July/August 2025
Photo gardens from South Korea, by Emma Sue Harris
The Brief:
(If you haven’t read the last entry, you can find it here: June/July 2025)
We're thrilled to return to South Korea for our fourth run of Rosetta due to further demand for the show! But this isn't just any return – this time, Rosetta takes the stage at the prestigious Myeongdong Art Theatre, home of the National Theatre Company of Korea. (Discover more here)
Then, at the beginning of September, we will perform at the Busan Cinema Center in their Haneulyeon Theatre.
At the end of September, The Living Theatre will make its Japanese debut when Rosetta is performed as part of the BeSeTo Theater Festival at the Tottori Prefectural Citizens’ Cultural Hall (Rika Hall).
July 2025:
July 11th/12th/13th: Flew to S. Korea! (Boston to Toronto to Seoul….but first plane from Boston was delayed, so it ended up being Boston to Toronto to Vancouver where we spent the night then to Seoul) (We arrived at 4pm KST on Sunday, July 13th)
July 14th: Had our photos taken with the Rosetta cast during a promotional shoot for the show.
July 15th: Attended our first Rosetta rehearsal (the Korean cast started the week before and had covered about the first half hour of the play by the time we joined them).
God it’s good to be back! Rehearsals are in the basement studio at Yellowbomb (our producers’ offices), which Tom used to call “heaven”
July 18th: Ate post-rehearsal fried chicken (Korean fried chicken is “the other KFC”) at dinner party with the cast/crew plus the women from our main funder, the ACCF (Asia Culture Center Foundation)
July 20th: Saw Sammaekyung at National Theatre Company of Korea’s Myeongdong Theatre (where Rosetta will be performed in August). Our fellow Rosetta cast-mate, Lee Kyung-Gu, choreographed the movement in the play. It INSTANTLY became one of our favorite plays we’ve ever seen. Read more about it here and here.
July 21st: Started week 2 of rehearsals!
July 25th: We were featured in the Korea Herald! Check it out: 8 Actors, 1 role: Experimental play 'Rosetta' to open in Seoul
At 2pm, tickets for our Seoul shows went on sale on the National Theatre website…within an hour, they were 90% sold out!
Completed the first run-through of whole play! Also, had a visit from previous Rosetta cast member, So-Yeon! After rehearsal, went out for KBBQ with the cast, followed by my first noraebang (karaoke room).
July 28th: Started week 3 of rehearsals in the National Theatre Company of Korea’s rehearsal space in Daehak-ro: a neighborhood in Seoul that could be called the “theatre district.” Over 150 theatres (big and small) are clustered there, many universities have their theatre department buildings/venues in the area, and rehearsal rooms abound (Last year we became acquainted with the neighborhood during SPAF- Seoul Performing Arts Festival).
July 29th: Filmed a couple short-form videos with the National Theatre social media team to promote the show.
After rehearsal, a dinner party at Meld by kichioji, which happened to be in the neighborhood near the foreign missionary cemetery where Rosetta is buried! My favorite of the many delicious dishes we tried was the Fried Eggplant with Shrimp. Yum!
August 2025
August 1st: Completed another run-thru!
August 3rd: Journeyed to the iPark Mall in Yongsan to go to the movie theatre…The Fantastic Four: First Steps in Ultra 4DX
August 4th: Started week 4 of rehearsals.
Before starting our run-thru of the day, Brad gathered the group to share how Judith would greet new Living Theatre company members. He told everyone about how Judith would talk about the way actors can be offstage, talking to each other about getting drinks after the show or what happened the day before or whathaveyou, and then: they hear their cue. And all of a sudden, the actor (drops whatever it was that seemed so prescient offstage, and) takes on an Elevated Self, a Holy Self, and steps on stage to do what is necessary. Judith would talk about how any one of us can decide that any moment is our ‘cue.’ We can step into these Elevated Selves and do what is necessary.
August 7th: Used the day off from rehearsal to do some sightseeing!
Brad and I headed to Gyeonghuigung Palace (one of the “Five Grand Palaces” built by the Joseon Dynasty). The architecture and unique majesty of the grounds took our breath away.
Also on the palace grounds is the Seoul Museum of History. A highlight of the museum is the “Seoul Panoramic Theatre,” in which one can see the whole cityscape of Seoul in a breathtaking miniature model which covers the floor surface area of the room, surrounded by LED-screen walls. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, my eyes lit up with wonder as I looked at the over 700,000 piece miniature version of the city.
While perusing the museum, we also saw a familiar face featured among the pictures of some of the first foreign missionaries to live in Seoul: Rosetta herself!!
Then, we walked around the Jeong-dong neighborhood nearby. This is the neighborhood where Pak Jeom-dong/Esther Kim Park (a key character in our play and the first Korean woman to become a doctor & practice Western medicine) would have grown up!
In the neighborhood is the Ewha Girls School where Jeom-dong would have been a student when she first met Rosetta Sherwood Hall. Down the street is the Cheongdong First Methodist Church where Jeom-dong and her family worshipped on Sundays and where Rosetta would also attend services when in Korea.
It was very meaningful to see these two sites and feel a new connection to our historical friends by standing on the very street, in front of the very school and the very church where, 135 years ago, our play’s story actually unfolded.
August 8th: For the first time since 2023, we got new pages!! Jay (our director and playwright extraordinaire) added some lines here & there to enhance a couple scenes. We went over those and then did a run-thru.
After rehearsal note: I could tell during the run-thru that seeing the Ewha Girls School and the First Methodist Church yesterday really helped me connect to the story in a different way… I could feel holy after standing on the holy grounds where Rosetta would have gotten married, where she would have gone when questioning her mission, where she would have prayed and mourned the loss of her husband William and her daughter Edith…perhaps I will visit again before we open the show (15 days from now!)
August 16th: I did go back to visit the Chungdong First Methodist Church, this time to visit their History Memorial Hall and to sit in Bethel Chapel, the original chapel building that dates back to the 1890s. The smell of the wood paneling and the surrounding sound of cicadas chirping just outside made for quite the meditative experience. Glad I went.
(Note: this Jewish-Atheist had never felt compelled to kneel before a pew, but in an attempt to connect further with Rosetta, I followed the strange impulse and meditated on my knees for a few minutes before leaving the church)
August 18th: T-MINUS 5 DAYS TILL OPENING!
August 20th: Our first day in the theater for tech!
August 22nd: We performed our final dress rehearsal for an invited audience of staff from the National Theatre Company of Korea.
August 23rd: We opened the show!
August 24th: After our second matinee of the run, we gathered at a nearby restaurant for an opening party.
August 25th: Did our first evening performance of the run.
August 29th: We got to the theater early (3:30) to meet with Hwang Dong-hee, staff reporter from The Korea Herald (Culture Deck) for an interview. She’d seen the show on Wednesday evening.
Later, we completed our last evening show of the run, and a special one: Soyeon, our beloved friend and Rosetta colleague (who has been in every iteration of the show prior to this one) was in the audience. Tears and hugs in the lobby abounded after the performance.
August 30th: After the matinee, we quickly changed out of our wet costumes and into our street clothes to join our director and producer back on stage for a post-show talkback with the audience.
August 31st: Jay said during our pre-show gathering, to do this last performance of the run for one person, rather than for a group of unknown strangers. “There’s someone out there who needs this show- think about them, and give it your all for them.”
After the show, in the lobby, we met some of those people who needed this show. A theatre student from Seoul Institute of the Arts (where we visited our first year here). A group of more theatre students, three young women who could barely contain their excitement to meet us and ask for our signatures on playbills. And a most meaningful introduction: Lee Cheol-hee, the writer/director of Sammaekyung (which we saw in late July) came to the show. The meeting of a kindred spirit. With the help of Jay as translator, we extended mutual admiration and gratitude, and made plans to see each other soon- to solidify the beginning of what we surely hope will be a beautiful friendship.
Rosetta was written and directed by Kim Jung-han (Jay Kim/Yossef K.)
And now….it is September! Going to revel in these couple days off before heading to Busan on Wednesday.
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