NTC of Korea is proud to present a new play about the true meaning of communication. We have been committed to new writing and giving a platform to unique voices is at the bedrock of the work we commission and develop. With A Portrait of Koreans, we are happy to continue our endeavor to stage new plays which reflect our time and life. This season, we try ‘devised theater’ based on creative collaboration between actors and a director in order to present testimony of different perspectives of our time. The ‘creative collaboration’ does not simply refer to collective contribution of different members of the creative team to create a new theater piece without a script. It is refer to the dynamic communication between the theater makers and the audience. The director and the actors are waiting for you to join and to take part in the meaningful communication in search of the true identity of contemporary Korea.

A Portrait of Koreans is a portrait of you, me, and all of us!

– Kim Jeong-eun, an actor in A Portrait of Koreans

Director Koh Sun-woong is a storyteller, like Shakespeare,

who tells old tales in a new way making them resonating in the hearts of everyone.

Last year, director Koh created for NTC Korea The Orphan of Zhao which was heralded as one of the best productions of the year. His new Korean adaptation of the Chinese classic received many theater awards including Donga Theaer Awards and the Korean Theater Awards for Best Performance, Best Director and Best Actor, bringing him under the spotlight as the most noteworthy theater director. Now Koh joined hands with NTC of Korea once again to create A Portrait of Koreans which will be an outcome of innovative and creative collaboration between theater artists and audiences.

The play is about people searching for their own identities. Many snap shots of Korean contemporary life were put together from improvisations of the actors and they were molded into a black comedy. The season company actors of NTC Korea have been working together with director Koh for the past two months to bring to stage the stories to which everyone can relate. The performance space in the Studio Pan has almost no division between the acting area and auditorium. We hope that the audience of A Portrait of Koreans share their laughs and tears with other members of the audiences as well as with the actors on the stage.

Koh Sun-woong is a theater artist who has shown

his unique presence in the world of Korean theater last year.

–The Donga Daily

You might discover yourself on stage, a reflection of yourself mirrored by the actors.

Korea has the fastest Internet connection in the world. We live in the country in the second place in scholastic achievement and in the third place in economic competitiveness. Korea stands shoulder to shoulder with other developed countries. But the Korean life is far from being happy. So the truthful images of the Korean life presented on the stage are not very pretty: an apartment security guard who survives each day as if he lives in a battlefield, a housewife who is addicted to computer games and college kids who put posters up on the wall to earn their tuition fee. If you want to find someone else to blame for all the problems in your life, you will find your own portrait on this stage. Your own story would not be far better than the stories in the play. However, this show is about finding hope in the midst of misery and sorrow. So you might find it embarrassing or shameful to see yourself in this story, but at least you will laugh with other audiences sharing some food for thoughts on our contemporary life in Korea.

CREDIT

Script Writer&Director Koh Sun-woong

Stage & Prop Designer Kim Kyo-eun

Lighting Designer Ryou Back-hee

Costume Designer Choi Youn-joung

Music Kim Tae-kyu

Choreographer Kim Bo-Ram

Make-up Designer Lee Ji-yeon     

Cast Jung Jai-jin, Won Young-Ae, Jun Soo-Hwan, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Jung-hwan, Lee Dong-joon, Lee Ki-don, Hwang Soon-mi, KIM Sun-A, Jun Kyung-soo, Baek Seok-gwang, Ahn Byung-chan

Production National Theater Company of Korea

Artistic Director Kim Yun-cheol