Students to return to their roots in Korean Culture Night

As part of an elaborate display to ward off evil during Chinese New Year in Korean farming communities, Poongmul drummers clothe themselves in simple black and white robes with brilliant bands of yellow, blue and red across their arms and chest. The colors blur together while they dance in a circular train, hitting hourglass hand drums with mallets and producing a chest-vibrating beat.

Clara Park, a third-year mathematics student, said she remembers the nostalgic joy in her grandmother’s eyes when she told her grandmother in Korea that she played in a Poongmul group. This group is a collection of performers that all come together in a tight circle and dance. The Poongmul drummers are deeply rooted in the rural farming community, especially at village-building activities, political protests and pageantry.

Friday night, the crew of 130 students will perform lyrics and an original script written by director Sarah Chong, a third-year history student. For the last six months, Hanoolim, a branch of the Korean Cultural Awareness Group, has been working on its third musical theatrical performance for Korean Culture Night.

“As much as the performance is about cultural awareness, having that one night to remember with a group of people like this makes all of the time and effort worthwhile,” said Grace Lee, a fourth-year history student and executive producer of the event.

In the past, Korean Culture Night has focused mostly on modern, second-generation storylines. Chong decided that for this year’s performance, she wanted to focus on returning to the roots of Korean American culture.

Chong introduced a new perspective about the beginnings of Korean American culture by sharing the story of the first Korean immigrants, which she said she believes will allow students to think back to their own roots.

“The Other Side of Home” is set in 20th-century Hawaii and follows the story of several Korean immigrants looking to start a new life in America. The play acts as a collaboration of both present and past art forms such as traditional and modern hip-hop and break dancing to capture the essence of Korean culture.

One of the protagonists, Han, played by Andrew Han, a fourth-year civil engineering student, comes from a wealthy family and learns for the first time the meaning of hard work. He experiences a deep internal conflict made tangible by the elaborate circular stomping and swirling dance of the powerful drumming of the Poongmul drums, which characterize the chaotic turmoil that he feels when coming to his difficult decision.

“I never really thought about the story of the first Korean immigrants until performing in this play,” Han said.

Another scene in the play depicts an emotional fusion of voices in the song “Letters From Home,” in which the family that stayed behind in Korea reads aloud the letters from relatives who have gone to Hawaii and lament their missing family members. Chong said she feels this scene is one of the many that an audience of all backgrounds can relate to because everyone knows the pain of missing someone dear to them.

Chong said that even though the event is flavored by Korean culture, it is universally accessible.

“I chose to write a musical because songs and music express the subtext of the inner monologues that may not always be spoken. … This performance will educate all audience members alike because it is a slice of history shown in an engaging way,” Chong said.