Selection of Award Winners for the 21st Miryang Performing Arts Festival

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[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] The organizing committee of the Miryang Performing Arts Festival selected the award-winning works of the 21st Miryang Performing Arts Festival University Theater and Next Generation Directors Exhibition on the 23rd.

This year's performance, held as a non-face-to-face competition, saw 8 works advance to the finals out of 63 preliminary entries. The Newcomer Award was given to "Hamelin" (directed by Kim Ji-eun), and the Future Award went to "I Love - The Kim Myung-soon Story" (directed by Jang Jin-ung).

Notably, the Newcomer Award-winning work "Hamelin" won both the Best Director Award (Kim Ji-eun) and Best Actor Award (Kim Byung-chul), achieving an unprecedented triple crown at the Miryang Performing Arts Festival Next Generation Directors Exhibition.

The Best Actress Award was given to Kim Ma-eum for "I Tell You," and the newly established Stage Arts Award this year went to stage director Park Dong-gi for "The Eyes of Others."

The Next Generation Directors Exhibition concluded submissions on the 5th, and a panel of 10 judges?including prominent domestic directors, critics, and actors (Shim Jae-chan, Yoon Woo-young, Ji Chun-sung, Choi Yong-hoon, Kim Geon-pyo, Moon Sam-hwa, Bae Sun-ae, Kim Gwi-seon, Seo Ji-hye, Kim Jeong-geun)?conducted non-face-to-face video evaluations and in-depth discussions for each work, finalizing the award winners on the 20th.

Additionally, in the University Theater category, six universities advanced to the finals. Howon University’s "Medea" won the Grand Prize and Best Director Award (Kim Chan-hee), achieving two awards. Gunjang University’s "Dream of Returning Home" won the Work Award, and Daekyung University’s "12 Angry Men" received the Bronze Prize.

The Best Acting Award went to Jo Seong-ho for "Dream of Returning Home," the Excellence Acting Award to Park Woong-bi from Daekyung University for "12 Angry Men," and Kang Shin-hee from Kyungsung University’s "Dance Theater Zoom" also received an award.

Meanwhile, now in its 21st year, the Next Generation Directors Exhibition is a prestigious competition that has produced numerous directors, actors, and playwrights representing Korean theater, serving as a platform for nurturing next-generation directors in domestic theater festivals.

Kim Geon-pyo, the General Artistic Director, stated, “With the rise of untact performances due to COVID-19, this video evaluation preserved the characteristics of live art, allowing all judges to fairly select winners through video assessments and in-depth face-to-face discussions.” He added, “We will continue to support various programs for next-generation directors in the future.”

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