Sound of the Moon and Other Plays by Myung-Wha Kim

Myung-Wha Kim is an acclaimed Korean playwright, critic, and director. This book marks the first translated play collection by a female Korean playwright and captures her individual style and powerful drama.

The four plays in this collection are translated into English by Walter Byongsok Chon, in collaboration with English language consultant Anne M. Hamilton.

Birds Don’t Use a Crosswalk (1998) explores the role of theatre in society, wherein the protagonist is a director who returns to his college to helm a production. It navigates the generational conflicts in Korean society between the 1980s and the end of the century, which is still reflected in the present day. Oedipus: The Fate of the Story (2000) is a reimagining of Sophocles’ Oedipus and explores the political and personal affairs that might have occurred behind closed doors.

Sound of the Moon (2006), set in the late sixth century during Korea’s Three Kingdoms period, portrays the romance between an aspiring gayageum musician and the Princess of Silla, which creates intrigues with diplomatic, cultural, and socio-political implications. And The Wind’s Desire (2007) tells the story of a middle-aged television writer in crisis in modern-day Seoul, who financially supports her family abroad and starts an affair with a young photographer, which reignites her passion for life.

While these plays reflect specific Korean sentiments and sensibilities, these stories have international appeal. The questions they pose about art, love, family, politics, and society transcend cultural and national boundaries.

Myung-Wha Kim is a playwright and director. She made her debut with Birds Do Not Cross the Crosswalk, which won the Samsung Literary Award for Best Play in 1997. Her plays include First Birthday, The Wind’s Desire, Redolence, and The End of the Royal Palace Dining Hall, among others. She won numerous awards including the Cha Beom-Seok Theater Award, Daesan Literary Award, Dong-A Theater Award, the Grand Prize in the Asahi Shimbun Theatrical Arts Award, and Yeo Seok-Gi Theater Critic Award. She founded Nanhee Theatre Company in 2018, which became The Nanhee in 2020, and took up directing.

Walter Byongsok Chon is a dramaturg, critic, translator, educator, and theatre scholar from South Korea. He is the associate professor of dramaturgy at Ithaca College. Dramaturgy: Yale Rep, O’Neill Center, New York Musical Festival. Co-Managing Editor for South Korea for The Theatre Times. Co-author of Dramaturgy: The Basics (with Anne M. Hamilton). Co-Recipient (with Anne M. Hamilton): 2022 Daesan Foundation Translation Grant and 2024 Bogliasco Fellowship.