동북아역사재단 2022년 10월호 뉴스레터
- Hong Woong-ho, Research Professor, Institute for International Exchange Research
Goryeo Theater in Almaty, Kazakhstan
I learned about the Goryeo Theater through the Korean newspaper titled 『Lenin Gichi』, published by Koreans from May 1938 after the forced migration in 1937. According to the 『Lenin Gichi』, the Goryeo Theater toured the collective farms of Koreans who were forced to move to Central Asia from the Maritime Province of Russia. They had no stage. They performed on the truck’s cargo bed as a makeshift stage. That is how they shared the pain, sorrow, and resentment of the Goryeo (Korean) people.
I wanted to see it for myself. Would the Goryeo Theater still be there? Would they still perform? In the winter of 2014, I went to Almaty and visited the Goryeo Theater. It was still there, although it was on the outskirts of Almaty, and they still performed. In July 2022, I revisited the Goryeo Theater. They moved to a lovely building in the city center of Almaty, where they still performed. They also had a sign that said ‘Kazakhstan National Academy Goryeo Theater.’
Birth of Goryeo Theater
When and how was the Goryeo Theater established?
When the Soviet Union was founded and socialism was established following the Russian Revolution in the late 1920s, Koreans in the Maritime Provinces (Goryeo people) also began to actively participate in the construction of socialism. The Goryeo people built collective farms and published a Korean newspaper called 『Seonbong』. They also founded Wondong Goryeo Pedagogical Institute to teach Korean to children.
There were also developments in the field of arts and culture. New Korean Town Club, Stalin Club, and 9-year-course schools in Vladivostok, Maritime Province, Russia, operated entertainment clubs, orchestras, and young labor troupes at the time. They were amateurs, not professionals, and were called 'the small art troupes.'
There were some outstanding figures among the small art troupes. Some went to Moscow to study around 1930 for more specialized training. When a Korean theater called ‘Wondong Byeongang Joseon Theater’ was founded in the New Korean Town, Vladivostok, with Kim Tae as the first theater director, those who went to Vladivostok returned and participated in the theater company in 1932. Yeon Seong-yong, Kim Jin, Tae Jang-chun, Lee Gil-soo, Lee Ham-deok, Choi Bong-do, Jeong Hu-gyeom, and Lee Gyeong-hee were among them. Most of them operated as directors, playwrights, and actors and were the heart and living witnesses of the Goryeo Theater.
In
the early days, Goryeo Theater was based in Vladivostok. It took the form of a moving
theater that toured the collective farms in the area where Koreans mainly lived.
Early significant works performed in the Far East region were
Overcoming Forced Migration and Becoming the National Theater of Kazakhstan
Goryeo Theater also shared the painful history of forced migration with the Goryeo people. Following Stalin's decision, they were moved from Vladivostok, Maritime Province to Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan, on September 25, 1937.
In the early days, the Goryeo Theater of Kyzylorda changed into a third-class Kyzylorda Goryeo Comedy Theater in 1940. In 1942, during World War II, it moved to Ushtobe, Talti-Kurgan, and became the Talti-Kurgan Goryeo Theater. In 1959, it moved to Kyzylorda again and became the ‘Kyzylorda Joseon Theater.’ In 1962, it changed its name to the ‘Joseon Music and Play Theater.’
The Goryeo Theater moved to Almaty, the capital at the time, in 1968 and acquired the status of the National Goryeo Theater of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The official name was ‘Goryeo Theater for Music and Play of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Государстве нный Республиканский Корейский Театр Музыкал ьной Комедии). It used to be on the outskirts of Almaty but has recently moved to the city center, where it is today.
As the name suggests, the Goryeo Theater puts on three types of performances: play, singing, and dancing. These still are the performance types the theater presents today.
Touring Theater Healing the Pain of Forced Migration
After moving to Central Asia, the Goryeo Theater started its activities under the title of “Kolkhoz Sovkhoz Goryeo Theater Tour.” The first performance was on May 20, 1938. It was a performance at Kyzylorda Park. This performance was significant because the performers sang traditional Korean songs, such as 'Kkoekkoekkool,' 'Hwacho Danga,' 'Saranga,' and 'If a War Breaks Out' to not only Koreans but also Russians, Kazakhs, and other ethnic groups, implying that it would target the audience living all over the Soviet Union in the future.
During
the postwar period, the Goryeo Theater mainly put on Korean classical works
because the primary audience of the Goryeo Theater was the Goryeo people who
migrated to Central Asia and built their lives, and the works mainly performed
were classical plays to soothe their sorrows. The members of the Goryeo Theater
practiced for three to four months a year, and for six to eight months, they
toured various kolkhoz of Central Asia regularly. During the tour, they were
messengers to deliver news of Koreans scattered throughout the country. At the
time, the main programs of the Goryeo Theater were
As part of its cultural and artistic activities, the Goryeo Theater established close relationships and communication with the small arts troupes. The regular tour of the Goryeo Theater was also an exchange with these small art troupes. Through this process, they set an example for small art troupes, delivered new scripts, and discovered talented actors and writers.
Directors and Actors of the Goryeo Theater
First
is Yeon Seong-yong. He was a playwright, director, poet, and composer. Born in
Hamatang, Suipun District, Maritime Province, in 1909, he became involved with
the Goryeo Theater when he began acting at the Entertainment Department of a
9-year-course school in New Korean Town. He organized the ‘Labor Youth Theater
Tram’ with Yeom
Sa-il in 1930 and participated as a founding member when founding the Joseon Theater
in New Korean Town in 1932. He married Lee Gyeong-hee, an actress in the same
theater who played the character Chunhyang in the Story of Chunhyang for the
longest time. He entered the Department of Directing, Lunacharskii Theater
University in Moscow in 1932 and became a student of the famous Russian
director Yuri Zavadsky. After his forced migration, he took an active part in
reconstructing the Goryeo Theater, devoting his life to the theater. He wrote a
total of 17 plays, including
Tae
Jang-chun also deserves to be mentioned in the history of the Goryeo Theater. He
became involved with the Goryeo Theater by playing the lead role in the play
'Wild Land' published by the Labor Youth Theater in 1931. However, he was more
active as a playwright and poet than as an actor. He wrote ten plays, including
Chae Young was the most representative director of Goryeo Theater. His real name is Chae Gye-do. While directing more than 70 films, he passed on the knowledge he had learned at the Department of Directing of Moscow Cinema University to young actors and directors. His training became the basis for the Goryeo Theater to survive as a professional theater.
Lee Gil-su also shared his life with Goryeo Theater. He has an actor, director, playwright, poet, and translator. He entered the Department of Acting at Moscow Cinema University in 1930 and graduated in 1935.
In
the 1960s, Korean performances at the Goryeo Theater significantly improved in
quality and quantity. It was because new playwrights joined. A representative
figure was Han Jin. When Kim Il-sung’s Juche ideology emerged in North Korea in the late 1950s,
some of North Korean students studying in the Soviet Union criticized it. When
North Korean authorities summoned them, part of the students refused to go back
and defected to the Soviet Union. They all changed their names to 'Jin' to solidify
their will. This was how eight Jins came to be. Han Jin was one of them. Han Jin
later came to Kazakhstan and became a writer at Goryeo Theater and as a
reporter for the Lenin Gichi. Han Jin's works written in Korean,
Center of Korean Community, Goryeo Theater
Goryeo Theater, which started as the Wondong Byeongang Joseon Theater in the New Korean Town, Vladivostok, Russia, in 1932, has built a 90-year history from Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan National Academy Goryeo Theater in Almaty. The history of Goryeo Theater is also the history of the Goryeo people. The Goryeo Theater maintains the identity and traditional culture of the Goryeo people while sharing the history and life of the Goryeo people and making contributions as a pivot for a community that embraces all generations.
Goryeo Theater has been developing the Korean language, literature, and art of the Goryeo people while serving as the origin of national culture. It is still active in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It is a valuable cultural asset of the Korean diaspora, preserving and inheriting the culture of the Korean people and spreading Korean culture to the world.
동북아역사재단이 창작한 '우리말로 공연해요, 고려극장' 저작물은 "공공누리" 출처표시-상업적이용금지-변경금지 조건에 따라 이용 할 수 있습니다.
