OPEN STAGE: “The Chair is Not Guilty"
Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 7PM
Korean Cultural Service NY
Korean Cultural Service NY Presents <OPEN STAGE: “The Chair is Not Guilty”> by WANJAMUNI & Saebyuk
The Play is given in Korean and translated into English.
Premiered in 2002 in Korea, the play, <The Chair is Not Guilty> is a story about a man who causes a noisy farce in his efforts to ‘possess’ a typical, plain chair. The plot of this play is relatively simple for the meaning that the play inspires. The play sets off with a simple setting - a single, ordinary chair placed in the middle of the stage. As four main characters each claim the right to possess the chair through various forms of conflicts, the play conveys high level of comedy, humor and meaningful lessons to the audience. <The Chair is Not Guilty> witnesses the tragedy of one’s possession of something being a prerequisite for someone else’s loss or deprivation. It also shows how people’s selfishness and their lack of care for others could not only destroy the lives of others but ultimately their own.
<The Chair is Not Guilty> was the first produced play by playwright Seon Uk-hyeon, who has written twenty new plays and ten adaptations since he debuted in 1995 in Korea with “Addicts” through the Summer Literature Contest of Munhwa Daily Newspaper. <The Chair is Not Guilty> was selected to be produced with the support by Arts Council Korea in 2002. Since the play was premiered at the Korean Cultural and Arts Center (now called ARKO theater) which is one of the Korea’s most renowned public theaters, its popularity has been high and steady having been continuously produced and re-produced at many small theaters in Daehangno (the Main Street of performing theaters, dramas and plays of Seoul), especially between 2003 and 2007 and even to this day. This play has been frequently performed not only by professionals, but also by amateur troupes consisting of university students, regional residents, and office workers.
Admission is free, but RSVP is required.