Kim Yoojung, School of Drama, Garners an Award in Directing at the Encounter 2025

Kim Yoojung, a fourth-year BA student in the School of Drama, was awarded a prize for directing at the 35^th Encounter (Setkání, originally in Czech) in Brno, Czechoslovakia, held from April 1 to 5 (local time).

The Encounter, which began in 1991 in Brno, the second-largest city of the Czech Republic, is an international theatre festival for theatre school students. The event, organized every spring by the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts, stages the selected works from outstanding theatre schools worldwide for five days. It is well known for the high level of student involvement in preparing for the event, including event planning, work selection, and general operation. Kim Yoojung’s “The Nape” was performed for about 250 audiences at the Goose on a String Theatre from April 2 to 3.

“The Nape” is an adapted collection of Euripides’ three tragedies: Iphigenia at Aulis, Agamemnon, and Electra. Kim reinterprets them using the traditional Korean mask dance (talchum) and puppet theatre, presented through female voices.

The award winners were announced at the closing ceremony in the following order: lighting design, music, acting, and directing. The accolade for directing went to Kim Yoojung, who was highly praised for skillfully integrating the elements of traditional Korean arts with contemporaneity to reconstruct the ancient Greek theatre. According to a criterion of “collaboration” in the assessment, this award was indeed for every student of the School of Drama who contributed to “The Nape.”

Kim Yoojung, who adapted and directed the work, said, “‘The Nape’ is a play whose form is as important as its plot. Thanks to traditional Korean art forms – mask dance and puppet play – I was able to bring Greek tragedies into a brand-new time and space that belongs to nowhere. It was an experiment in a new form that resulted from a mélange of two genres.”

She added, “The most precious accomplishment I’ve gained from this festival is not this prize in directing itself, but more so the affirmation that I could draw empathy from the audience beyond the language barriers. For this, I owe much to the quality education I’ve received in the School of Drama. My heartfelt gratitude goes to my teachers, colleagues, and friends. The passions and efforts I’ve shared with them led me here today.”

“The Nape,” which illuminated the theme of “boundary” and focused on the female characters in Greek tragedies, will bring home the enthusiastic response it received from the jury and audience at the festival and will be performed for the Korean audience at the Guro Arts Valley from July 18 to 19.