PARK YOUNGHEE

Park Younghee

I collaborate, create, and share art with old and new friends to foster love, friendship, and empathy, driving positive cultural change in the community

CV

A short BIO

I am a member of Company Bad – Australia and the Korean Artists Collective, currently pursuing a PhD at QUT, Brisbane. I create, perform and facilitate cross-cultural, multilingual theatres and community arts projects for young audiences and the wider community.

 

Current Engagements

  • PhD Candidate at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, focusing on inclusive and accessible multilingual theatre-making for young audiences.
  • Member of Company Bad and the Korean Artists Collective, creating cross-cultural, multilingual theatre and performances for young audiences and the general public.

Professional & Academic CV

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Candidate
    Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
    Current
  • Master of Philosophy
    Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
    2020 – 2022
    Thesis: Theatre-making in the Age of #MeToo: Working Cross-Culturally Toward a Framework for Safer Creative Spaces
  • Bachelor of Arts (Children’s English Literature)
    The Cyber University of Korea
    2011 – 2019
  • Associate Degree (Theatre)
    Seoul Institute of the Arts
    1994 – 1996

Training Highlights

  • 2011
    Participant in Viewpoints’ Training with SITI Company, New York
  • 1996 – 1998
    Pansori (traditional Korean singing) training under “National Living Treasure” Han Seung-Ho
  • 1994 – 1996
    Bongsan Talchum (Korean mask dance) training under “National Living Treasure” Kim Sun-Bong
  • 1994 – 1995
    Janggu (traditional Korean drum) training
  • 1992 – 1995
    Pansori training under master Kim Jong-Yup

Selected Projects

  • Sail Boat Home 내 집은 어디인가
    Company Bad
    Current
    A multilingual music theatre for young audiences, funded by the Australia-Korea Foundation in 2024. Developed in collaboration with La Boite Theatre, WAAPA (WA), and AWESOME Festival (Perth), the project explores themes of identity, belonging, and cultural exchange through interactive storytelling and immersive performance.
  • I YOU WE WORKSHOP
    Company Bad
    2024
    A collaborative workshop series invited by the Korea Disability Arts & Culture Center and BluBirdC, designed to explore ensemble-based theatre-making and creative collaboration. The series connects local and international artists through creative dialogue, embodied practice, and shared methodologies, fostering new approaches to inclusive performance-making.
  • Read more: “I YOU WE: Expanding Collaborative Theatre Practices”
  • Jiha Underground
    Company Bad
    2020 – 2022
    A feature film project selected by the HWY Live program in 2020, receiving the RIDE Feature Film fund by Screen Queensland and SBS for script development over two years.
  • The Hello Project
    Company Bad
    2018 – 2021
    An inclusive workshop and performance-making process by an ensemble of individuals with diverse experiences of disability. The project explores human connection across perceived barriers of language, culture, location, and ability through storytelling, imagery, sound, and immersive environments. Due to the pandemic, the project shifted online in 2020, resulting in an online art book. In 2021, exhibitions were held in Chuncheon and Seoul, South Korea.
  • The Stone Catcher Project
    2018 – 2020
    A transcultural, bilingual multidisciplinary performance funded by the Arts Council of Korea and Spelman College (USA). Created by Younghee Park and Aku Kadogo (Chair of the Theatre Department at Spelman College), this work blends poetic texts, pansori (traditional Korean music), Black soul music, dynamic choreography, and visual arts. The project addresses the question:
    “In such a masculine world, is it possible to exist and coexist as women against various forms of physical and mental discrimination and prejudice?”
  • Drifters
    Gimcheon Youth Detention Center
    2016
    As the Artistic Director of the Culture and Arts Rehabilitation Program for Korea’s only juvenile detention center, I led the development of Drifters, an original musical based on the stories of incarcerated youth. The project was the result of a year-long program of theatre, dance, music, and traditional martial arts workshops. The premiere was attended by inmates’ families, the justice department, and the federal Minister of Justice. It has since been used as a model for creative interventions in the corrections system.
    • 2016 – Presentation at Gimcheon Youth Detention Center
    • Press:
  • The Mystery of Laboratory B-123
    JamBox Theatre
    2018 – 2019
    An original children’s bilingual work inspired by the 2014 Sewol Ferry disaster in Korea. Premiered in 2017 at the Children’s Theater in Seoul, it has been re-performed annually and was officially invited to the Assitej Korea Winter Festival. In 2019, it received awards for Best Actress and Best Popular Children’s Show of the Year at the Seoul Children’s Theatre Awards.
  • Voice
    2014 – 2015
    An original solo music drama for teenagers, written, directed, and performed by Younghee Park. Initially funded and presented by the National Theatre Company of Korea in 2014, Voice is inspired by the real story of Yukwoodang, a teenage gay activist and poet who became an early symbol of the gay rights movement before taking his own life in 2003. The work was invited to the Korean Human Rights Theatre Festival in 2015.
    • 2015 – Korea Human Rights Play Festival
    • 2014 – National Theatre Company of Korea, Small Theatre Festival
    • Press:
  • The Dokboki Box
    Offset Art
    2014
    A collaboration between Australian and Korean artists, serving live music and performance inside a street-side snack stall from Seoul. The piece raises questions and redefines rules as it reveals a story about survival.
    • 2014 – Season at Federation Square, Melbourne, for Next Wave Festival
    • 2014 – Premiere Season at Metro Arts, Brisbane

Publications

  • Park, Y. (2014). The Dokboki Box Project – Reporting on a residency at Metro Arts, Australia. Arts Council of Korea. Link
  • Neideck, J., Stoneham, N., Park, Y., & Mckeague, M. (2022). “We’ll meet you underground”: transcultural performance practices in queer space and time. Australasian Drama Studies, (81), 203-236.
  • Park, Y. (2022). Theatre-making in the age of #MeToo: Working cross-culturally toward a framework for making safer creative spaces [Master’s thesis, Queensland University of Technology].
  • Park, Y., Neideck, J., & Heim, C. (2021). Traditional Korean Audiences and their Protest in the Madang Then and Now. Critical Stages.
  • Korean Theatre Working Group. (2020). Korean Theatre Standards. Link

Related Theatre Work

  • Generator (Associate Director) WAAPA 2nd year BPA Production 2024
  • Orlando (Director)
    WAAPA 3rd year BPA Production
    2023
  • Remember Jiha Underground
    Company Bad (Metro Arts)
    2020
  • Choral (Co-writer and Collaborator)
    Debase Productions and Company Bad
    2018 – 2019
  • Migration and Labour (Performer)
    Bupyeong Cultural Arts Foundation
    2019
  • The Magic Room (Co-director)
    Happy Lounge
    2019
  • The Nightingale (Writer and Director)
    JamBox Theatre
    2019
  • Small Wonder (Collaborator and Performer)