Korean designers win Tony Awards in costume/stage design

Two Korean designers received Tony Awards, the most prestigious award for American plays and musicals.

At the 77th Tony Awards held at Lincoln Center in New York on Sunday (local time), Korean stage costume designer Linda Cho of the musical ‘The Great Gatsby’ won an award for costume design. “There are many special things about this show, like having a Korean producer (Shin Chun-soo, CEO of Od Music Company) and having an Asian leading lady,” Cho said in an interview with local media outlet Broadway World after the awards ceremony. “There are so many people involved in the making of the costumes. I’m grateful for them all."

Hana Suyeon Kim (age 39) jointly won the lighting design category with a colleague for the musical ‘The Outsider.’ “There were many times when I wanted to give up due to financial problems, etc., working in the theatre world in a new country,” said Kim in a phone call with the Dong-A Ilbo after the awards ceremony. "I have friends who have stable jobs and good-paying salaries in Korea, and I would worry about my relatively unstable life. But now I’m happy that I can give hope to other Korean friends."

When she was nine months old, Linda Cho was born in Seoul and immigrated to Canada with her parents. His dream was to become a doctor, but she changed her mind after studying Psychology at McGill University and obtained her master's degree from Yale University's Graduate School of Theater. Her Broadway debut, the musical ‘A Gentleman’s Guide,’ won the 2014 Tony Award for Costume Design for the first time in 10 years. In ‘The Great Gatsby,’ 350 costumes were designed, including 10 dazzling dresses for actress Eva Noblezada, who played the female protagonist Daisy.

The Tony win of ‘The Great Gatsby’ is not just a personal triumph for Linda Cho, but a significant milestone for Korean cultural representation in the theater industry. The musical was solely produced by Korean producer, Shin Chun-soo of Od Musical Company, marking the first time for a musical by a Korean sole producer winning a Tony Award. “Linda Jo added her own interpretation and recreated the costumes of the 1920s in a sophisticated and wonderful way. The win is meaningful in that Koreans have gained the spotlight in the musical world,” said Shin in a phone call interview with The Dong-A Ilbo.

Hana Suyeon Kim was born in the United States, while her father, Kim Hong-jun, director of the Korean Film Archive, was studying abroad in the United States. She came to Korea at the age of three, spent her school years in Korea, and graduated from Seoul National University's Department of Visual Design. Wanting to study film art, she went to the United States to study and received a master's degree in stage design from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). After working as a stage designer in the American performing arts industry for around years, she made her Broadway debut in ‘The Outsider.’


이호재 기자 hoho@donga.com