Recipient of the 2025 Arts Council Korea Literature Fellowship
"Provocative subject material, unrestrained imagination, powerful stage images, bending of time and space...post-dramatic writing at its fragmented best." —Kim Seong-hee, "Interview with Choe Chieon: An ingenious young playwright with his own mind," in Performance and Theory(30), 2008, pp. 140-151
Choe Chieon is a playwright dedicated to the pursuit of linguistic possibility, drawing upon multi-layered structure, symbol, metaphor in his works wide open to interpretation.
1. Life
Choe Chieon was born in 1970 in Yeongam, Jeonnam. He made his literary debut in 1999 winning the poetry category of the Dong-a Ilbo New Writer's Contest, in 2001 winning the fiction category of the Segye Ilbo New Writer's Contest, and in 2003 winning the multi-act play category of the Woojin Creative Prize. He is the recipient of the 2009 National Theater Association of Korea Award (playwriting category, for Unnies), the 2011 Daesan Literary Award (playwriting category, for Crazy Theatre), the 2014 National Theater Association of Korea Award (grand prize and best play, for People with Unusual Taste in Reading), and the Seoul Theater Festival Award (playwriting category, for Another Summer). In 2012 he was awarded 2ndprizeforafilmscriptbytheJeonjuFilmCommission,addingthehatofscreenwritertohismultifacetedcareeraspoet,novelist,playwright,anddirector.
2. Writing
Known for his structuralist approach to playwriting, Choe Chieon's works often begin from visual images. Jarring language and absurd mise-en-scène complete the playwright's abstruse yet original world, miles apart from conventional realist theatre.
Choe writes of the modern human condition with unique flair and perspective, covering a wide spectrum of themes in his plays that range from human desire in closed spaces to contemporary reinterpretations of historical figures. Flowers, Bums, Pizza, and Lionsexplores the reality of the younger generation through metaphor, while My Cheoyong Goes to the Market at Night to Buy Sheep takes on the problem of contemporary identity through the historical figure of Cheoyong.
Choe's playwriting draws upon his experience as a poet and novelist, resulting in an idiosyncratic style that merges poetic writing with drama, capturing images from stories. It is a balancing act between technique and the mind, in which process the playwright gradually eschews technique in favor of the creative mind. Choe's plays may be challenging to stage and interpret, but deserve all the praise for their originality and contributions to avant-garde theatre. With his experimental, idiosyncratic takes on the modern psyche and contemporary social problems using poetic imagery and structuralist writing, Choe's work occupies a unique position in Korean theatre.
Reference
Plays
Crazy Theatre 미친극(Collected Plays of Choe Chieon Vol. 1최치언 희곡집1) (Pyeongminsa 평민사, 2012)
Crazy Theatre 미친극(zmanzdrama 지만지드라마, 2014)
Sleeping Ok-hee 숲속의 잠자는 옥희(Geodneunsaram 걷는사람, 2018)
How, What, Why 어쩌나, 어쩌다, 어쩌나(eum books 이음, 2018)
Another Summer 다른 여름(day and night books 낮과밤, 2023)
Academic
Playwriting 3, Choe Chieon 극작수업3 최치언(National Theater Company of Korea 국립극단 학술출판팀, 2013)
Poetry
Sugar Is the Cure for Everything 설탕은 모든 것을 치료할 수 있다(Random House Korea 랜덤하우스코리아, 2005)
The Man with Long Nose Hair from the North 북에서 온 긴 코털의 사내(Geodneunsaram 걷는사람, 2018)
Sugar Is the Cure for Everything 설탕은 모든 것을 치료할 수 있다(복간시집)(re-issue, Geodneunsaram 걷는사람, 2018)
Some Presents Require Blood 어떤 선물은 피를 요구한다(Moonji Publishing co., Ltd 문학과지성사, 2010)
Sugar Is the Cure for Everything 설탕은 모든 것을 치료할 수 있다(Random House Korea 랜덤하우스코리아, 2005) 등
Short story collections & novels
Show of Evil 악의 쑈(gom books 곰, 2013)
People with Unusual Taste in Reading색다른 이야기 읽기 취미를 가진 사람들에게(day and night books 낮과밤, 2025)
Literary debut
1999 Dong-a Ilbo New Writer's Contest, poetry category
2001 Segye Ilbo New Writer's Contest, fiction category
2003 Woojin Creative Prize for playwriting awarded by the Woojin Culture Foundation and the Saejeonbuk Shinmun
Reference
Kim Seong-hee, "Interview with Choe Chieon: An ingenious young playwright with his own mind," Performance and Theory(30), 2008, pp. 140-151
김성희, 「[최치언 극작가와의 만남] 튀는 발상과 강렬한 개성의 젊은 극작가」, 『공연과이론』(30), 2008, 140~151쪽)
Lee Woo-Cheon, "A Study on Staging People with Unusual Taste in Reading: Focusing on Playwright Choe Chieon’s Structural Dramaturgy and Its Application to the Stage," 2017
이우천, 연극[색다른 이야기 읽기 취미를 가진 사람들]의 연출과정에 관한 연구: 극작가 최치언의 『구조주의 극작법』과 그것의 무대화를 중심으로, 2017
Profile information provided by the Arts Council Korea (ARKO)
LTI Korea 
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