Press Release ‘Theater without Actor’

2013 New Concept Performance Art Series of Hanguk Performing Arts Center

‘Theater without Actor’

Live Experimental Theatre Made by Kyoung-ju Park, a New Conceptual Artist, with Multicultural People

 

 

'Theater without Actor' is an experimental theater selected by Hanguk Performing Arts Center as a special performance in part of interdisciplinary arts of a new concept performance art series, which covers a multicultural discourse through a live talk show. It is a kind of a 'making theater' that total four theatres of 'the Series of Unrespected Death' created by Kyongju Park based on real stories that she had covered while managing Salad TV, a multicultural broadcasting system, and performed by the Theatre Salad.

There will be several ENG cameras on the stage which looks like the one for broadcasting and that an announcer will lead a talk show. The talk show will be transmitted real time to the broadcasting system in an operating room and edited real time to be broadcasted for 120 minutes through a live channel titled 'Theater without Actor' of Ustream. Also, replies made by web users to the moving picture of Ustream will be shown real time in a screen on the stage. Audiences will have an opportunity to directly participate in discussion.

The Series of Unrespected Death that Kyongju Park, an artist, made with Salad, the first multicultural theater in Korea, is the series of creative performances covering the stories of Korean miners dispatched to Germany whom she had met while studying in the country, migrant workers residing in Korea whom she had met while covering the fire incident occurring in Yeosu Foreigners' Detention Center, a migrant woman who came to Korea through a brokerage of a human trafficking type international marriage and fell to death, and refugees in Korea whom she had met while covering their stories.

Kyongju Park made 'the persons who experienced the incidents' play as 'actors' on the stage on purpose in all performances of the series. Survivors from the fire in Yeosu Foreigners' Detention Center and the director of the counselling center in charge of their counseling, Korean male victims of international marriage, refugees in Korea, marriage migrant women, etc. participated in theatres to deliver 'the truths' of our era that audiences could feel uncomfortable to the audiences in a credible voice.

While the Series of Unrespected Death were performed, diverse episodes were created. Survivors from the fire incident who delivered their stories on the stage shook with anxiety and left the theater when watching the scene that migrant actors and actresses of Salad represented the fire after finishing telling their stories and did not come again. At that time, survivors just stayed uneasily in Korea without a visa. This performance had been played in front of diverse audiences in Offices of Education, Multicultural Centers, etc. One teacher watching the performance threw away a steel-barred window that actors grabbed because the teacher could not ignore actors' shouting "Open the Door" One audience watching a talk show of male victims of international marriage left the theater, saying that the audience was likely to vomit and another audience cried, listening to 'the letters sent to wives who left' that male victims read.

On the other hand, the Series of Unrespected Death have faced a harsh criticism. 'Acting but not acting' done by 'migrant actors and actresses and the persons experiencing incidents who were not good at delivering lines compared to Korean actors has been the most critical problem and a director's capability of completing performances with 'involved persons' not with 'actors and actresses' also was judged.

Kyongju Park defines the Series of Unrespected Death as the theatre without actors and actresses. The most important factor of theater is actor. However, if persons involved in incidents instead of expert actors or actresses who have been perfectly technically trained deliver their stories on the stage, is it called theater? Is 'theater without actors and actresses' possible? What is theater? What is art? Where is the borderline between art and life? Isn't it possible that life becomes closer to art and art becomes closer to life? Kyongju Park now wants to frankly talk with audiences about theatrical experiments and achievement that Salad, the first multicultrual theater in Korea, has done for last four years through ' 'Theater without Actor.'

 

Theater without Actor

'Theater without Actors and Actresses' is lively broadcasted through Ustream. (Broadcasting time: same as the running time)

http://ustre.am/14kgp  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/배우-없는-연극

Date: 8 pm on September 6th, 3 pm and 7 pm on September 7th, and 3 pm on September 8th in 2013

Location: Small hall in Arko Arts Theater, Hanguk Performing Arts Center

Host: Hanguk Performing Arts Center , Salad

Organizer: Salad, Undergroundartchannel

Writer/Planner/Director: Kyongju Park

Media director: Sungsuk Suk

Choreography: Kaseki Yuko

Music: Wolfgang in der Wiesche, Sato Yukie

Stage art: Jaesung Lee

Promotion: Hyoungju Park

Running time: 120 minutes

Cast: Dashmaa Purey, Lorna de Matheo, Gyehwa Kim, Gobchangjeungol, Amarsaikhan Tserennadmid, Tsogtbaatar Uranchimeg, Baldez ma Gleiza, Gono Daiske, etc.

Ticketing: 02-3668-0007 www.hanpac.or.kr, Hanguk Performing Arts Center, Interpark, Salad

Ticket price: KRW 25,000

50% discount for the disabled and men of national merit, 30% discount for multicultural family members, 20% discount for members of Hanguk Performing Arts Center

Sponsor: AGI SOCIETY

* The exhibition on 'Theater without Actors and Actresses' will be held in the hall one hour before the performance. (free admission)

 

Description of Theatre

It is a kind of 'making theatre' about incidents that Salad has gone through for last four years while creating performances only with migrants. Multicultural persons who have been on the stage created by Salad are invited to the performance. Videos of previous performances will be edited to be aired during the performance. The stage will be made like a studio of a broadcasting system and the involved persons invited to the talk show will be filmed real time. The talk shaw and documentary images are also edited real time. These edited images will be broadcasted through the live channel titled 'Theater without Actors and Actress' of Ustream. Involved persons will participate in the talk show as presenters and panelists so there will be a basic script. However, usually, directions will be given impromptu to use people's messages.

Performance of migrant actors and actresses will be done impromptu and they will induce audiences to participate in the performance. Overall directions are also impromptu to maximize roles of audiences, actors, presenters, and panelists. However, the video aired on the web live will be produced in a sophisticated way in terms of techniques and structure. General public as well as involved persons will be invited through an application process. Like general broadcasting programs, audiences have opportunities to express their opinions and ask questions. Props, clothing, and documentary images used for previous performances of Salad will be displayed as installations in the hall and the hall will be open as an exhibition hall even at a time when the performance is not done.

 

Performance structure

1. Videos of performance

Videos of previous performances done by Salad for last four years as part of 'Theater without Actors and Actresses'

'Do You Remember Me?' The Story of Korean Miners Dispatched to Germany

.The performance for commemorating colleagues died more than 1000 meters underground in a foreign country where language, food, and culture were unfamiliar

'Yeosu _Biginning, Middle, and the End' The Story of Migrant Workers

The performance covers the story after the fire in Yeosu Foreigners' Detention Center to the time when bereaved families and injured persons finished negotiation about compensation and left. We ask audiences about the truth of the fire incident by mixing testimony and arguments of several people. However, we never tell a specific truth but we make audiences imagine a direction of the truth and how it looks like.

'The Revised Version of Ran's Diary' The Story of Migrant Women vs. The Story of Male Victims of International Marriage

The performance includes the scene made based on a diary of a Vietnamese migrant woman who died after coming to Korea through a human-trafficking international marriage and the scenes made directly by Korean male victims. We ask whether it is desirable to look at the current issues of multicultural family from victims or offenders' perspectives through the performance done by two contrast parties.

'Future Story' The Story of Refugees and Those Who are on the Borderline

Performance about the stories of refugees having financial reasons such as the story of a refugee camp in Thai, refugees in Korea, and Korean refugees in Japan. An experimental performance which makes people think about future beyond the present

2. Live Talk Show

Live broadcasting done by involved persons having a multicultural background who have been on the stage of Salad for last four years

Involved persons who have been on the stage of Salad talk behind. - 'Making theater.' Audiences participate in discussion. Replies by web users.

 

Introduction of Artist

Kyongju Park

Kyongju Park(1968~) graduated from the Print Art Department of College of Arts in Hongik University and obtained master's degree of film and photography in Braunchweig School of Art, Germany. Since when studying in Germany, her works have focused on 'migration' and major works are 'Migrant Workers in Berlin' (photo, 1999), 'Nurses Dispatched to Germany' (photo, 2000), 'Memory in Germany - Miners Dispatched to Germany' (video installation, 2000) 'Migrant Workers in Seoul' (photo, 2001), 'What is Life? - Migrant Workers' Music Project'(project album, 2002, sponsor: Arts Council Korea, Ssamji Space, Seoul Global Migrant Center), 'In a Dream Country - Migrant Women's Lives' (Art book published by Women Migrants Human Rights Center, 2004), 'Migrant Workers' Performance for Election Campaign' (performance, 2004), ‘Do You Remember Me?’ (lecture performance, 2010), ‘The First, Middle, and End in Yeosu’ (media experimental play, 2010), the Revised Edition of Ran's Diary (media experimental play, 2011), Future Story (media experimental play, 2012), etc. She founded Salad TV (www.saladtv.kr, before: Internet Broadcast for Migrants in Korea), an online independent multi-cultural broadcasting system, in 2005 and have worked as a journalist specialized in covering migrants' issues. In 2009, she founded 'Salad,' a multi-cultural theater, in 2009 and have dealt with migrants' issues through performance art. Salad opened 'Salad Boom,' an alternative theater, for migrants' community and performances for cultural diversity in April, 2013.

About SALAD

Salad, a preparatory social enterprise, is a group consisting of multi-cultural migrants to create performance arts. It was founded to seek a significant meaning of cultural diversity through communication beyond a cultural borderline between migrants and settlers. Salad pioneers a new area to be beyond a conventional concept of multi-culture in marginal areas of cultural landscape as migrant people, the weak in the cultural area, become players of creative works. (homepage: www.salad.or.kr)