Columbia Univ. School of the Arts Presents WALKABOUT YEOLHA 10/20-23

Columbia University School of the Arts, Theatre Arts Program Presents WALKABOUT YEOLHA Written by Samshik Pai Translated by Walter ByongsokAdapted by Kyoung H. Park

An American premiere event with music by Junghoon Pi

Directed by KON YI October 20-23, 2010

The Riverside Theatre91 Claremont Avenue
Between 120 th and 122 nd Streets $15
General Admission/ $5 Seniors
FREE with Columbia University ID or any other valid student ID(Subject to availability)

Walkabout Yeolha is a biting satire about a village's struggle to retain its identity in theface of cultural intrusion from a powerful Empire. Performed by a multicultural cast withan original score and choreography, the play is an adaptation of Samshik Pai's award-winning Inching Towards Yeolha. Pai based his play on the diary of the famous 18 th -century philosopher, Yeon-Ahm, who travelled to China in search of practical ideas tomodernize Korean society. Pai used the diary as a starting point to write a play steeped inlyrical metaphors and absurd musings on Yeon-Ahm's quest for a new perspective thatwould move the nation of Korea forward. The villagers battle with contradiction; theywant to explore the new while clutching tightly to the past.Walkabout Yeolha, translated and adapted for an American audience, explores theduality of localization and globalization, questioning the direction of a post-industrialsociety. Kyoung H. Park (Adapter) has relocated these intriguing characters to anabandoned warehouse and given them the language of the here and now.

WalkaboutYeolha is a play of curiosity, where the old are as rebellious and eager as the young; aworld where people sing Lady Gaga and donkeys are the only ones to speak the truth.

Join us for this rare opportunity to see a Korean play in which the world is strangely closeto our own.Kon Yi (Director) is an MFA Directing Candidate at Columbia University, where he is arecipient of the Dean's Fellowship and the DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Fellowship.His directing credits include Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding; Anton Chekhov'sThe Cherry Orchard; David Fierro's Price; John Douglas Weidner's Screaming withMaria, Rain Machine, and Clytemnestra; and James Ryan Caldwell's Looking for Love.

In Seoul he directed Yi Hyang Dong's The Small Cottage by the Rail Road, Ji HongLee's There Is No Mirae, Thomas Mann's The Transposed Heads, and DylanThomas's Under the Milk Wood. His directing works Ibsen in Music (Peer Gynt) andChopin and George Sand were invited to be in the Seoul Performing Arts Festival in2006 and 2007. Other accolades include Promising Director of the Year, 2007 (TheKorean Theater Review) and receipt of the Endowment for the Emerging Artist (ArtCouncil of Korea, 2005). He received his MFA in Directing at Korean NationalUniversity of Arts (2002) and his BA at Korea University (1997).

Samshik Pai (Playwright) is an acclaimed contemporary Korean playwright. He is a two-time winner of the Donga Drama Award (the most prestigious theater award in Korea), in2007 and 2009, and was the winner of Dae San Literary Award (Drama) in 2007. Helaunched his career with an adaptation of Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1998.His credits include The White Cherry (2009 Donga Award for The Best Drama), Inching Towards Yeolha (2007 Donga Award for The Best Drama), A Fairy in the Wall (2005Donga Drama Award for The Best Actress), and Ch'oe Sung-hui. He is a graduate ofSeoul National University (BA) and Korea National University of Arts (MFA).Kyoung H. Park (Adapter) is a Korean-Chilean playwright, author of Sex and Hunger,disOriented, Heartbreak/India, The Diamond Trade, and many short plays includingMina. His work has been produced by the Ensemble Studio Theater, Vital Theater, Ma-Yi Theater, Diverse City Theater, Access Theater, La MaMa ETC, 2G, and the RoyalCourt Theater. Kyoung is recipient of an Edward Albee Playwriting Fellowship; Theaterof the Oppressed Exchange Fellowship; Global Arts Village Fellowship; grants from thePrincess Grace, Arvon, and GK foundations; and a 2010 UNESCO-Aschberg award.Kyoung is proud member of Ma-Yi Theater's Writer's Lab, Ensemble Studio Theater'sYoungblood, and Soho Theater's Hub. He holds a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYUand an MA in Peace and Global Governance from KHU. He is currently a Dean's Fellowat Columbia University's MFA program in Playwriting.Performance Schedule:(all performances at The Riverside Theatre, 91 Claremont Avenue between 120 th and122 nd Sts.)

Wednesday, October 20 at 8PM Thursday, October 21 at 8PMFriday, October 22 at 8PM Saturday, October 23 at 2PM & 8PM

Tickets for events at The Riverside Theatre can be purchased online (http://www.ColumbiaStages.org) or by visiting the box office of The Riverside Theatre.

Box Office hours are Thursday-Saturday, 4-8pm; Sunday 12-4pm and 1 hour prior to allperformances.Columbia Stages is the producing arm of the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for TheatreStudies at Columbia University School of the Arts. Columbia Stages presents a season ofgraduate actor and director productions as well as an annual festival of new plays byemerging playwrights. The theatre program offers MFA degrees in acting, directing,playwriting, dramaturgy, stage management, and theatre management and producing. Thegoal of the program is to provide each student with the foundation for a career inprofessional theatre as well as the tools to embrace an ever-changing theatrical landscapeand shape the future of the theatre.For more information, visit www.ColumbiaStages.org