KJCKorea
Journal Central

This paper focuses on the history of dramaturgy in 90s when the term “dramaturgy” was employed in earnest in Korean theatre society. It was a play <so(cow)> in 1991 that the term “dramaturgy” initially introduced. In the play, Kim Changhwa was the first one in Korea to play a role as a “literary researcher”. This paper not only observes the historical fact, but also delves into why the advent of the dramaturgy was in 1990s. Dramaturgy was widely adopted when National Theater Company of Korea was at risk and low-quality drama and profit-pursuing drama were rampant. Historically, “era of Daehagro” was started in 1990s. It triggered the problem of commercialization because some of the theaters achieved long-term success and did not bother to make new plays. However, due to foreign currency crisis in 1997, these theaters went out of business, and mainstream theaters had difficult time as well which led to its fall. Young theater groups, who replaced the older generation, made experimental theaters which were made by co-creation drama. There were multiple of dramaturgy activities in those experimental theaters. That is, co-creation theater and dramaturgy by itself were ‘experiments’ in 1990s. The play <Come to see me> is a notable example which Kim Mihee participated as a production dramaturg. This play opened starting point for dramaturg to settle in Korean theater society.

1990s, Brecht, Co-creation Drama, Dramaturgy, Kim Changhwa, Kim Mihee, National Theater company of Korea, Theater Company Yeonwoo