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Myeongdong Theater

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History

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  • Myeongdong Theater, the former national theater of Korea, is re-opened on 5 June 2009. The Myeongdong, located in Myeongdong, the-same-titled district of downtown Seoul, was built in 1934, originally designed as a cinema to entertain Japanese residents in Korea by then the name of ‘Meiji Theater(明治座)‘. It had mainly presented Japanese films until Korean liberation.
  • Meiji Theater in early 1940s
  • In 1947, it was transformed into the official residence of the city of Seoul, holding many national events as well as presenting films and performances. After the Korean war (1950~1953), The National Theater of Korea, which had resided at Bu-min-gwan, a building near the Myeongdong but lost its residence due to war bombing, took up new residence at the Myeongdong. For the following several years, the city of Seoul and The National Theater of Korea shared the building.
  • The National Theater of Korea and City of Seoul shared the building from 1957 to 1961
  • After the city of Seoul moved to a new place in 1961, the Korean government law designated the Myeongdong as The National Theater of Korea. The National Theater of Korea soon established 6 other resident companies – The National Changgeuk(Korean music theatre) Company, The National Dance Company, The National Opera Company, The National Ballet Company, The National Chorus Company, and the National Orchestra. Until 1973 when a new national theater building was built in Jangchung-dong, the Myeongdong had played a key role in developing and booming modern theater and other performing arts of Korea.
  • The Myeongdong as The National Theater of Korea
  • Soon after the status as the national theater was handed over to the new building, the Myeongdong rapidly ran down without its own resident companies and finally ended up being sold to Daehan Financial Group, a financial conglomerate. Without the Myeongdong theater, the center of cultural activities flowed from Myeongdong district to other places and the Myeongdong became slowly forgotten among people.
  • However, when Daehan Financial Group announced to demolish the building for a new construction, many arts-related bodies and people who rated its value as an artistic icon high campaigned against the demolition plan. After more than 10 years of campaign, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism finally decided to buy it back in 2003 and it started to reconstruct the building as new ‘Myeongdong Theater’.
  • The Myeongdong of great memories
  • The impact The Myeongdong made on many Korean artists who led the cultural flows from 50s to 70s is tremendous. It was, indeed, the first national theater in Asia, realizing many artists’ hopes despite chaos after Korean Liberation and Korean War. The Myeongdong contributed to the development of theatre world’s general conditions including actors and staffs’ secure payment systems, the establishment of an actors’ training school first in Korean history and the creation of repertory theatres.
  • The late Cha Bum-seok, one of Korea’s leading playwrights, said “The Myeongdong is the cradle of my theatre life.” And Kim Jeong-Ok, theatre director, playwright, critic and scholar, said “Our wishes finally brought the Myeongdong back to us, performers”, being deeply moved. The Myeongdong is remarkable in its performance history. La Traviata of Verdi which was presented at the Myeongdong in 1948 with Kim Ja-Kyung, one of Korea’s first prima-donnas, as Violetta, was the very first opera on stage by Koreans. Lee Hae Rang, one of the great modern theatre pioneers, put Hamlet by Shakespeare on the stage for the first time in Korea, recording all-performance-sellouts. Debuted at the Myeongdong many of significant directors, playwrights and actors and were premiered here brilliant performances – both international and national until its closing in 1975. First graduates of Actors’ Training School
  • La Traviata (1948), the first opera performed by Koreans / Hamlet (1949), Korean premiere
  • New ‘Myeongdong Theater’
  • New ‘Myeongdong Theater’
  • The new ‘Myeongdong Theater’ remains to have the old façade of its former with partial remodeling on the first floor, considering its architectural heritage. However, its inside is totally changed into a perfect place for theatre-oriented performances. It has a proscenium stage and 558 seats in total. As Korea’s core producer of classic and new works, it maintains close relationship with many international and national artists. With the respect for traditions and challenge toward creativity, The Myeongdong will contribute to the development of Korean theatre.
Myeongdong-Chongdong theater
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Chongdong Theater : (100-120) 41 Chongdong-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea TEL : 02-751-1500 FAX : 02-751-1558 Myeongdong Theater : (100-021) 54 Myeongdong 1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul,. Korea TEL : 1644-2003 FAX : 02-727-0958 Copyright 2009 Myeongdong∙Chongdong Theaters Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.