now to avoid disappointment. The show runs for 60 minutes, so those people with plans for dinner on Christmas Eve can still make it. “Due to an unprecedented amount of advanced bookings, both our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 8 p.m. performances of ‘The Santaland Diaries’ are now officially sold out. Please email us at probationarytheatre@gmail.com to be placed on our wait list,”

(550) Korea Cultural House (KOUS) (I)

(549) Winter service clinic

(548) Calendar (II)

(547) Calendar (I)

Cut Glass seeking cast

By John Redmond Expat theater group Cut Glass Theatre is holding auditions for a play to premier next year on Dec. 17 at Bar Carmen in Geyongidan. Taking place from 10 a.m. till 3 p.m., auditions for “Our Country’s Good” will be held for a cast of 22 comprising of 17 males and five females. The beautiful and inspiring 1988 work by playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker is considered one of the 100 most significant plays of the 20th century. Based on true events, “Good” chronicles a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales, Australia, in the 1780s, and a decision is made to put on a production of “The Recruiting Officer” to celebrate the king’s birthday. The play is to be cast with newly-arrived convicts from the British Isles. These unwitting and unwilling pioneers face starvation, the brutality of the guards and unknown terrors of a strange and wild land. “Few can read, few can act, and yet what emerges on stage is true today as was in 1789 ― the restorative power of theater to enlighten the best in us and transcend the worst,” st

Seoul-ful Swedish artist acknowledged

By Agnes Yu Swedish composer and performance artist Ida Grandas-Rhee was awarded the Remarkable Artist Award from Korea’s Association of Culture Critics on Dec. 7 and is the first non-Korean citizen to win the honor. Based in Seoul since 2009, Grandas-Rhee spent her childhood surrounded by the dense forests of central Sweden but isolated from outside influences where her precocious, creative spirit was able to thrive. She has a background in classical music and can play the piano and cello as well as guitar. Merging a combination of artistic licenses she is now a composer, musician, performing artist, writer, photographer and director. In June 2011, the EP with five songs, ``The Seoul Experiments’’ was released under the Studio Moglyeon label to much acclaim. Her music is soulful, poetic, unique and welcoming. In September 2011, she was a guest on the TBSeFM Steve Hatherly show where she performed some of her music live. Although she is Swedish, she sings in English. Without limiting herself, Grandas-Rhee examines all aspects of expression through not just sound but

Expat theater group to perform

By John Redmond Seoul City Improv (SCI), Seoul’s premiere improvisational comedy troupe, announced the arrival of international improv sensation, ImprovBoston (IB) at Moon Night (formerly Club After) in Itaewon on Dec. 17. The following night, members of the guest troupe will be running SCI’s weekly rehearsal which is open to all at Bar Carmen in Geyongidan. Will Luera, artistic director of IB, will be holding an “Intro to Improv” class for anyone who would like to give this dynamic performance art a try. Improvisational theatre is best known as improv, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously. Improvisers typically use audience suggestions to contribute to the content and direction of the performance as they create dialogue, setting, and plot extemporaneously. IB has been performing sketch, stand-up and improvisational comedy around the world for nearly 30 years. The group was voted Boston’s Best Comedy Club