Maybe the first thing that pops up in your head when you think of a play is Daehangno. There are a lot of theaters, various plays are staged, and many people watch the plays. Even if you don’t go to Daehangno, however, you can watch a funny play in SSU. Soongdaegeukhoe is proud of its long history of staging plays. Numerous audiences have had fun or have been moved by their performances. ST visited the Soongdaegeukhoe headquarters and participated in the clubs activities to get to know more about and appreciate its efforts.
Soongsil University Dramatic Art Club (Soongdaegeukhoe) has about 50 student members. There are actors and staff members who devote themselves to the arduous tasks related to its activities. Apart from planning and directing, they also create stages by themselves. By doing so, they try to come up with their own play. After much effort, they finally meet audiences once a semester.
Process : Selecting a director and a planner ➜ Choosing a work for staging ➜ Reading and analyzing a work ➜ Casting ➜ Selecting the staff members ➜ Practicing for two months ➜ Making and setting the stage ➜ Holding the play ➜ Dismantling the set ➜ Holding a meeting for a joint review of the play
While audiences see only the actors on the stage, there are actually more people working for a performance “behind the scenes” : the staff members. The staff members are divided into two departments: the Planning Department and the Production Department. The Planning Department has three teams: the Stage Team, Progress Team, and PR Team. The Stage Team is responsible for the costumes, make-up, and props. The Progress Team mainly controls the stage lighting and sound, and the rest of the stage setting. The Stage Team and Progress Team are both in charge of the stage setting. The Stage Team prepares the static equipment that the actors will use while the Progress Team takes care of dynamic apparatuses like the stage effects that will make the actors more conspicuous. The PR Team works on campaigns and events to promote the play, and also makes and distributes leaflets and pamphlets about the play. The Production Department manages the stage administration, such as the actors’performances and the story. It can be said that the Production Department produces the software that is necessary for the performance on the stage, with the support of the hardware program from the Planning Department.
ST visited the practice room where the actors were training. Contrary to our expectation that they were practicing script reading, they were doing physical training. ST joined them and experienced the actors’ training. Before that time, ST thought that actors just shine under the spotlight, but after joining the actors’training, ST realized the actors’hard work beyond their onstage sparkle. Their elegant motions and clear voices are the results of the exhausting physical training that they have to undergo every day. While ST got tired and plunked down onto the floor after only 20 times of leaping, the small-figured girls kept jumping desperately. They manifested their passion so vividly that it could be grabbed by the hand. ST had a vague fantasy with regard to the actors because ST has never known the deep phase of a play. After experiencing the hard routines of the actors, ST can at last feel and appreciate the toughness of actors.
When you watch a play, you are likely to think of the play’s content or the actors’ performances. Not many people would think of the actors’efforts to make their performances really good. Although they don’t receive enough support and have to do hard work, they have a passion for plays. Thanks to their efforts, we can watch various kinds of plays. If you are interested in plays, ST recommends Soongsil University Dramatic Art Club, Soongdaegeukhoe. They always try to communicate well with their audiences through the stage.
