Jongno-gu Hosts 'Kiwoopiwoo Objet Theater Festival'

Finland, Kenya, and Korea Carefully Selected Representatives... Jongno-gu ‘Kiupiu Objet Theater Festival’

Finnish Shadow Puppet Theater, Kenyan Objet Puppet Theater, and Korean Contemporary Dance Theater on the Theme of ‘Body’

Admission Fee is 20,000 KRW per Performance... Package Discount Ticket (30,000 KRW) Available Until August 22 Allows Viewing of All Three Performances

Jongno-gu (Mayor Jeong Munheon) will hold the 'Kiupiu Objet Theater Festival' for three weeks from September 7 to 23 at the Children’s Theater (Sungkyunkwan-ro 91), the first children-only theater established by a local government nationwide.

Originally launched in 2016 with the meaning of nurturing children's imagination and bringing laughter to the whole family, this year’s festival will present three performances on the theme of ‘body’: ▲ Finnish shadow puppet theater ▲ Kenyan objet puppet theater ▲ Korean contemporary dance theater.

The first invited work, Finland’s The Mountain That Loved a Bird, is based on a bestselling fairy tale translated into 25 languages worldwide. As it beautifully expresses nature, it is expected to be a great performance for young children and lower elementary students.

The second, Kenya’s The Last Man Standing, stands out for its use of ‘African’ movements and simple objets. It deals with environmental issues, the Earth, and humanity from an African perspective.

The final domestic work is Goblin Party’s contemporary dance theater The Princess Story. The story follows princesses who lived in a large castle as they courageously venture out into the world to places they have never been before. It is an immersive (audience participation) performance where the audience follows the dancers’ movements and words, creating a shared breathing experience.

Tickets are priced at 20,000 KRW for all seats per performance. If you don’t want to miss any of the Finnish, Kenyan, and Korean representative objet theaters, you can purchase a package discount ticket sold until August 22 for 30,000 KRW to watch all three performances. For more details, please visit the Jongno Children’s Theater website.

From August 21 to September 9, the district will also operate the excellent objet theater-linked art appreciation program ‘Our Objet Playground’ (2nd session) at the Children’s Theater. Designed to enhance children’s autonomy, creativity, and artistic sensitivity, it will be held over four sessions and includes activities such as observing everyday objets, creating unique objet characters and original scripts, and theater play-based voice and pronunciation training.

Mayor Jeong Munheon stated, “At the Children’s Theater, which consistently stages high-quality cultural and artistic performances for children, we have prepared three excellent domestic and international objet theater works on the theme of ‘body’ for this year’s festival,” and added, “We hope many children and families will take interest and enjoy this year’s Kiupiu Objet Theater Festival together.”

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