Global Community

Australian beef and wine promotion at Seoul Club

An Australian beef and wine promotion event will take place for a week at the Seoul Club starting today, providing an opportunity to taste and discover Australia’s wagyu and grain-fed beef. Participants can order from the promotional menu and receive a 50 percent discount on glasses and bottles of wine. This promotion is open to members of the Seoul Club and will end on April 20. For more information contact the front desk on (02) 2200-3200 or email reservation@seoulclub.org

Suicide(s) in Vegas to premiere in Seoul

By John Redmond MW Productions in association with Probationary Theatre Company presents the world premiere of “Suicide(s) in Vegas” at the White Box Theatre from April 28 to May 1. The one-act comedy is by award-winning Canadian playwright Evan Placey. The story involves two women who connect randomly over the Internet; the two want to end it all, but not alone. Lydia’s an over-commercialized self-help guru. Jane’s a lonely tollbooth collector. But surviving (and dying) are tricky in this dark comedy about the fantastic awfulness that Vegas sometimes can be. Evan Placey is a winner of the Tarragon Theatre RBC National Playwriting Competition. Founded in 2000 in Australia, Probationary Theatre Company (PTC) aims to create interesting & accessible theater. PTC’s first production of “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” opened at the Melbourne Fringe Festival to rave reviews, receiving a best newcomer award. Since then, PTC has produced a variety of shows and toured to various parts of Australia, receiving several awards, before moving its base to Seoul. White Box Theatre,

(420) Korean fan dance

(419) Current events: Rising fuel prices

(418) Spring Cleaning

(417) Current Events: Libyan uprising

Tomodachi event to help Japan victims

“Tomodachi” is a Japanese word that means “friend.” In January 1995, the earthquake in Kobe was a horrific prelude to the destruction currently plaguing Japan. Among the victims, Ria Kanaya-Kim experienced a traumatic separation from her family and even lost a family member in the natural disaster. The news and images of the latest catastrophe to strike Japan reminded Kanaya-Kim of the terrible memories from 16 years ago. No water, no food, no house, no shower in the midst of a freezing cold winter. This time around she became inspired to do something and what better way than to organize a fund-raising event for the thousands of victims suffering the same things she had gone through already. With much help from her network of friends, the Tomadachi event will take place on Friday at Function within Macaroni Market in Itaewon. Doors open at 10 p.m. with an entrance fee of 10,000 won which along with bar sales will all be donated for relief aid in Tohoku, Japan, one of the hardest hit regions in the country. Call 02-749-9181 for more information.

Actors Without Barders to present Macbeth

By John Redmond Actors Without Barder's (AWB) will present William Shakespeare's benchmark tragedy about regicide and its aftermath, “Macbeth,” at the Chango theater in Myeongdong beginning April 9. “Macbeth” is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. His sources are the accounts of King Macbeth of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in “Holinshed's Chronicles” (1587), a history of England, Scotland and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. William Shakespeare, the English poet and playwright was often called “The Bard of Avon” hence the name of this theater troupe. This production stands as the first full-length Shakespeare text ever produced by an English company in Seoul, and promises to offer all the dark thrills of the original text, folded inside of a uniquely woven, modern production aesthetic. Drawing on inspiration from such diverse sources as modern film and classic Japanese “butoh” performance, this production promises to capture the audience with its raw energy, stunning soun

Kiwi Chamber, AustCham lift rugby to new heights in Korea

Charity Dinner to raise funds and spirits By Agnes Yu Back in the 19th century, English public school boys came up with the game of rugby and generations of grunting, running with the ball, and colorful striped jumpers ensued. Now with the ambitious aim of promoting the sport of rugby in Korea, the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Korea, Kiwi Chamber, and the Australian Chamber of Commerce Korea, AustCham will bring together two rugby legends and over 400 enthusiasts for a Rugby Charity Dinner on April 13 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel’s Grand Ballroom. The event also aims to raise funds for the countless victims of both the devastating Christchurch and Japan earthquakes. In collaboration the two chambers are hoping that rugby’s growing global popularity will spread to Korea. “Although not yet a major sport in Korea, rugby is increasing in stature with a fast improving national team and a number of domestic rugby clubs and university teams,” said Graeme Solloway, a director of the Kiwi Chamber. “We hope that holding this charity dinner will publicize the sport in Korea.”

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