Korea's new National Theater Company director promises higher quality, more shows

Bigger and better is what the National Theater Company of Korea will be striving for during the next three years under the helm of its new artistic director Park Jung-hee.

The National Theater Company of Korea's newly appointed artistic director Park Jung-hee speaks during a press conference at the Myeongdong Theater in Jung District, central Seoul, on July 16, announcing her plans during her three-year term. [NATIONAL THEATER COMPANY OF KOREA]

Bigger and better is what the National Theater Company of Korea will be striving for over the next three years under the helm of its new artistic director Park Jung-hee.

Park recently held a press conference at the Myeongdong Theater in Jung District, central Seoul. She has been in office for three months now.

Park stressed that she aims to bring up its plays’ net promoter score to 50 from the average of 23.5 from the last three years.

The theater will put on more plays, with a goal of eight to 10 per year, an increase from the usual five to six. They may not all be pieces produced directly by the theater company, and will include some by private theater organizations.

For theater fans that missed out on some of the popular, high-quality works that were performed in the past, a new "PICK Series" program has been introduced to revive these works on stage. The in-house producers and audiences will be able to vote for plays that they want to see again.

The theater company will also increase the number of talk sessions with the actors for each play to about two to three. “We want the audience to feel closer to the actors and better understand the play,” Park said.

In the long term, the company intends to enact a National Theater Standard (NTS). The guidelines will ensure that every staff member on set, ranging from the producers, screenwriters and actors to the technicians and makeup artists, will work in an environment where everyone feels “safe and respected.”

“These people are our ‘unknown heroes’ who work behind the scenes,” Park said. “I learned that 48 percent of our employees had resigned when I first took office. The reason was that the trust between the creative team and production crew had been shattered.”

The ultimate goal is to export Korean plays to other regions of the world, preferably Europe or the United States. While the theater company has seen foreign producers come and work in Korea, domestic plays have rarely been shown overseas, except for China. The theater company is currently in the process of hiring producers for this project.

“It’s time that Korean plays elevate their status in the global scene,” Park said.

The theater company’s latest show is “Hamlet,” which continues until July 29.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]