Preparing a place for sympathy and relief

Outdoor performance group Woogumchi has been actively working for 21 years in Daejeon City. It is a professional artist group which has not only contributed for popularizing the outdoor performance and establishing its style, but also been offering arts and culture education for everybody who wished to enjoy it and express his- or herself through the performance. Woogumchi not only offers outdoor performance lectures for children, senior citizens, and housewives, but also performs its own performance. It has been running ‘The outdoor performance class consists of homemakers’ chatter’ for the housewives who have been using the Gwanjeo-dong Haetteul Village Children’s Library since last April. I asked instructor Lee Shin-ae, who is in charge of this class and a member of Woogumchi, about what had made her decide to run this class.

“While running a class for old people and young students, we were able to realize something important in the process of teaching and learning. The outdoor performance class for housewives is our new trial. The participants are much more enthusiastic about the activities than any other groups, which let them have sympathy, relieve themselves, and express themselves.”

Searching for excitement and talent inside yourself

The class has been opening once a week since six months ago. The participants are looking forward to showing their performance during Haetteul Village Children’s Library Cultural Festival in December. Today’s topic was ‘Make your own wishes’. Housewives are those who have been living as a mom or a wife of somebody. Because of that, they did not have time to think about ‘their own dreams’. Lee wanted them to talk about their own dreams and share their stories during the class today.

Their eyes were shining while writing about their own wishes on a piece of paper. In a little while, their faces were filled with big smiles. However, it seemed not easy for them to come to the front and read their wishes out loud. “One of my wishes is… um… so…” When a lady hesitated to say, Lee encouraged them. “All right, let your voice pass the window and reach your neighbor village. Relax and speak out loud as if your voice would penetrate the window. You don’t have to be so serious!”

Soon after, the lady took a deep breath and tried again. “One of my wishes is that I have my own space which is not bothered by anybody else! It will be somewhere I can read books alone at any time!” Her face became bright after spitting it out. All the other participants in the class clapped and applauded as soon as she finished her wishes. “You’re right”, “I have the same wish as yours!” Though it was part of the practice to complete a performance, I felt as if I saw a series of actual monodramas of each participant on the stage.

“I like the performance class. I was surprised to find out my potential talent, and I was able to feel that I recovered my own name which is different from a mom or a wife of someone.”

“When I joined the other kinds of gatherings, we only talked about our children and husband. If someone asked something about my own stories, I would find I didn’t really have anything to talk about. As you know, we can talk about our performance during the class, which makes it more worthwhile and productive than the other gatherings.” Their testimonials revealed what the Woogumchi performance class meant to them.

Spreading the pleasure of creation

“If you ask me what Woogumchi’s wishes are, I should say we want the more people realize the pleasure of the outdoor performance and make it together. Anyone can be a performer. It is because every single story from one’s heart has its inherent value. I hope the base of the outdoor performance will be expanded so that anybody can be the main character of his or her own story.” Lee expressed her wishes as well.

We are the hero or heroine on our own stage. I hope the more people will find happiness from being together with Woogumchi, and enjoy the pleasure of creation through their own story and voice.

Written & Photographed by Park Sarah