Youth Beyond Borders

2019’s topic was “Human Nature”.

The first thing that I thought of was the Korea’s high Suicidal rate. Korea has the highest suicide rate among OECD countries that people call the country, “Suicide Republic”. Due to financial difficulties and diseases, the suicide rate in the past has increased dramatically, not only for the elderly, but also for the youth and youth.

I wanted to show a lot of things during the production of the performance, due to the time limit of eight minutes, I showed the realistic side of Korean high school students at the time limit of eight minutes. I focused on Korean high school students, showing their realistic life.

Korean society puts an extreme amount of pressure on students to do well in school and due to this the suicide rate is extremely high. Youth Beyond Borders is a performance that portrays the daily struggles that students not only in South Korea, but all around the world encounter as well. Many issues such as bullying, stress, and family problems are often deemed as minor in comparison to succeeding in life.

These struggles are bound to be shared amongst people of all ages around the world due to our nature as humans. Our story focuses on the lives of 3 students whose mental, physical, and emotional health are neglected in favor of them doing well in school and in life.

Dream For Dream

2020’s topic was “Resilience”. Inspired by the “Spoon Class Theory” and dystopian animated short film “Model Citizen”, “Dream for a Dream” depicts the life of a young girl who does not fit into the expectation of her society and her family. She is expected to graduate at the top of her class, attend a prestigious university, and a good corporate job, and marry a man of equal or higher status to start a family on her own.

This was the life that was planned out for her, before she was born due to her “Gold Spoon Status.”  The Spoon Class Theory refers to the idea that individual in a country can be classified into  different socioeconomic classes based on the assets and income level of their parents, and as a consequence, one’s success in life depends entirely on being born into a wealthy family. The term appeared in 2015 and was first widely used in online communities in South Korea.

In Korean Society, to uphold the expectations placed on them due to their status adults wear a mask to hide their true selves. Hide her true self an working a job she doesn’t want is her worst nightmare. Will  she decide to conform to society or rebel against the norm?