[TYA Relay Showcase] Song ← Words

A showcase of creative experiments where the baton passes from teenagers to artists and from words to song!

The singular musician Danpyunsun × the inventive director Lee Seongjik

Through direct engagement with teenagers, these two artists draw out words and “songs” that ring true.

Raw and unpolished, the results are all the more perfect and vivid for it. It is time to step into the world of today’s teenagers.

※ The TYA Relay Song ← Words presents two works that Danpyunsun and Lee Seongjik created from workshops with “17 Young People.”

This youth partnership program of the National Theater Company of Korea for Young Audiences invites teenagers into the creative process as collaborators rather than spectators.

Working closely with the production team, they explore and establish the place of young people in theater.

[WORDS] Director Lee Seongjik: P.S.G.

“Here, all you have to do is follow your instincts and move with the flock.”

What if, instead of the “fake” stories of a carefully crafted script, there were “real” experiences you could only discover by diving in yourself?

Director Lee Seongjik brings the living, breathing ecosystem of teenage life into the theater for a playful social experiment. Audiences don’t walk into a conventional auditorium. Rather, they enter the very time and space of being a teenager: a place where class is over but the bell hasn’t rung, and an oddly suspended break drags on and on. P.S.G. (Pigeons, Sparrows, Geese) is a participatory performance that drops you into the thick of this world. Given a new name on arrival, you decide what to do, how long to stay, and who to hang out with. You can throw yourself into a paper-flipping battle, exchange messages with unknown senders, tune in to voices on a podcast, or step back and watch it all like a birdwatcher. As people scatter and regroup, loose flocks begin to form among strangers.

Then, after getting swept up in all the fun, you snap back and wonder: ‘How did our flock start and end?’

[SONG] Musician Danpyunsun: THE FOOL

“Nothing much happened today. Except for everything that did!”

To anyone else, it might look like an ordinary day. But take just one step inside, and the familiar everyday landscape turns into a strange maze.

In this music theater piece, Danpyunsun traces a teenager’s midsummer journey, set off by one impulsive step into a world turned upside down. The setting is a black box, with no elaborate props and no actors playing characters. As the lights come up, an uncanny scene glides into view. Live music and dance, recorded voices, and carefully designed noise fill the space. Guided by Danpyunsun, you piece together the scattered fragments in your mind to complete the story. Then, once you exit the theater, it’s just another uneventful day.

But those of us who were there together now know “what really happened that day.”

About the Artists

WORDS | Devised and directed by Lee Seongjik (Gamjapia)

Lee Seongjik gathers pieces of everyday life and turns them into something close to performance. He tends to trust what he can touch and try firsthand. He runs workshops more often than he stages shows. Drawn to the communal and the amateur, yet wary of both, he keeps working somewhere in their orbit.

Major Works

Directing: Epiphytic Anti Plant Gone, House Bat House, Open Theater Club: Open Orchestra Show, Sickness Is the Cure, Live Healthy, Live Hundred
Collaborations: RiceCakeLoveLoveTogetherFreedomCommemorationApplause, Jung-hyun, Why Did You Create the Pohang Center for Cultural and Arts Activities for People with Disabilities Even Though You Don’t Know Much About Culture and Arts?

SONG | Written, directed, and composed by Danpyunsun

With his distinctive voice and thoughtful lyrics, Danpyunsun has built a musical world entirely his own. His signature is an Eastern-inflected sound that fuses the avant-garde with pop, paired with a vocal style rooted in Korean popular songs of earlier generations. His music career has centered on bands including Danpyunsun & The Moments Ensemble and Danpyunsun and the Sailors. Beyond music, he has worked across many fields as a writer, activist, producer, and IT planner.

Major Works

Albums: Hail to the Music (Danpyunsun & The Moments Ensemble), Animal (Danpyunsun and the Sailors)

Music theater: Hysterie, Anxiety and Dancing Granny
Theater: Dance Nation
Film: The Love of Truman
 

Awards
2025        22nd Korean Music Awards: Album of the Year, Best Modern Rock Album
2015        12th Korean Music Awards: Best Rock Album