Han Kang's "The Boy Is Coming" Presented by Park Jeongja's Voice... Arko Literature Theater Debuts

October 7-31: 11 Performances of 9 Literary Works at Three Venues in Seoul
Kim Aeran, Haena Sung, Bae Samsik Among Featured Writers
Immersive Productions Combine Readings with Music, Video, and Surround Sound

The voice of actress Park Jeongja brings Han Kang's "The Boy Is Coming" to life. Kim Aeran's "Foreign Body" and Haena Sung's "Honmono" are also reimagined in immersive performances that combine reading, music, and video.

Poster for the "2026 ARKO Literary Theater" hosted by the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service from October 7 to 31 at Seoul Yeonhui Arts Theater, Sanwoolim Small Theater, and Classic Hanok Dito. The event will feature nine works, including Han Kang's "The Boy Is Coming" and Seong Haena's "Honmono," presented as performances combining reading, music, and video. Korea Arts & Culture Education Service

The Korea Arts & Culture Education Service announced on September 23 that the "2026 Arko Literature Theater" will be held from October 7 to 31 at Seoul Yeonhui Arts Theater, Small Theater Sanwoolim, and Classic Hanok DITTO. Introduced for the first time this year, the literature theater is a performance program that reconstructs literary works into a variety of art forms, including reading, acting, music, and video. A total of 11 performances will be presented, featuring five reading plays performed seven times and four reading sessions presented four times, for a total of nine programs.

The lineup of reading plays includes Kim Aeran’s "Foreign Body," Ko Jae-gwi’s "Somewhere, Someone," Haena Sung’s "Honmono," Bae Sam-sik’s "Hwajeonga," and Han Kang’s "The Boy Is Coming." "Foreign Body" unfolds as a polyphonic performance, with multiple actors sharing or overlapping lines. In "Honmono," the actors' pre-recorded dialogues are synchronized with video, while actor Park Wonsang performs a live narration in a sound cinema format enhanced by a 5.1 channel surround system.

In "Hwajeonga," featuring actress Ye Soo-jeong, Korean, sign language, and foreign language readings are combined with projected text, creating a multilingual reading play. "The Boy Is Coming" adds video and three-dimensional sound to Park Jeongja’s narration, and in the latter part of the performance, the stage’s tension is heightened gradually through Ravel’s "Bolero."

The reading sessions will feature works such as Kim Boyoung’s "Stars Shine in the Sky of the Earth," Lee Arip’s "Mieum Embracing Ieung," An Heeyeon's "Walking in the Carrot Field," and Park Jun’s "Neither a Greeting nor a Farewell." The program allows audiences to experience literature in diverse ways—from two voices alternating in reading, to a writer’s playlist, to the fusion of poetry and song, and the encounter between contemporary poetry and the traditional vocal genre, Jeongga.

Some of the performances will include author signing events and audience conversations. All programs are free of charge, and details regarding the schedule, cast, and reservation procedures for each performance can be found on the Literature Plaza website.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.