National Theater Company of KOREA

KOREAN
Booking Information

Introduction

TYA Research Center opened as an affiliated organization of the National Theater Company of Korea on May 2, 2011, to focus on the study and development of Theater for Young Audiences. Our task, above all, is to conduct research and hold workshops for the development of TYA. We also produce shows for young audiences combining dramatic activities with the practice of art. We are dedicated to building a better environment for young audiences and their future in Korea. Young people are active cultural agents. TYA Research Center continuously communicates and works to engage young people. The meaning and the social role of TYA are what we always have in mind. Thus we keep asking what it means to produce TYA in the context of Korean society and what kind of theater we should be making. We hope we will be the signpost for the future of Korean theater for young audiences through our endless questions and searches for answers. Theater for Young Audiences is not just for one particular generation. Theater for young audiences allows diverse people to come together, and the generational gap between young people and adults disappears

·   Repertoires and Productions

Boys Did It(Original work The Stones by Tom Likos and stefo Nantsou / Adapted by Han, Hyunjoo / Directed by Nam, Inwoo) Wrestling Season(Original work by Lorry Brooks / Adapted by Han, Hyunjoo / Directed by Seo, Choongsik), Red Bus(Written and directed by Park, Keunhyung), Yellow Moon-The ballad of Leila and Lee(Written by David Greig / Directed by Tony Graham), The Hamster Murder Case(Written by Hoe, sunhey / Directed by Choi, Yoerim), Standing Next to You(Written by Park,Chankyu / Directed by Kim, Suhee), Flying Boys and Girls KW4839(Written and Directed by Yeo, Shindong), Ostrich Boys(Based on the novel by Keith Gray / Adapted by Carl Miller / Directed by Tony Graham), The Ballads for Roxane(Original story by Edmond Rostand / Adapted by Kim, Taehyoung / Directed by Seo, Choongsik)

·   Creative Incubator Program

Fostering young artists and preparing for the next generation
  • Little Theater Big Actor
  • Youth-Artist Creative Belt
  • Young Artists’ Exploration
  • International collaboration project
  • This program is designed to support actors to create and develop new works, and to experiment on new styles. Until now, approximately 90 independent artists, including actors, storytellers, independent performers, illustrators and art educators, have participated in our workshops in movements, storytelling, and acting with objects. Every summer, we also provide a program entitled “Little Theater in the Midsummer Night“ in which the participating artists showcase to the audience their finished works.
  • <Youth-Artist Creative Belt> began in 2012 with the goal to provide a space in which writers, youth, and professional artists can collaborate and develop plays. We develop three original plays for theater for young audiences each year through playwriting contests, creative workshops and showcase readings.
  • This project is designed to provide exciting opportunities for teenagers to become active agents in creating theater. It is meant to be a space where teenagers and professional artists work together to discover the importance and potential of theater on a profound level. We encourage experiments and explorations of new possibilities. Professional artists and teenagers “explored” together in three fields: sound, movement, space(2013) and movement, object, text(2015). As the end result of space exploration came the showcase performance of We Are Here, which later was produced under the new title Flying Boys and Girls KW4839 as a part of RelayⅡ in 2014.
  • The Center has been holding workshops in which young Korean people work with professional artists from other countries with the goal of creating original plays. Establishing a creative system based on research is another goal we are trying to achieve through this international project.

·   Academic Research on Theater for Young Audiences

sharing cultural and philosophical values at the intersection of theater, society and young people
  • Theater for Young Audiences International Symposium
  • Talking Space
  • Publication of Academic Research on
    Theater for Young Audiences
  • International Symposium, ‘Theater for Young Audiences, Sharing for Visions.’
    July 2011 / Pan Theater

    International Symposium in celebration of the first anniversary of TYA Research Center: “In Search of the New Face of Theater for Young Audiences”
    May 2012 / Pan Theater

    International Symposium and showcase ‘TYA Autumn Festa’
    Sep 2015 / Baik-Chang Theater & Open Yard, NTCK
  • TYA Research Center not only produces theater but also tries to raise social awareness in youth and about TYA. In order to form a social consensus on TYA, we arrange communicative spaces for audiences, professional practitioners, and academic experts to come together and share their ideas.
  • TYA Research Center organizes academic research projects on policies and methodology of TYA and on international case studies. We also publish case studies of our own productions, recording the TYA production processes and know-hows. Thus, we try to raise and expand social issues and academic discourses on TYA from various angles.