On-site photographTheatre / Performance
Once Upon A Time
A participatory physical theatre piece drawn from Korean folklore, toured internationally — winner of the WTEA Best Stage Performance Award.
Year
2023
Format
Physical theatre · international festival production
Location / Institution
Seoul → Beijing → Guilin → Berlin
Role
Producer, Student Director & Music Director
Collaborators
Chung-Ang University theatre ensemble
WTEA Best Stage Performance
Recognition
Seoul · Beijing · Guilin · Berlin
Tour
Concept
Restructured from 'Kim Hyun and the Tiger,' a folklore record in Korea's Heritage of the Three States: a tragic love tale between human and non-human, each choosing a unique path toward destined fate. The production emphasized the physicality of the actors, integrating hip-hop, traditional rhythms, and body percussion with minimal props.
Experience Design
A participatory staging where the ensemble's bodies construct the world — village, ritual, tiger — inviting audiences across language barriers into a shared physical narrative.
Technology / Medium
Live physical performance, original music direction, and live sound operation.
Process
Collective development through discussion and experiment, with actors improvising songs and dances; continuous script refinement. As producer, I served as the primary English-language liaison coordinating logistics with festival organizers, local staff, and visiting professors across two Chinese cities.
Outcome
Best Stage Performance Award at the 2023 WTEA (World Theatre Education Alliance) International Theatre Festival, Beijing; performed at the Guilin Festival; featured on Arirang TV international broadcast; toured to Berlin.
Reflection
Managing a touring company across cultures taught me production as world-carrying: how a constructed world survives translation, travel, and pressure — a foundation for every international ambition since.
Credits
Chung-Ang University production. Producer, Student Director & Music Director: Hayeon Shim.
Next project
Miss Korea — Youngbin →