Daegu City Hosts 'International Healing Performing Arts Festival' to Support Attraction of 2nd National Theater Company

The Largest Theater Festival in Korea (22 Theater Companies, 26 Productions)
Performances from August 1 to Late October at Daemyeong Performance Street and More for 3 Months

A scene from the performance of 'Sinpaengseul Yeosahaengjanggi' to be staged at the Daegu Healing Performing Arts Festival.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Daegu City announced on the 31st that it will hold the '2020 Daegu International Healing Performing Arts Festival' from August 1 to October 31 to support the attraction of the 2nd National Theater Company in Daegu.

Hosted by the Daegu Horror Performing Arts Festival Organizing Committee (Co-Chairmen Lee Hong-gi and Jung Yong-hwa), organized by the Daegu Theater Association (President Lee Hong-gi), and sponsored by Daegu City, this festival will continue for three months under the slogan 'Play Play Daegu Theater!!' at venues including small theaters on Daemyeong Performance Street.

The Daegu International Horror Festival was Daegu's representative summer festival held for 16 years until last year. From this year, the festival organizers have attempted to change the name and content of the event to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era while maintaining the identity of horror performances.

The previous Daegu International Horror Festival was strongly perceived as a short-term event-style festival, and it was reported that there were internal calls within the performing arts community for a transformation into a performing arts festival focused on diverse content to promote the development and growth of local performing arts. In particular, from this year, due to difficulties in holding large-scale outdoor events amid COVID-19, it seems they decided it would be better to prepare various theatrical performances in indoor small theaters where audiences can watch performances while complying with quarantine guidelines.

This year's festival will be the largest nationwide, featuring 26 performances including official and free entries over 90 days until October, centered on small theaters, starting with the opening ceremony held at 7:30 p.m. on August 7 at the Actor Story Art Theater. The opening ceremony will be broadcast live on the Daegu International Healing Performing Arts Festival Facebook page.

Related events include the Youth Theater Festival (Art Plus Theater) hosted and organized by the Daegu Theater Association, the Youth Theater Festival (Beesul Hall, Daegu Culture and Arts Center) prepared as a planned performance by the Daegu Culture and Arts Center, and the Young Adult Theater Festival (Waryong Hall, Smiling Face Art Center) hosted by the Smiling Face Art Center and organized by the Daegu Theater Association.

Lee Hong-gi, president of the Daegu Theater Association, said, "Through this event, we aim to reexamine the history of Daegu theater, contribute to the development of Daegu's theater and cultural arts, and create an opportunity for further research." He added, "We want to deliver a healing message to citizens and artists facing difficulties due to COVID-19 and widely promote Daegu's cultural assets."

Park Hee-jun, director of the Daegu City Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, emphasized, "Daegu has sufficient strengths and potential to establish itself as a sacred place for theater, with well-equipped infrastructure such as Daemyeong Performance Street." He added, "We will actively collaborate with the theater community to promote and support various projects, including attracting the 2nd National Theater Company to Daegu."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.