I Will Live As An Actor

Chapter 73

Casting

The most important elements of a play are the stage, the script, the actors, and the audience. 

These are commonly known as the four components of a play. But if we had to choose the most crucial ones, they would undoubtedly be the script and the actors. 

No matter how brilliant the script is, it would be like a steamed bun without filling if there are no actors with good acting skills to back it up. And vice versa.

“The Korean Theater Festival?”

Actress Park Sang-ah frowns. It’s because of her agency’s president’s suggestion. 

He called her, who had been taking a break after finishing her work months ago, to talk about a play. 

She had secretly hoped for a CF advertisement, but this was not a pleasant news for her.

“I don’t want to do it. I quit acting in plays more than ten years ago. And now you’re telling me to go back to the stage?”

“Park, are you afraid?”

Park Sanga narrowed her eyes at the sly smile of her agency’s CEO. She left the theater scene for a reason: low commercial value and recognition. 

There was no point in staying there. Her wallet was getting thinner by the day, and the public’s awareness of her was not improving at all.

And it had been ten years since she left the theater. 

Too much time had passed. Drama, film, and theater had different standards of acting. 

Film was focused on the director’s vision, and drama depended on the writer’s skill. But theater was all about the actor’s performance. 

Acting in front of a close audience required different voice, breath, movement, expression, and gesture. 

It would be a lie to say that she was not burdened. But she was shocked by what the CEO said next.

“It’s a work by the author Jeong Yong-dae, but you’re not interested?”

“Jeong Yong-dae? You mean the one who won the Daehan Literature Prize?”

“Yes, he wrote a play this time. He seems to have plans to submit it to the Daehan Theater Festival, and he wants you to be one of the actors. The director is Seong Ji-hoon, you know him well, right?”

“I know him very well. But are you saying that they’re all working together?”

I was astonished. It was surprising enough that the playwright Jeong Yong-dae was involved, but he also roped in Seong Ji-hoon as the director. 

Seong Ji-hoon was a well-respected director in the Korean theater scene. 

Just as the director’s skills were important in movies or dramas, so were they in plays.

I oversee the stage and direct the flow of the play. I’m the kind of person who is often called the shadow of the stage. I don’t show my face to the audience, but I have to control and coordinate the whole stage. 

In that sense, Seong Ji-hoon was one of the best stage directors in Korea. But I heard he quit directing plays for good.

‘What the hell? He never bothered to look for me when I was in the theater scene, but now he calls me out of the blue like this.’

There were countless actors who wanted to star in the plays of playwright Jeong Yong-dae and director Seong Ji-hoon. 

Actress Park Sang-ah was one of them. She still remembered how he dismissed her audition with a single word.

‘Next.’

I remember the sharp gaze of Seong Ji-hoon, who shouted that at me. 

As if he read my thoughts, the agency’s president added.

“Ahem, don’t think so badly. Isn’t it a sign that your acting has won their hearts?”

“Hmph, whatever. Do you think I’m in a desperate situation like before? Besides, it’s a theater festival. And why should I take a supporting role, not a lead?”

The Korean Theater Festival was a dream stage for any theater actor. But it was different for Park Sang-ah. 

She had left the theater scene ten years ago, and she couldn’t boast that her acting skills were still sharp. 

She might end up losing everything if she wasn’t careful.

“Really? I heard you got the role of Hyewon’s lover.”

“Wait a minute, are you talking about Son Jimin?”

“We’ve been rivals since we were on the stage together, right? I heard he also got an offer. But he accepted it without any hesitation. Even though it’s not a lead role.”

The reason why the agency’s CEO was provoking Park Sanga like this was simple. He wanted her to grow more as an actor.

I had made a name for myself in commercial films and dramas after leaving the theater scene. 

My popularity and fees had gone up, but so had the criticism that I always gave the same performance. 

The agency head knew that I was stuck in a rut. 

That’s when the actress Park Sanga asked me with dry lips.

“Who’s the lead, anyway?”

The agency head suppressed a laugh. He had almost hooked me.

“Jang Young-guk.”

***

Sehwa High School.

Sehwa High was a humanities-focused school that rarely had any celebrities among its students.

That was understandable, since the admission required decent grades, and most of the students who aspired to be celebrities or trainees went to arts schools instead. 

It was a natural phenomenon. But for some reason, this year’s freshmen included quite a few former child actors and trainees.

‘Is this an agency or a school?’

I smirked as I walked through the school and saw the faces of my juniors. It was not uncommon for them to sneak glances at me from time to time. But it was almost unheard of for them to come all the way to my classroom and greet me personally.

“Hello, senior. I’m Kim Nalin, a trainee from Hyewon Entertainment.”

“Me too, senior! Do you remember me? I got your autograph when you came to our agency to learn choreography.”

“My name is Kim Soo-young, an actor from Sunday Entertainment. It’s an honor to meet you, senior. I’ve always wanted to see you in person!”

“Thanks for coming to greet me, but let’s just say hello casually when we run into each other from now on.”

Young-guk scratches his head as he watches his juniors bowing deeply and leaving.

He was used to getting a lot of attention at school, but he didn’t feel burdened by people’s eyes. However, today was different. 

The male students looked at him with envy, and the female students glared at his juniors’ backs with inexplicable gazes.

‘I wanted to spend the remaining year quietly.’

I had less than a year left of high school. Of course, I had to prepare for the college entrance exam, and I also had to worry about which university and major to choose for my future. 

I wanted to spend the rest of my school days peacefully, but it seemed like that wouldn’t happen as I wished. As proof of that.

“Why are you sitting here?”

As I was eating lunch, Yeon-su, a freshman from Sehwa High School, plopped down across from me with her tray. 

She was wearing a name tag that identified her school. 

Most students tended to sit with their own grade, so her action seemed bold and daring.

“Do I need your permission to sit here? Don’t tell me, you want to eat with your oppa. By the way, are you being bullied at school? Why is no one around you?”

Just like Yeon-su said, there was no one sitting near me. It was as if a curtain had been drawn around me. It wasn’t that I had bad relationships with my classmates.

But who wouldn’t want to eat comfortably at lunchtime? 

As if it was their duty as celebrities, the students would glance at me whenever I ate. So my friends preferred to sit far away from me.

“Forget it, just eat your food and stop looking around.”

Yeon-su made a sour face and picked up her chopsticks. 

She was eating crunchy lotus root and sausage stir-fry. Then she suddenly asked me.

“Oppa, aren’t you going to do a play for your next project?”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Our CEO told me. He said everyone was surprised that you chose a play. What kind of play is it?”

“I haven’t even done a proper rehearsal yet.”

What good would it do to tell her that I was cast as the greatest Casanova of Joseon?

“By the way, Yeon-su, you don’t seem busy these days. I heard you have to go to the countryside a lot to film a historical drama. But you’re always at school.”

“Why do I feel like there’s a bone in your words? Do you hate me?”

“You have rice on your mouth.”

Yeon-su rubbed her mouth and removed the rice. She made another sour face.

“Tsk, you don’t answer my question. I finished filming the historical drama, the child part is over.”

“Really?”

“Why do you have to be like that? You never show any interest in me, no matter what. I watch every episode of the drama you star in, but you don’t even invite me to your fan meeting.”

Young-guk looked startled for a moment. He realized he had been neglecting Yeon-su. He barely contacted her after he moved to Seoul. 

He had a good reason, though. Young-guk might look like a high school student on the outside, but he felt like a middle-aged man on the inside. He didn’t have any romantic feelings for Yeon-su. He only saw her as a little sister.

“And I’ve chosen my next project. I’m doing a play.”

“What?”

He looked at me with disbelief. He had never imagined that I would choose a play as my next work. And I couldn’t blame him. Plays and dramas might look similar, but they were completely different fields. He knew that gap well, being from England. That’s why he was even more puzzled.

“What kind of play is it?”

He asked, hoping to give me some advice. He had spent years honing his skills on the stage, after all. He had seen many plays in his time. But when he heard my voice, his spoon dropped to the floor.

“Spring of Joseon.”

***

The Korean Theatre Association.

The Korean Theatre Association, which organizes the annual Korean Theatre Festival, is in a dilemma. 

Every year, countless plays are submitted from all over the country for the festival. But only a few of them can make it to the final stage. 

Only the works that pass the rigorous screening process can receive the production costs to stage their plays.

‘Will we be in the red again this year?’

Kim Sung-do, the president of the Korean Theatre Association, sighs deeply to himself. 

He is the person who wishes the most for the revival of the Korean theatre industry. But sadly, the people are not very interested in theatre.

As a proof of that, the tickets for the Korean Theatre Festival are rarely sold out. As a result, the costs for the stage production and the prizes often outweigh the benefits.

‘We need a star.’

To revive the theater industry in Korea, we need a star. 

Of course, that’s only possible with an outstanding play as the foundation. But looking at the actors who participate in the Korean Theater Festival, most of them have been acting on stage for a long time. 

That’s why it’s rare to see a new actor in the festival, except for minor roles.

‘This can’t go on.’

We need a turning point. 

While the movie and drama industries are developing day by day, isn’t the theater industry declining?

Now, most of the people who come to the theater are only those who have a fanatic hobby. 

The reasons are not only the difficulty of access compared to the theater and TV, but also the prejudice that theater is somehow old-fashioned. 

That’s when it happened.

Knock, knock!

An employee of the Korean Theater Association enters with a loud knock. 

Kim Sung-do, the chairman of the association, looks at the employee who is sweating on his face and asks curiously.

“What’s the hurry? Did something happen in the preliminary screening?”

“Chairman, I think you need to see this for a moment. There’s a remarkable work among the preliminary screening works today.”

“Remarkable?”

The preliminary screening is selected based on the play, the stage director, and the actors. If it’s remarkable enough to say that, it’s one of two things. 

Either they submitted a work that makes no sense at all, or they submitted a very brilliant work.

“Spring of Joseon?”

The chairman’s eyes narrow as he looks at the title of the play. Then he reads the names of the playwright and the stage director and exclaims.

“Jung Yong-dae, Sung Ji-hoon!”

The playwright Jung Yong-dae, who was known to be desperate, and the stage director Sung Ji-hoon, who left the theater scene, came back. And they teamed up together. 

This alone was enough to make a buzz in the theater world. But the employee gives him a look of urgency, as if that’s not the end of it.

“The cast.”

Kim Sung-do can’t continue his words.

“Lee Chang-hoon, Ji Dong-yeon, Kim Min-hwa, Park Sang-ah, Son Ji-min…”

They were all actors who had left the stage. Now, they were busy working on the screen and the TV. As usual, those who had left the stage hardly ever came back to it.

And for good reason. Most of them had left the stage because they couldn’t endure the hunger. But now, they were gathered together again. And my eyes went to the names of the male and female leads at the end.

“Yeon-su, and Jang Young-guk!”

Even if I was the association president who had no interest in TV dramas, I had heard their names at least once. 

They were famous actors. 

I swallowed my dry saliva, feeling as if something was going to happen at this year’s Korean Theater Festival.