1980년대 말 대학극 운동과 서울지역대학극연합

Abstract

This study was planned to reveal the changes in the university theater movement in the late 1980s and the significance of the University Theater Union in Seoul, which was its result. The history of university theater in the 1980s can be summarized as a time when conservative university theater groups, which adhered to the experimental theater movement centered on Western translated theater, dreamed of a change to a progressive theater movement under the influence of the progressive atmosphere of the university district, and through this, tried to plan a nationwide solidarity organization and reestablish the status of university theater. This trend, which began with the change of individual theater groups, reached its peak in 1988 with the organization of the University Theater union in Seoul. The students who started college in 1986 and organized the University Theater Union in Seoul were those who were baptized by the newly reorganized university movement and were eager to participate in the movement through creative theaters that talked about the reality of the present and here rather than experimental Western translation theaters. For them, the formation of the University Drama Union in Seoul was a good foundation for them to hone their artistic skills and gain momentum for movement. The University Theater Union in Seoul received much attention both inside and outside the theater community by hosting a university theater festival led by university students. Compared to previous university theater festivals that reduced university theater to the subject of government control, surveillance, and support, the university theater festival hosted by the University Theater Union in Seoul proved that university theater could be the center of the festival. The more core business of the University Theater Union in Seoul was the theater school. If the University Theater Festival was a place to showcase the artistic and theoretical skills honed at the theater school, the theater school was a process for this. The theater school’s lectures, which were held four times in total, were the result of considerations for establishing the relationship between movement and art. However, as the discursive terrain surrounding the university culture and art movement changed rapidly and the reestablishment of organizational status was required, at some point, artistic skill training was relegated to the background and the language of movement and politics came to the forefront. Eventually, the University Theater Union in Seoul lost its momentum as it failed to reproduce its human members. Although it ended in a short period, the history of the University Theater Union in Seoul is significant as a case that shows the possibilities and limitations of university theater and the university culture and art movement at that time.