Min Sae-rom

Min Sae-rom studied Business Administration and Sociology at Sogang University. He began his theatrical career as an actor in the university's theater club. He has stated that in the university club, it was customary for upperclassmen to handle the technical and production roles, while underclassmen took on the acting parts. After his mandatory military service, he found that many of the senior students had left, which led him to take on various staff responsibilities, including directing. This experience sparked his passion for the technical side of theater.^[1][2][3]

In 2005, Min won the Directing Award at the 27th National University Theatre Festival. His production, Lovers in the Subway, also won the Silver Prize. The festival is a national event for non-theater majors, inviting theater clubs from eight universities, supported by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development. Min credited the win to his team, saying, "I think the winning factor was the excellent theatrical elements captured by the stage, sound, and lighting staff in a highly flexible script."^[4][5]

In 2009, Min established the Cheongnyeondan Theater Company and premiered his play, Frontline Human, which he also wrote and directed, at the Seoul Fringe Festival. The play was later performed at the Ansan Arts Center as part of its Open Space Project, and in 2010, it was staged at Sogang University's Mary Hall after being selected for the Sogang University Mary Hall Creative Support Project. In 2011, it was performed at the Gwacheon Cultural Center as part of the Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation Regional Culture and Arts Activity Support Project. Other early productions include the reading workshop for Which Star Are You From? (2010), the play Elephant at Sanullim Small Theater (2011), and Lovers in the Subway at the Ansan Arts Center (2011).^[6][7]

In 2012, Min and the Cheongnyeondan Theater Company participated in the "Gap@Hyehwa-dong 1-beonji" project. This initiative by the Hyehwadong1beonji Theater Lab, a notable hub for experimental theater, was designed to support emerging directors by providing them with opportunities and resources for stage adaptation and production development. As the project's first performance, Min directed the play Elephant, an adaptation of a short story by Raymond Carver, which ran from August 9 to August 19, 2012.^[6]

Min also actively worked as a lighting designer for numerous productions, including the Seoul Performing Arts Festival's History of Madness and Choi Yong-hoon's How to Enjoy Home-Cooked Meal. He likes to explore the diversity and expansive potential of stage language.^[6]

In 2013, Min directed the play Without a Missing Word, which ran from November 10th to 12th at the Daehangno Arts Theater Small Theater. The play, written by Heo Jin-won, is about a man and a woman who spend a night together by chance. It was part of the "Spring Writer, Winter Stage" series, a program showcasing new works by writers selected in the New Year's Literary Contest, held by the Korea Performing Arts Center.^[8]

In 2014, Min directed the play The Grave Has Changed!, which was performed at the Seondol Theater from December 5-14. Written by playwright Lee Mi-kyung, winner of the 2012 Dong-A Theater Award, the production was selected for the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture's Arts Creation Support Program. The play is a humorous and lyrical story about a family collecting inheritance coupons and an elderly man preparing for his death, all set against the backdrop of a company that offers post-mortem services for busy modern people. The cast included Park Sang-jong, Cho Joo-hyun, Choi Jeong-hwa, and Na Jong-min.^[9]

Min Sae-rom serves as a professor of playwriting at the School of Performing Arts at Chungkang College of Cultural Industries.^[10][11] He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Maeuldam Theater Cooperative.^[12]