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The first migrants' theater group in Korea had its first invitation performance with a creative play by themselves.

The Theater Salad's creative play "Tasty Recipe-After the Rain" was performed in Incheon Arts Center on September 13. The performance, with about 200 visitors, was an invitation performance by 2009 Wolmi Peace Festival.

The audience evaluated the performance as 'a pleasant, joyful discourse of truthful lives of migrant women.'

A migrant woman 'Illa' works at 'Auntie's Restaurant' run by 'Halmae' (grandma). Hamae, with generous mind covered in her harsh language, always scolds Illa. 'Kyeongchil,' the son of Halmae, dreams to be a singer and is often at odds with Illa. One day, 'Anita,' another migrant woman, with an infant wadded in baby wrapper, visits the restaurant for a job.

Even in economy hardship, Halmae provides a warm meal and a job for Anita, who has no where to go. When Halmae broke one of her legs by accident, Anita's exotic food becomes popular among customers, providing 'new hope' for the declining restaurant.

The Auntie's Restaurant faces a crisis to be lost when Kyeongchil owes a huge debt. Anita persuades Illa to suggest Halmae to hand over the restaurant to them and earns a month of period to make the money for the restaurant. They made an advertisement to meet other migrant women who would invest and participate in running the restaurant.

"Why do you make such efforts to save the restaurant?" Being suggested to find a new job by Illa, Anita answers, "When I had no where to go, this restaurant gave me a work to do. If might be a small shabby restaurant to others. But it is a precious place special to me."

Anita and Illa met another migrant woman who participates in running the restaurant. And three of them undergo ups and downs to make up the money for the restaurant. Watching over their strenuous efforts, Halmae made the decision to hand over the restaurant to them.

The play tells how to overcome hardships in life when we face them, a warm wisdoms in life.

The performance will be a good multi-cultural educational program for those who have prejudices and stereotypes about migrants, much of which are established and consolidated by the media.

The Theater Salad, with its creative play of "Tasty Recipe-After the Rain," will have its first regular performance in Sungmisan Village Theater between September 24 and 27.

The Theater Salad, a migrants' theater group and one of sister organizations of Salad TV, was founded in 2008 in order to show the cultural competencies of migrants to Korean society.

"Efforts to Save the Restaurant were Impressive"

- Aspects of Migrant Women Not Shown in Mainstream Media Were Fresh

The 'Tasty Recipe-After the Rain," the creative play by Theater Salad, had diverse audiences from migrants, families, students, young adults and children. All of them highly evaluated the performance, saying "It was fresh, joyful, and impressive." They said, "The efforts the characters made to overcome hardships by helping each others have been impressive."

Juyeon Park (14, Buk-Incheon Middle School 1) said, "While I was watching the play, I wished to perform one by myself when I grew up. I especially liked the dialects and comics they used during the play."

Kang Kim (10, Bukok Elementary School 3), who was invited to the show by her uncle, said, "The performance of Halmae was excellent and the story was good enough to be published as a book." Kang said, 'The characters' efforts to save a restaurant and the new aspects of migrant women, which are rarely seen on TV, have been impressive."

Eunjin Lee (45), the representative of Job Arte, said, "The performance was joyful and fun. A story of migrants which can be heavy was well discoursed as a delight one with dances and songs."

In charge of 'Dream in Asia' programs with migrants women in Yeonsoo Cultural Center, Hyosook Song (52) said, "Around seven couples of migrant women watched the show and all of them said it was very impressive. They said they surely wished to come for next performance."

Juanita (58), head of 'Damayan' (Meaning 'Helping each others' in Tagalog'), said, "The show displayed the truthful lives of migrant women in Korea. It is a good educational program for Koreans who often have prejudice about migrants and discriminate them because they are awkward in Korean."

“The show demonstrated that migrant women can also be professional actresses. I was so proud of them," she added.

A member of Damayan, Christine (42), said, "I was expecially proud that a Philippine actress, Jasmin, performed the show. I enjoyed when she exhibited her Visaya Island' dialect of Sebu area when she spoke during the show."

Joseline (28) and Jean (25) from the Philippines said, "We came to Korea only six months ago. We learned a lot about migrants' lives in Korea through the performance."

Asked which part of the performance was most impressive, Vher (40), another member of Damayan, answered, "It was when the winner of the cuisine competition handed over the money to loser team after learning their story. The wise way how to overcome hardships was most touching."

 

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