“People use history as a guide or a teacher to determine the path to take. The reason for organizing theater history is the same. It is so that actors, directors, arts managers, and other theater makers can look back on the past and develop theater.”
The old scholar, who was approaching his 90th birthday, explained the reason why he devoted his life to establishing the history of Korean theater. He said, "Decades ago, when I tried to study theater, there was no data at all. I thought I had to pioneer unexplored territory for future generations to study."
I met theater scholar Yoo Min-young (89), professor emeritus at Dankook University, who was recently selected as a member of the National Academy of Arts of Korea, the highest honor for an artist, at his home in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do on the 11th.
He is the first theater scholar among the members of the theater department elected after the opening of the National Academy of Arts of Korea in 1954. Until now, members of the Theater Arts Center were limited to field artists such as playwrights, directors, actors, and stage artists.
Among these, Professor Yoo, a former scholar, was selected because he was recognized for his contribution to establishing the history of theater, which was a vague concept, and laying the foundation for the development of the entire theater world. It is meaningful in that it recognizes that research achievements, rather than works of art, can also make a significant contribution to the art world and the activities of artists in the field.
“I often heard people say, ‘I should become a member of the Academy of Arts, not the Academy of Arts,’ so there was a time when I thought, ‘When did they ask me to become a member?’ (Laughs) In the past, theater studies and theater history were not recognized as branches of study in the Korean literary world, and I think I was selected by the Academy of Arts (rather than the Academy of Arts) because my research contributed substantially to the development of the arts.”
Professor Yoo, who graduated from Seoul National University's Department of Korean Language Education and entered graduate school in the Department of Korean Language and Literature with the intention of becoming a Korean language scholar, said, "At first, I had no interest in theater." It was a time when plays were not properly recognized as literature compared to poems or novels, and related research did not exist.
“My teacher, Professor Lee Doo-hyeon, said, ‘People like Eo-ryeong Lee and Yun-sik Kim are researching poetry and novels, so you should explore something different.’ I started researching by collecting plays that were scattered around that time, and I felt the fun of pioneering a new area.”
There was no properly organized collection of materials in the field of plays and theater arts. Professor Yoo recalled, "I pioneered the history of theater by living in libraries and used bookstores even during vacation. It was a time when photocopying was difficult, so I copied information about major works and plays scattered in various literature by hand."
‘History of Korean Modern Drama’, published in 1983 based on data and research collected from this period, is like the first step in the history of Korean drama. In this book, Professor Yoo took the 1910s New School plays as the starting point of Korea's modern and contemporary plays and established a periodical division. The chronology of each work, which is an appendix to this book, is a compilation of the historical materials he collected from pieces and is itself a valuable record.
“Our theater history is the same as the history of the Korean people. We organized the history of theater in line with the trends of modern and contemporary history, including the colonial era of exploitation and persecution, the period of war, and the post-war era when people tried to escape poverty.”
There are countless actors and works he discovered, but the one that is recognized as his major achievement is the discovery of the buried plays of Kim Woo-jin (1897-1926), a playwright who is also famous for being the protagonist of 'Praise of Death.' Professor Yoo, who persistently persuaded Kim Woo-jin's bereaved family for several years to finally discover this work at his birthplace, said it was "just an ecstatic moment."
“When I saw this nobleman’s play before (the discovery), I thought, ‘This must be a work written by a genius’ because of its great artistic quality. After looking for (unpublished works) for a long time, when I finally found the moldy manuscripts, it was truly a rewarding moment for me as a researcher.”
The four manuscripts of Kim Woo-jin he discovered, including 'Shipwreck', were registered as national heritage last year.
If play history was the starting point for his research on theater history, it was theater history that broadened his horizons. ‘History of the Evolution of Modern Theater in Korea’ and ‘Theory of Theater History Viewed through Arts Management’ are the studies that first began to fill the otherwise empty pages of performance hall research.
Professor Yoo said, "As I studied plays and plays, I naturally became interested in the people who create performances. Excluding some theaters in Seoul, there are only a few performance halls in the country that have survived for a long time and consistently put on productions. I wanted to find the reason and solution for why that is."
Professor Yoo actually tried to solve these problems while serving as the chairman of the Seoul Arts Center and the Jeongdong Theater. Realizing that there was a drastic difference in the capabilities of performance venues in Seoul and other regions, we supported the launch of the National Association of Arts and Culture Centers, which trains theater managers and promotes exchanges between theaters. In 1988, he established Korea's first art management department at Dankook University, where he worked.
He explained, “The study of theater history is meaningful in that it enriches the perspective on theater. A theater is not simply a place to put on plays, but a place where citizens gather to share and discuss values and experiences, and it is a place where the social function of art is revealed.”
As a result of tracing the history of theater in this way, Professor Yoo said that he was able to find the roots of 'K Culture', which is popular around the world, including plays, musicals, pop songs, dramas, and movies.
The three volumes of 'Korean Performing Arts History Viewed through People', which he published last year, are the culmination of his research based on this realization.
Professor Yoo said, "If we trace back the origins of K-culture, including BTS's songs, we start with Shin Jae-hyo, who established pansori as a comprehensive art, and Wang Pyeong, who wrote the blockbuster song 'Hwangseong Old Site'."
“Wangpyeong is also the first person to write lyrics for a song classified as a trot genre, which has rapidly grown in popularity again in recent years. It is very rewarding to trace the lives and art of the people who created the foundation of K-culture and organize the legacy they left behind for future generations.”
Although he actually created the field of Korean theater history, Professor Yoo said, “It is unfortunate that there are still many areas that have not been studied.”
“Because we started from scratch, it took a long time to collect and organize data on theater history, but historical research is not just about listing facts and data. The key is how to analyze the flow of history.”
He said to younger students, "Based on the basic materials I have organized, I hope that we can shed light on the history of theater in depth by establishing our own philosophical perspective rather than a foreign art historical perspective."
As a new member of the Arts Center, he said he would like to review the government's cultural policy.
“It’s fun to be a new member at this age,” he said with a smile, “I heard that the government’s budget for culture and arts is close to 3 trillion won. I want to look into how this budget is being spent and how the theaters that invested a lot of money are being operated.”
