Director Kang Hoon-gu and Actor Choo Young-woo, School of Drama, Awarded at the 61^st Baeksang Awards

Director Kang Hoon-gu and actor Choo Young-woo, alumni of the School of Drama, enjoyed the honor of receiving awards at the 61^st Baeksang Awards, only comprehensive awards ceremony encompassing TV, film, and theater.

On May 5 at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul, Kang Hoon-gu, who earned a master’s in Directing from the School of Drama, was granted the Best Young Theater Award for his Ballplayclub Theater Company’s play, “Dried Pepper and Peach Scent Lipstick.” Actor Choo Young-woo, a bachelor’s student in Acting at the School of Drama, was awarded the Best New Actor for his role in the popular TV series, The Tale of Lady Ok (2025).

With the Best Young Theater win, director Kang Hoon-gu, who leads the Ballplayclub Theater Company, had his artistic ability reaffirmed with “Dried Pepper and Peach Scent Lipstick,” which experimented with theatrical form and delivered a societal message. The play features a single actor playing four characters addressing issues of redevelopment, family conflict, and gender. It was also selected of the Best Three Theaters of 2024 by the International Association of Theatre Critics – Korea.

Director Kang, a native of Gyeongju city, began his career as a scriptwriter for madanggeuk, traditional Korean outdoor theater, inspired by five poems by Choi Chiwon – a Korean philosopher, poet, historian, and government official of the late medieval Unified Silla period (668-935) – at Gyochon Traditional Village. Later, he expanded his scope as a director by telling local folklore. Kang was admitted to K-Arts in 2017 and earned a master’s in Directing from the School of Drama. As founder and CEO of the Ballplayclub Theatre Company, Kang has conducted many theatrical experiments over nine years, travelling between Seoul and other local regions.

Actor Choo Young-woo, who played a double role in The Tale of Lady Ok, won Best New Actor by a unanimous vote of the eight juries. The jury praised, “Choo Young-woo is a good actor with solid acting fundamentals. He managed to wear two hats in the melodrama genre, demonstrating his potential for further growth as an actor. We’re excited to discover an actor with this potential after some time. With the role, he could have appeared cheesy, yet he made it work smoothly with the plot throughout.” Choo also gained great popularity with his character in another Netflix series, The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call (2025).

In addition, the film, Love in the Big City (2024), directed by Lee Eon-hee, an alumna of the School of Film, TV & Multimedia, and starring actress Kim Go-eun, an alumna of the School of Drama, became one of the most nominated works – receiving nods in five categories: Best Director, Best Film, Best Actress, Best New Actor, and Gucci Impact Award – garnering much attention.