More than 80 students at UCLA have spent months fundraising, choreographing and rehearsing for one of the biggest Korean cultural events in the United States.
Korean Culture Night is an annual stage production produced and hosted by Hanoolim, a student group at UCLA dedicated to exploring and showcasing Korean culture.
Steven Bae, a third-year global studies student and the finance manager for the production, said that tickets for tonight’s performance in Royce Hall were sold out within three hours of the opening of the Central Ticket Office.
This year’s show, titled “Beloved Upon a Time,” is a musical that blends numerous Korean folktales to tell a larger story that the show’s cast and crew hopes the audience can identify with ““ even if they’re not Korean or Korean American.
“As a theater production, (the show) is a medium through which people from different backgrounds ““ even within the Korean community ““ can be brought together,” said executive producer Jasmine Choi.
UCLA has hosted Korean Culture Night for more than 20 years, and the stage production changes every year.
The event used to be a talent show, but in recent years has become more of a cohesive theatrical production, said Lisa Kim, the production’s public relations manager.
This year’s unprecedented inclusion of a live orchestra and an original score marks the latest way in which the production has evolved.
While Korean Culture Night has produced musicals before, it has never before featured a score composed and performed entirely by UCLA students. To accommodate the orchestra, 100 seats were removed from the Royce auditorium.
“The music (in past shows) was not as authentic as this year’s; this year’s show is more organic,” Choi said.
The performance will also incorporate traditional Korean art forms such as poongmul (drumming) with modern and Broadway-inspired dance, such as jazz and hip-hop.
Choi said that this year’s mythological themes and fusion of Korean folktales are unexplored territory for the organization and something that those outside the Korean community can relate to as well.
“Every culture has moral lessons,” she said. “People who are not Korean can relate to (the show’s themes) within a Korean cultural context.”
While the event is completely student-run, the prominent Korean American population in Los Angeles contributes to the event’s scale and success each year.
The organizers for this year’s show raised funds by hosting activities on campus, such as Korean barbecue and T-shirt sales, said Erin Hong, a second-year economics student and Hanoolim’s treasurer.
Hong added that students visited Koreatown every Friday during winter quarter to secure sponsorships and donations from local business owners, news stations and supermarket chains.
“If we did not have such a strong foundation in Koreatown, it would be really difficult to put on a big show like this,” she said.
Bringing “Beloved Upon a Time” to the stage cost about $40,000, including the $22,000 it cost to rent out Royce Hall for one night, Bae said. Sponsorships and fundraising paid for the entire cost of the production, which has been in development since fall quarter.
“We make a production out of nothing,” said Kim. “It’s very impressive what a group of UCLA students can do by themselves without a professor that overlooks everything. All the staff, all the cast, all the dancers are UCLA students.
“It’s just amazing to see the different people with different talents. It’s very rewarding.”