Segal Center World Voices Festival: HAEYOUL BAE (South Korea)

The Segal Center presents our annual World Voices Festival: a three-day festival showcasing the work of renowned, international theatre artists. World Voices will feature four readings of new plays in translation, staged in collaboration with NY-based directors and performers. This year's playwrights hail from Norway, Ireland/the UK, Greece, and South Korea.

On May 5th, we will present a reading of Highway 7 by Haeyoul Bae (South Korea), directed by Seonjae Kim. The reading will be followed by a talkback with the artists, moderated by Frank Hentschker.

Highway 7

by Haeyoul Bae, translated by Julie Lee, edited by Alyssa Kim

Directed by Seonjae Kim

Featuring: Zoë Kim, David Shih, Yeena Sung, Jae Woo and Jeena Yi

Highway 7 addresses the death of a semiconductor factory worker and the suspicious deaths around the military, portraying the lives of those whose paths are inevitably intertwined. The play explores the conflicts, clashes, and transformations between five different characters. It reflects these issues not just as problems of the individuals involved but as realities that we are all facing. The play questions whether we, and the theater itself, can confront victims without being trapped by conventional ideas and without resorting to stereotypes.

Haeyoul Bae is a playwright from South Korea. Works include: Highway 7; Stir-Fried Memories with Vienna Sausages; Here, Once, Gaga; Once Upon a Time, There Was an Asian Small-Clawed Otter Living in Seoul City; Temple of April; Saving the Goat; 1994, 2014, and the Space in between; Magnolia Balloon; Dogs Without Masters. Awards include: 2021 Byuksan Culture Awards, Play Award; 2022 Donga Play Awards, Best Play; 2024 New Play Contest by National Theatre Company of Korea, Excellence Award; 2025 Lee Yeong-man Theatrical Awards for Playwright.

Seonjae Kim (sun in the sky + letter j) is a NYC-based director from Seoul, South Korea. Her credits include KPOP (Associate, Broadway), Bald Sisters (Salt Lake Acting Company), Wild Goose Dreams (SpeakEasy Stage Company), The Wolves (Atlantic Acting School), Jar of Fat (Ma-Yi), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Associate, Kennedy Center), and Hot Asian Doctor Husband (Theater Mu). Seonjae created Riot Antigone, a Riot Grrl musical adaptation of Antigone, produced at La MaMa and Ars Nova and published in Reclaiming Greek Drama for Diverse Audiences by Routledge. Seonjae's short film Good Taste premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival before embarking on a national festival tour. She is currently developing Mommy: A One Woman Cho, a solo play written and performed by Margaret Cho. One of Broadway Women Fund’s 2024 list of “Women to Watch.” NYTW Usual Suspect. Graduate of Northwestern University. Find her at @sunintheskyletterj or seonjaekim.com. 

Zoë Kim is a classically trained Actor and the Founder of Seoulful Productions (seoulfulproductions.org), a Korean-American women-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose primary mission is to create artistic experiences that celebrate the culture, artistry, and voices of the Korean Diaspora. Her recent acting credits include The Heart Sellers, Pride and Prejudice, Eureka Day, Motherf**ker with the Hat, The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare’s Globe in London), 4000 Miles, and The King’s Language (world premiere). Her solo show, Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?), had a sold-out world premiere production in 2024 at CHUANG Stage and was named a Critics' Pick by the Boston Theater Critics Association and made the Boston Globe's Top 10 Theatre Productions of 2024. www.thezoekim.com @thezoekim 

David Shih. Appearing in BUS STOP at Classic Stage Company May 8 - June 8. Broadway: Life of Pi. Off-Broadway: SUMO (The Public/Ma-Yi), Will Eno’s Gnit (TFANA), KPOP (Ars Nova), ONCE UPON A (korean) TIME and Bike America (Ma-Yi), Henry VI (NAATCO), Awake and Sing! (The Public/NAATCO), Somebody’s Daughter (2ST), Crane Story (Playwrights Realm). Regional: The Far Country(Yale Rep), Life of Pi (A.R.T), SUMO and Tiger Style! (La Jolla Playhouse), Kim’s Convenience (Westport Country Playhouse), The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin(Indiana Rep), The Great Wave (Berkeley Rep). TV: “Law & Order,” “Billions,” “The Path,” “Hunters,” “City on a Hill,” “Iron Fist,” “Blindspot,” “Elementary,” “Madam Secretary,” “The Blacklist,” “Unforgettable.” Film: The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Eighth Grade, Respect the Jux, All the Little Things We Kill, Fan Girl, Mr. Sushi, Saving Face. Narrated over 100 audiobooks. Voice of Eddie Toh in Grand Theft Auto V.

Yeena Sung is a NYC-based actor with a vibrant range of creative pursuits. Originally from South Korea, Yeena is an empathetic storyteller deeply committed to exploring themes of belonging and her own nuanced identity as a Korean/Korean-American. Her favorite theater credits include: To the Ends of the Earth (JACK), Where Women Go (HERE), Twelfth Night (Classical Theatre of Harlem), and Hi-Fi, Wi-Fi, Sci-Fi (La MaMa). Film/TV: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Younger, Happy Cleaners, and 29 Hour Famine. She holds degrees from Columbia University (MFA) and NYU Tisch School of the Arts (BFA). yeenasung.com 

Jae Woo (He/Him) is an actor/dancer/mime based in New York City. He is a company member of Broken Box Mime Theater and a core artistic collaborator with Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble. Some of his theater credits include: My Man Kono (Tachibana) with Pan Asian Repertory Theater, The King and I (King Mongkut) at Beef and Boards Theater, The Chinese Lady (Atung) at Central Square Theater/Chuang Stages, Diaspora! (John) at New Repertory Theatre, Take Shape at A.R.T. New York with Broken Box Mime Theater Company, Twelfth Night (Antonio) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Puck) with Shakespeare On the Sound, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Lysander) with Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble. Jae received his BFA in Acting at Boston University and MFA in Acting at Columbia University. www.jaebwoo.com

Jeena Yi is a Korean American actor and writer based in New York City. Recent credits include Cymbeline (NAATCO), The Beastiary (Ars Nova), Daphne (LCT3) and Nyad (Netflix). @JeenaYi 

FULL FESTIVAL LINEUP

MAY 1

5pm: Selected works by Kaite O'Reilly (Ireland/UK), directed by Katie Butler

*Followed by a panel on disability and performance.

MAY 3

3pm: Almost Human by Kathrine Nedrejord (Norway), directed by Seth Bockley

5:30pm:The Blood of the Souls the Night Reaps by Christos Panagiotakis (Greece), directed by April Sweeney

MAY 5

6:30pm: Highway 7 by Haeyoul Bae (South Korea), directed by Seonjae Kim

These readings are free and open to the public. First come, first served.

SEGAL CENTER 2025 WORLD VOICES PLAYWRIGHTS

Haeyoul Bae is a playwright from South Korea. Works include: Highway 7; Stir-Fried Memories with Vienna Sausages; Here, Once, Gaga; Once Upon a Time, There Was an Asian Small-Clawed Otter Living in Seoul City; Temple of April; Saving the Goat; 1994, 2014, and the Space in between; Magnolia Balloon; Dogs Without Masters. Awards include: 2021 Byuksan Culture Awards, Play Award; 2022 Donga Play Awards, Best Play; 2024 New Play Contest by National Theatre Company of Korea, Excellence Award; 2025 Lee Yeong-man Theatrical Awards for Playwright.

Kathrine Nedrejord is a playwright and author from the indigenous Sami community in Norway. Nedrejord is especially interested in exploring hierarchies, colonialism and the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator in her works. For her first play Brent jord (*Scorched Earth) she was nominated for the Ibsen Prize in 2015. In 2018 she became the first female playwright in residence at the National Theatre in Oslo. Stagings and readings of her plays have been done in several countries like France, Luxembourg, Germany, Sweden and Finland as well as Norway. She has written and published twelve books in Norway. Her novel Forbryter og staff (*Criminal and punishment) was nominated for the prestigious Nordic Council Literary Award and was recently staged at the Det Norske Teatret. Her latest novel Sameproblemet (*The Sami Problem) has won the Brage Literary Award as well at the Oktober award, and are set to be published in six other countries. 

Kaite O’Reilly is a multi-award winning playwright and dramaturg, who writes for radio, screen and live performance. She is known internationally for her pioneering work in Disability culture. Prizes include the Peggy Ramsay Award, Manchester Theatre Award, Theatre-Wales Award and the Ted Hughes Award for new works in Poetry for Persians (National Theatre Wales). She is a two time finalist in the International James Tait Black Prize for Innovation in Drama (2012, 2019) and The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She was honoured in the 2017/18 International Eliot Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy for developing ‘Alternative Dramaturgies informed by a Deaf and disability Perspective’. She was associate dramaturg for National Theatre Wales and production dramaturg/narrative director for Rambert’s Peaky Blinders dance theatre, The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, currently touring. Kaite’s plays Atypical Plays for Atypical Actors and The ‘d’ Monologues are published by Oberon/Methuen/ Bloomsbury. International work includes the 2018 Unlimited Commission And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/Wales ‘d’ Monologues, a collaboration between Deaf and disabled artists and Something Wonderful, inspired by lived experience of disability in China. Her plays the 9 fridas and The ‘d’ Monologues had their Korean premiere in Seoul, 2021. Her first feature film, The Almond and the Seahorse won the Special Jury’s prize at Dinard Film Festival. Featuring Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg, it was released in the UK in 2024. She is currently part of the writers’ lab at Royal Opera House Covent Garden and developing a television series with a disabled female protagonist.

Christos Panagiotakis was born and raised in Antiphilippi, Kavala, a village at the foot of Mount Pangaion in Greece. A graduate of the Drama School "Karolos Koun” Art Theater (1986), he worked in theater as an actor until 1997 and acted in the cinema and television series. As a writer he published the poetry collection Acrobat at the Edge of Time (2018). Later he published the first part of his trilogy, based on fifteen-syllable verse, entitled, The Blood is of Souls that the Night Reaps (2020), and the second part, entitled The Centrifugal (2023). The Executioner (2023) is the third part of the trilogy - a tribute to the homonymous fifteen-syllable verse known since the 10 th AD and popular in traditional Greek folk songs. Some of his poems have been set to music. At present he is working on his first novel.

This event is supported by the Norwegian Consulate General in New York.