KPOP is here and America will never be the same. Claim your exclusive, all-access pass and immerse yourself in the Korean Pop music factory where stars are made… or broken.

A TimeOut New York Critics’ Pick, KPOP was presented by Ars Nova, in association with Woodshed Collective and Ma-Yi Theater Company and was conceived by Jason Kim & Woodshed Collective.

Directions

A.R.T./New York Theatres 502 West 53rd Street New York, NY 10019

A Sneak Preview of "KPOP"

About the Playwright

Jason Kim | Co-Conceiver, Book

is a Korean-born dramatist based in New York City. His work has been presented at The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Ars Nova, Ma-Yi, Keen Company, Naked Angels, The Flea, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington National Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Manhattan School of Music, Spoleto Festival, Opera America and others. He is an IFP Marcie Bloom Fellow in Film, a Screenwriters Colony Fellow, a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow for New Americans and a Mark Campbell Chair Librettist Fellow in American Opera Project’s Composers & The Voice. He is a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab and Ars Nova’s Uncharted. He is currently Lincoln Center Theater’s Resident Writer. In television, he has written for HBO’s Girls and Fox’s Gracepoint and has adapted The Middlesteins for Showtime. He is currently the Consulting Producer for Love on Netflix. BA Columbia University, MFA New School for Drama. waytooserious.com

About the Co-Composer

Helen Park | Composer

Helen Park is a composer, arranger and performer. She wrote music for a full-length musical The Large Life of Alice Liddell which received a reading at NYU. She also wrote a one-act Latin musical comedy, Last Resort, which received readings at NYU and was performed at the Duplex theater. Helen wrote the one-act musical Baked Goods with lyrics by Christyn Budzyna and book by Charlie Cohen, which was selected as a finalist for the 2016 Sound Bites Festival and was selected winner for the 2017 City Theatre National Award for Short Playwriting Contest. Helen has worked as music assistant to composer Tom Kitt on Broadway’s If/ThenThe Spongebob Musical and Freaky Friday. Currently, Helen is at work on the musical KPOP, an adaptation of the screenplay 50 First Dates and an original musical. Helen’s music have been featured at Ars Nova, The Duplex, NYMF, BMI Smoker, Joe’s Pub and 54 Below among others. Helen is an alumnus of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, and is a member of BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop (Advanced). helenparkmusic.com

About the Co-Composer

Max Vernon | Composer

Max Vernon is a composer/lyricist, playwright and performer. His work has been performed and developed at Ars Nova, Actors Theatre of Louisville (Wondrous Strange, Humana Festival 2016), Lincoln Center (LC Originals), Keen Company, Disney Creative Entertainment, Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Naked Angels, New Dramatists, Two River Theater (NJ), Goodspeed Opera House and Pride Films and Plays (Chicago), among others. He has received the Jonathan Larson Grant and JFund Award from the Jerome Foundation, NYFA Fellowship for Music, as well as New York Stage and Film’s Founders Award. He is a former Dramatist Guild Theater Fellow, member of Ars Nova’s Uncharted and the Civilians’ R&D Group. Other residencies include Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat, the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony and Berkeley Rep’s The Ground Floor. His musicals include The View UpStairsKPOPWIRED30 MillionCo-OpShow & Tell and Nincest (book and lyrics by Jen Silverman) MFA: NYU, Musical Theatre Writing. maxvernon.com

About the Choreographer

Jennifer Weber | Choreographer

“Outstanding Emerging Choreographer” New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) nominee, Jennifer Weber is the artistic director of the award-winning, theatrical hip-hop dance company, Decadancetheatre. Based in Brooklyn, NY, the company has toured across the US, UK, Russia and France performing at venues including Jacob’s Pillow, The Apollo Theater, The Kennedy Center, London’s Southbank Center, The Everyman in Liverpool, New York City Center, Bumbershoot in Seattle, The Stanislavsky Music Theatre in Moscow and The Music Center in Los Angeles. She has choreographed for American Express, Uber, Ulta, L’Oreal Matrix, Reebok, Bloomberg, Philosophy, Marc Jacobs, CK2 and UK TV show, Blue Peter. Weber was the creative director for the 2016 tour of Lifetime’s Bring it! Live and choreographed the 16/17 tour of PBS’s Odd Squad Live. Weber and The Deca Crew were featured on Season 2 of TruTV’s theatrical competition series Fake Off.  She is the director and choreographer for The Hip Hop Nutcracker, currently touring the US. jenniferwebernyc.com

About the Director

Teddy Bergman | Director

Teddy Bergman is a New York based director, producer and actor. As the Artistic Director of acclaimed immersive theater company Woodshed Collective, he has co-conceived and directed many productions including: Twelve Ophelias, The Confidence Man, The Tenant and most recently Empire Travel Agency. His work as a director has also been seen at Ars Nova, Portland Center Stage, Columbia University, Primary Stages, The Vineyard Arts Project, Space on Ryder Farm, Clubbed Thumb and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. As an actor he is currently appearing in a major role in the Amazon Studios Original Series Good Girls Revolt. He was in the original Broadway cast of the Tony Award Winning play Peter And The Starcatcher. His film work includes Wolves (upcoming), Listen Up Philip, Fading Gigolo, Hairbrained, Julie and Julia, Little Big League and Honeymoon in Vegas. Other TV work includes: The AffairLaw and Order: SVUAs The World Turns and Submissions Only in addition to National and International Commercials. Other theater credits include: Philip Goes Forth (The Mint), Sex Lives of Our Parents (2nd Stage), Peter and the Starcatcher (NYTW), Seven Minutes in Heaven (HERE), Hell House (St. Ann’s), I.E. (The Flea) and regionally at Bay Street, Williamstown, Huntington and La Jolla.

Cast

Design Team

  • Gabriel Hainer Evansohn | Production Design
  • Tricia Barsamian | Costume Design
  • Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew | Lighting Design
  • Will Pickens | Sound Design
  • Phillip Gulley | Projection & Video Design
  • Lizzy Lee | Production Stage Manager
  • Ashley Rodbro | Production Stage Manager (Sub)
  • Natalie Hratko | Stage Manager
  • John C. Moore | Stage Manager
  • Musical Direction | Sujin Kim-Ramsey

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