For theater director Lee Jin-yeob, the stage is not a place where people simply sit and watch a performance. It is a place where strangers can meet. “What I want audiences to experience through my performances is the joy of being together,” Lee said in a group interview in Seoul on Tuesday. Her new participatory work, “Challa,” will be performed Oct. 17-18 at the National Theater of Korea as part of the Seoul Performing Arts Festival. The performance invites around 200 audience members onto the

Korea Herald correspondent NEW YORK — Since its 2024 premiere, “The Cherry Orchard” has traveled across Asia and Australia, but New York offers something the production has not yet encountered: a theater without a fixed stage. At Park Avenue Armory, the glass house at the center of the production remains much as it was in previous performances. But with the white walls and floor removed, the historic architecture of the Wade Thompson Drill Hall is now part of the view. “This stage has a differen

Korea Herald correspondent NEW YORK — For Australian director Simon Stone, "The Cherry Orchard" was an odyssey born of a combination of things that might have seemed unlikely: a Korean-film obsessive, an Australian director raised in Europe and a long-held dream of working with Korean actors. At an artist talk at Park Avenue Armory on Thursday, Stone described the journey from his fascination with Korean cinema to the 2024 Seoul premiere of his Korean-language reimagining of Anton Chekhov's clas

NEW YORK — “I went to New York. It was an amazing city. A perfect place to live as an alcoholic.” A burst of laughter rippled through the Wade Thompson Drill Hall. The line comes from Song Do-young, the heroine of Simon Stone’s Korean-language adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” played by Jeon Do-yeon. Do-young is recalling the 10 years she spent in New York after the death of her son — a detail that, in this version, replaces Chekhov’s Paris. It was an unusually fitting joke for

NEW YORK — South Korean actors Park Hae-soo and Jeon Do-yeon made their New York stage debuts Wednesday in the North American premiere of “The Cherry Orchard,” opening to an enthusiastic audience at Park Avenue Armory. The Korean-language adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s final play, directed and adapted by award-winning Australian dramatist Simon Stone, opened Wednesday at the Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall. All 12,000 seats for the production’s 10 performances through Sept. 26 have sold out. “I

The 2026 Seoul International Writers Festival, opening Friday, will explore what makes us human through literature, asking a basic yet fundamental question through this year’s theme: Who Are We? The opening conversation on Friday will feature novelist Kim Ae-ran and International Booker-nominated Chilean novelist Benjamin Labatut. Under the subtheme “We Are Someone,” the two writers will discuss what makes us human and how literature today captures human existence and identity. “Literature ultim

Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” has become the second film this year — and the 10th foreign film in Korean box-office history — to draw more than 10 million moviegoers. Now its blockbuster momentum is spilling into bookstores, reviving interest in one of literature’s oldest epics. Books related to “The Odyssey” sold nearly 31 times as many copies last month as they did a year earlier, according to Kyobo Book Centre, one of the country’s largest bookstore chains. Sales of books with “Odyssey” i

Admission fees for Korea's royal palaces and Joseon-era royal tombs have remained unchanged for 21 years and now cost less than a single hamburger, according to an analysis presented at a public forum. As interest in Korea's traditional culture grows alongside the global popularity of K-culture, there are growing calls to find a reasonable way to bring admission fees in line with the times. The Korea Heritage Service has announced that it will unveil new admission fee guidelines for royal palace

The Korea Heritage Service's flagship heritage event returns this fall with five days of performances, exhibitions, tours and hands-on programs, along with expanded opportunities for international visitors. K-Royal Culture Festival runs Oct. 7-11 at Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Deoksugung and Changgyeonggung, and Jongmyo Shrine. The spring edition drew about 725,000 visitors, a record for the festival, organizers said. The fall edition will offer a distinct experience with programs designed to

Artificial intelligence can summarize an entire book in seconds and answer questions almost instantly. So, in an age when information is increasingly available at the touch of a screen, why do we need to read? "Will we still be reading books the way we do now 10 years from now?" Jung Jae-wook, CEO of Millie's Library, posed the question Thursday in Seoul at the company's 10th anniversary conference, "The Future of Reading." His answer was clear: The way we read will change, but reading will rema

A quiz competition testing participants' knowledge of Joseon royal tombs and Korean history will be held later this month at Seolleung and Jeongneung Royal Tombs in southern Seoul. The "2026 Joseon Royal Tombs Golden Bell" event is scheduled for Sept. 20 at the UNESCO World Heritage site. The competition will be divided into two categories, with a quiz for high school students from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and a separate competition for foreign participants from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Modeled after Kore

A cake begins with thin layers, baked like the pages of a book. Between them are cream and fresh strawberries. On each layer — or page — is the ending of a mystery novel Irae loved but never got to finish. Then comes another unusual ingredient: memory. A cassette tape containing fragments of Irae's life is played through a "cakessette" player that infuses those memories into the cake. When you take a bite, the taste of strawberries, along with the contents of the book, unfolds like an illusion.

Actress and former K-pop girl group April member Lee Na-eun will make her stage acting debut in the upcoming Korean production of the play "Closer." Written by British playwright Patrick Marber, "Closer" follows the tangled relationships of four people — Larry, Anna, Dan and Alice — amid love, obsession and betrayal in 1990s London. The play was adapted into a 2004 film of the same title starring Natalie Portman. Lee will play Alice, an attractive but enigmatic stripper, alternating the role wit

South Korean actors Jeon Do-yeon and Park Hae-soo will wrap up their international tour of "The Cherry Orchard" with a New York run this month. Produced by LG Arts Center Seoul and helmed by acclaimed Australian director Simon Stone, the production will make its North American premiere at the Park Avenue Armory from Sept. 16 to 26, LG Arts Center Seoul said Tuesday. The production premiered in Seoul in June 2024 and has since toured Busan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Adelaide, Australia. The New Yo

Book-related events and merchandise are booming in Korea. Book fairs are drawing huge crowds, publishers' limited-edition goods are selling out, and the latest viral craze is, of all things, a pastry. Yet at the same time, the country's adult reading rate is falling sharply. The contradiction has prompted a growing debate: Is Korea's newfound enthusiasm for book culture getting more people to read, or simply turning literature into another lifestyle accessory? Among younger Koreans, visiting boo