2026 TIPRF- The Gluttons Assemblage: The Story of Wang Seo-Gae

Synopsis

In 1953 Japan, a merchant named Wang Seo-Gae (alias Genzo) travels through Yokohama carrying a wooden box. Originally intended as a coffin for his late daughter, the box now holds the remnants of everything he lost at a Manchurian hunting ground in 1932: his hawk, his wife, and his home. Beneath the veneer of post-war peace, Wang tracks down the five former Japanese soldiers who participated in the massacre of his village. Facing perpetrators who have since become professors, officials, or bedridden elders, he forces them to confront their buried confessions, searching for the unburied bones of history.

Playwright Kim Do-young employs a cold, stark language to investigate collective amnesia and the futility of individual revenge. By juxtaposing the victim’s agony with the perpetrator’s logic of survival, she examines how history is reconstructed or erased. This powerful work was named Best Play at the Dong-A Theatre Awards in 2020 and was selected as one of the "Best 7 Plays of the Year" by Korea Theatre magazine.

Kim Do-young, Playwright

Kim Do-young is a graduate of the Korea National University of Arts whose work focuses on East Asian history, colonial experiences, and personal trauma. She is acclaimed for a poetic and politically critical style that blends high-symbolism with dialogue-driven narratives. Her original plays include While Eating a Hamburger, The Story of Wang Seo-Gae, and Gold Birds, alongside successful adaptations such as Red Leaves and A Thousand Blues. She has been honored with several major accolades, including the Dong-A Theatre Award for Best Play, and is regarded as a writer who masterfully balances dramatic tension with literary depth.

The Gluttons Assemblage

The Gluttons Assemblage is a theatre production team that builds a fluid platform for creative exchange under the spirit of collaboration and co-creation. Named after the mythical beast "Taotie" (the Glutton), we "devour" a wide range of themes, explore diverse performance forms, create perceptible physical experiences, and present unconventional perspectives, all in the hope of opening up new spaces for dialogue.

Founded in 2017 and officially registered in 2019, the internal projects of The Gluttons Assemblage primarily focus on collectively created physical theatre. Since 2022, we have opened our platform to both internal and external collaboration proposals, working with artists across various fields to produce diverse works closely tied to social issues. In addition to text-based drama, we frequently employ forms such as physical theatre and light-and-shadow object theatre. Our explored themes cover the White Terror, Southeast Asian immigrants, and women’s sexual circumstances.

In addition to theatre performances, we have expanded our reach since 2025 through workshop series and our 2026 sub-brand, ‘Playful Beast Lab’ (co-founded with artist Yun-Chiao Lin). These projects target the public and families to create meaningful artistic resonance.

Discover our works and company members at The Gluttons Assemblage official website

About the 2026 Taiwan International Play Reading Festival

The Taiwan International Play Reading Festival (TIPRF) is curated by the Prologue Center for New Plays and jointly organized with the Taipei Performing Arts Center, aiming to establish an international excahnge platform centered on playwrights and plays. Each year, the festival focuses on a specific country or cultural region, exploring the differences and resonances among theatrical traditions and textual aesthetics through staged readings and cross-cultural interpretation.

Here, plays are not only the starting point of theatrical creation, but also a medium for cultural exchange through which diverse social experiences and creative perspectives are reflected, opening up a space for cross-cultural dialogue.

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