“A Village,” Joint Performance by School of Drama and Bird Theatre Company Wins Great Acclaim

On 9 July and 10 July, “A Village,” a theatrical work co-produced by the School of Drama and the Bird Theatre Company from Japan came on the stage. The Bird Theatre Company is a theater company and performance center based in Tottori, Shikano, Japan.

“A Village” is an outcome of three years of the collaborative project between Korea and Japan started in 2020, which was a part of the creative play platform project which aimed to support the graduate and prospective graduate students of the School of Drama. Amid the COVID-19, the performance was staged in reading performances in Korea and Japan each while sharing the experience through YouTube live streaming and having conversations with the audience or holding meetings via Zoom. The first joint performance presented this time took place after three weeks of collaborative exercise by the cast and staff in Japan from 19 June.

Lee Yeonju, the representative of The Call’s Ringing Theater Company in Seoul, wrote the play and Ha Dongki, the representative of Baeksukwangbu Theater Company, directed the work. Both are alumni of the School of Drama. Shin Dong-keun and Yoon Jiyeong, the current students majoring in Acting, appeared in the work. Park Seongwon as a dramaturg and Joo Miyeong as a set designer, who are both alumni of the Department of Theatre Studies, participated in the production. Also, four actors from the Free Theater from Japan, a theater company with disabled actors, took part.

The barrier-free production, eliminating the border between the disabled and non-disabled, earned the great acclaim of the audience. The number of users for the caption devices and sign language interpretation marked the highest in the history of Free Theatre performances. The local newspapers and media also showed great interest. The event particularly heightened the expectation for setting a new model of cultural exchange between a national arts university and a foreign professional performance organization.