Hansol Jung

2018 Winner in
Drama

Hansol Jung is a playwright and director from South Korea. Her productions include

Cardboard Piano, Among the Dead, No More Sad Things, Wolf Play, and Wild

Goose Dreams. Her work has been developed at the Royal Court, New York Theatre

Workshop, Berkeley Repertory’s Ground Floor, and more. She is the recipient of

the P73 Playwright Fellowship, Rita Goldberg Playwrights’ Workshop Fellowship

at the Lark, 2050 Fellowship at New York Theatre Workshop, and others. Jung has

translated over thirty English musicals into Korean. She holds a Playwriting MFA from

the Yale School of Drama and is a member of the Ma-Yi Theatre Writers Lab.

Photo Credit:
Beowulf Sheehan
Reviews & Praise

“Comedy of the laugh-out-loud variety is the surprising top note in Hansol Jung’s surreal, somberly titled Among the Dead, a smart and stinging new play that delves into painful business indeed…With this outraged, deeply compassionate play, Ms. Jung is kicking, and expanding our understanding.”—The New York Times

“With lighthearted, innocent humor and horrifying dream sequences, Wild Goose Dreams straddles the line of a fun, dating romp and a dark look at the trauma of leaving your loved ones behind––or being left behind…this entertaining and original new play pulls on the importance of family and the need for intimate connection to live a full life.”—FINE Magazine

"Haunting [...] authentic [...] Jung’s characters never offer clear answers to what is to be done when hearts and lives are broken from violence and denunciation, but this promising playwright’s story suggests a power in facing the damage done and picking up the pieces to inform each step forward."—Louisville Courier-Journal [on Cardboard Piano]

Selected Works

Wolf Play
Premiered in
2019
read more >
From the Selection Committee

The stories playwright Hansol Jung is committed to telling could not be more essential to this moment. She knits together the agonies of Korean history, the restless excitement and anxiety of the tech age, and the shapes of loss and longing. Her play Wild Goose Dreams is the best dramatic depiction yet of the internet – its oceanic cavernousness, the ways it can sink or save us. She proves that the ancient form of the theater can still capture something meaningful about our vibrant contemporary world.

Outside Links
New Play Exchange Profile
Wild Goose Dreams Interview (KPBS)
Cardboard Piano Interview (Courier Journal)
Video (Reading from Wolf Play)