2017 Dong-A Theatre Award Best Play 'Gaji' Creators Present New Work 'Durango'

From the 9th to 19th at Hanyang Repertoire Theater... The Story of a Korean-American Immigrant Family

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] The play "Durango" by second-generation Korean-American playwright Julia Cho will premiere from the 9th to the 19th at the Hanyang Repertory Theater in Daehangno, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

"Durango" tells the story of an immigrant family in the United States.

A Korean-American immigrant family of Lee Booseung lives in Arizona, in the southwestern United States. He has two sons, aged twenty-one and thirteen. The eldest son, Isaac Lee, who loves music, is preparing to enter medical school. The younger son, Jimmy Lee, is a national swimming champion and enjoys drawing superhero comics. His wife passed away over ten years ago. For more than a decade, Booseung’s family has endured a difficult life without their wife and mother. One day, four years before his retirement, Booseung is laid off. In this bleak situation, Booseung suggests to his sons that they take a trip to Durango, Colorado. In the cramped car, the three men argue and fall silent, yet they also confirm and cover each other's secrets.

Playwright Julia Cho is a Korean-American who was born and raised in a Korean immigrant family in Arizona. Due to her background, her works candidly and plainly reveal the struggles of Asian Americans standing at the crossroads of Eastern and Western cultures. Julia Cho said, "I think every family is originally broken. They each have their own absences and flaws."

Julia Cho first introduced her work "Aubergine" to Korea in 2017 through the National Theater's Diaspora Festival. "Aubergine" was performed again, attracting about 2,000 viewers, and won the 54th Dong-A Theater Award for Best Play. The Dong-A Theater Award judges praised it as "a masterpiece that rediscovers the roots of the Korean people symbolized by the father through the theme of food."

"Durango" is a work created by the same creative team, including the translator and director of "Aubergine."