About
Sining Actors Repertory Company
'Singing Actors Repertory Company' (General Director: Jayoung Jung, Artistic Director: Byungkoo Ahn), a.k.a. SARC, was founded in 2012. This experimental musical theatre group based in Seoul, Korea is a collective of classically trained singer/actors in search of new outlets other than traditional operatic repertoire for the dramatic expression of their musical passion and impulse.
Since its first production of 'Love and Dream, Painted with Songs' premiered at the National Theatre of Korea in February 2013, SARC’s seven theatrical productions were seen at various venues in Korea, Italy and Germany.
SARC is best known for ‘Voyage: Musical Vignettes’ which is a collection of mini operatic dramatizations of art songs. Byungkoo Ahn integrates German art songs with impressionistic scenes written by himself with soundscapes created by the ‘Los Angeles Laptop Collective.’ These somewhat non-narrative staged scenes are derived from different moments of life situations that focus on the insight of a character, or an idea. They may also decontextualize settings from well-known musical literature. This production was premiered at La MaMa Spoleto Open at Spoleto Festival in 2013, and since then it was seen in Seoul, Hamburg, and Berlin.
’13 Fruitcakes: Musical Vignettes’, SARC’s second ‘Musical Vignettes’ series, is a new addition to SARC’s repertoire, and will premiere in June 2019 at La MaMa ETC.
Spoleto City Press (07/12/2013)
L.G., “Spoleto – Interessante Sperimentazione al Cantiere Oberdan.”
"The classical voices of opera singers mingle boldly with the voices altered by computer, annihilating time and fashions.”
“Past and present meet in a single dimension. The dreamlike journey, whether it is in the arms of the angels, on Mars or the Moon, or in the mind of man, does not matter.”
The New York Times (06/28/2011)
Jaworowski, Ken, “Hamlet as Eager Korean Prince.”
“......boy, is there intensity!”
“The play is beguiling to watch, a reinterpretation with a dark mind all its own.”
“Hamyul/Hamlet creates a delicious mood of menace.”
“Extended pauses carry great weight here, and the play-within-a-play scene is severe and frightening.”
The Villager (07/07/2011)
Stiffler, Scott, “Sound and fury signifying something worth seeing.”
“Sound and fury signifying something worth seeing.”
“Korean ‘Hamlet’ casts shaman’s spell over Shakespeare’s long shadow.”
Backstage (06/27/2011)
Montgomery, Mitch, “Hamyul/Hamlet.”
“Ahn's often gracefully marshaled production”
NYTHEATRE.COM (06/23/2011)
Conway, Mitchell, “Hamyul/Hamlet.”
“A highly stylized adaptation of Hamlet.”
“Director Byungkoo Ahn delivers grace amidst formality.”
“The adaptation by Minsoo Ahn and Byungkoo Ahn is a clean, comprehensible cutting.”
New Jersey Newsroom (06/28/2011)
Sommers, Micahel, “Shakespeare’s Tragedy Undergoes a Stylized Asian Makeover.”
“Shakespeare’s tragedy undergoes a stylized Asian makeover.”
“Writer-director Byungkoo Ahn boldly abridges the tragedy to its stark essentials.”
“This “Hamlet” shows how Shakespeare’s tale can be effectively construed though the theater traditions of other cultures.”
Bullett Media (06/30/2011)
Giardina, Henry, “Hamyul.”
“Hamyul is, with its distillation of the big words and winding plot of the original, a strangely organic retelling, a production which seems to have distilled the wisdom of the story without getting rid of all that much excess. More art, less matter.”
Talk Entertainment (09/22/09)
Moore, Oscar, “Days and Nights.”
“The silhouetted forest as she sings Memories Are Sadder than Love is a piece of art. As are the songs.”
“Very fine production”
Los Angeles Times (2001)
Swed, Mark, "Long Beach Opera - Downtown Opera"
"In the end, 'Consumers' Paradise' and 'Orlando' proved small operas wanting to be something grander, Postmodern opera ... is such an extravagant enterprise, it requires substantial experimentation; and there is pleasure to be had in a visit to the laboratory."
Long Beach Press Telegram (2001)
Farrell, John, "Consumer's Paradise and Orlando by Downton Opera"
"There is the chance that they were watching an important piece of musical history happen.
these two works, brief, effective, and entertaining, suggest there is plenty to look forward to."