MIGUK SARAM
BY
SUSAN H. PAK
DIRECTED BY
DESDEMONA CHIANG^
PRESENTED AS PART OF LOCAL LAB 2021
INVITED READING
Sunday, March 21, 6pm MT
SYNOPSIS
A highly ambitious Korean American teen will stop at nothing to get into his dream university. However, his plans are suddenly derailed when he is seduced by a social justice warrior, as well as an alt-right extremist. Will he make the right choice?
CREATIVE TEAM
Susan H. Pak
Playwright
Susan H. Pak is a Chicago Dramatists Resident playwright, who received her MFA in writing for the screen and stage at Northwestern University, and her JD from the University of Illinois College of Law. Susan's work centers on the myriad ways in which Asian Americans, and in particular Korean American women, resist the seduction of protection through assimilation. Her works have been produced in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and include: Election at the Goodman Theater, The Fixer at the Steppenwolf Theater, Ghost Girl at the Workshop Theater, T.A.B. at New York’s Downtown Urban Theater Festival; and Incredible Invisible at Chicago’s Bailiwick Director’s Fest. Her play Miguk Saram was a finalist at the 2020 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference.
Desdemona Chiang ^
Director
Desdemona Chiang is a stage director based in Seattle, WA and Ashland, OR. Co-Founder of Azeotrope (Seattle). Directing credits include Guthrie Theater, Alley Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, California Shakespeare Theater, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Playmakers Repertory Company, Studio Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, ACT Theatre Seattle, American Shakespeare Center, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Village Theatre, Theatre Latte Da, Heritage Theatre Festival, Book-It Repertory, Aurora Theatre Company, Theatre Latte Da, Seattle Public Theatre, Shotgun Players, Crowded Fire Theatre Company, Azeotrope, Impact Theatre, Playwrights Foundation, Golden Thread Productions, Washington Ensemble Theatre, One Minute Play Festival, Ohio Northern University, University of Washington, and Cornish College of the Arts, among others. Assisting and dramaturgy credits include: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Playmakers Repertory Company, A Contemporary Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Arizona Theatre Company, Intiman Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Magic Theatre, Theatreworks, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, among others. Intersection for the Arts Triangle Lab Artist-Investigator. Adjunct Faculty, Cornish College of the Arts.
Awards/Affiliations: Princess Grace Award (Robert and Gloria Hausman Theater Honor), Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Theatre, SDC Sir John Gielgud Directing Fellowship, Drama League Directing Fellowship, TCG Young Leader of Color, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and Directors Lab West. Gregory Award Recipient for Outstanding Direction.
BA: University of California at Berkeley. MFA Directing: University of Washington School of Drama.
Yun Jeong
Sylvester Lee
Yun Jeong was born in South Korea and moved to the United States at the age of 14. He has worked in numerous projects as an actor following the completion at The William Esper Studio (Two year Meisner technique conservatory) in New York City and now is based in Los Angeles to pursue his career.
Vic Kuligoski
Rory Kavanaugh
Vic Kuligoski is a Chicago Actor, Musician, Writer and Performer. Theater Credit's in Chicago include, Cloud 9 with Eclipse Theatre, Happy Birthday Mars Rover with The Passage Theatre and May the Road Rise up with The Factory Theater. Film Credit's include Aaron Sorkin's, "The Trial of The Chicago 7," Felix Pinero's, "Adjunto" and Neil Fischer's, "Kindergarten Cop 2020." Vic enjoys writing songs in his spare time and is currently writing his first ever short film.
MeeWha Alana Lee*
Heewon Kang
MeeWha Alana Lee is an actor whose journey began when her late son, Alan, a film student and classically trained pianist, left this world. Acting has helped sustain her from the demise of grief. It is her third career following one as a college professor and and one as a brand design strategy executive for three global corporations. Since she started this journey a few years ago, MeeWha is a SAG AFTRA member, has appeared in Off-Broadway plays and award-winning short films such as NETTLES and FIVE STARS, the upcoming feature film, UMMA, and TV shows such as AWKWAFINA IS NORA FROM QUEENS.
Kate Mulligan*
Mrs. Hume/Ann
Kate was last seen live onstage in 2020,in the Octavio Soilis play, Mother Road at Arena Stage in Washington D.C.,directed by Bill Rauch. She spent 12 seasons as an acting company member with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and prior to that, had 17 glorious and busy years with Tim Robbins, The Actors' Gang in Los Angeles. You can find her on reruns of Seinfeld, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, ER, Private Practice and It's Garry Shandling's Show to name a few. During the past year of shut down Kate wrote and performed a TEDX Talk for Southern Oregon PBS, coming out this spring, which led to writing her first screenplay.
Other regional theaters include, The Public, New York Stage & Film, The Mark Taper Forum, Harvard's A.R.T. (with Pesha Rudnick), Yale Rep, South Coast Rep. and The Kennedy Center.
Ashley Denise Robinson*
Sam White
Ashley Denise Robinson is an actor and writer living in Los Angeles. Past theatre work includes Actors Theatre of Louisville, Majestic Theatre, The Hive, Less Than Rent, Primary Stages, and the Washington Shakespeare Company. She's worked and lived internationally, acting alongside Nollywood star Kalu Ikeagwu and training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Ashley can be seen in Taking Stock, a web series featured on the MailChimp platform, produced by the award-winning Los Angeles-based production company, Vanishing Angle.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Founding Artistic Director - Pesha Rudnick
Executive Producer - Alison Palmer
Associate Artistic Director/Marketing Manager - Nick Chase
Production Stage Manager/Producer - Misha S. Zimmerman
Digital Stage Manager - Jessica Emmanus
Original Music and Sound Design/Technical Director - Max Silverman
Marketing Associate - Erika Haase
Resident Dramaturg/Stage Directions - Jordan Lichtenheld
SPECIAL THANKS
Special thanks to Hahrim Choi and MeeWha Alana Lee for their invaluable help with the Korean translations
*Appearing through an Agreement between Local Theater Company and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
