Before director Celine Song captivated audiences with "Past Lives," the Oscar-nominated film that explored love, fate and the immigrant experience, she made her playwright debut with "Endlings" in 2019 at the American Repertory Theater.
Now, one of her most personal works is set to make its Korean premiere at Doosan Art Center’s Space111, May 20-June 7.
Directed by Lee Rae-eun, the production will also travel to Daejeon and Jeju in June.
The title "Endlings" refers to the last surviving member of a species -- a concept Song uses to explore the lives of three elderly haenyeo, traditional female divers of Jeju Island, and a Korean Canadian playwright named Ha-young (Song's Korean name) who lives on the other side of the world.
The haenyeo, who have spent their lives harvesting the ocean’s depths, remain tethered to their homeland, even as their way of life faces extinction. Ha-young, by contrast, has left "home," yet struggles to find her footing in a place that never fully feels like her own. Through these parallel narratives, "Endlings" examines how identity shapes, collides and isolates -- personally and geographically.
Born in South Korea, Song immigrated to Canada. She studied psychology before turning to playwriting, eventually making her film debut with "Past Lives," which was nominated for best picture and best original screenplay at last year’s Academy Awards.
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
