Quad, Questions of Theatre: 〈Why Are the Chili Peppers on the Rooftop Field〉

An old, dilapidated multi-family house on the outskirts of Seoul. Neighbors live here, each with their own stories and deficiencies. One hot summer day, an incident occurred in which all the peppers disappeared from the pepper field of Gwangja, an old man who was simply growing peppers in a small garden on the roof of his villa.
The culprit who took all the peppers was none other than ‘Sage’, our neighbor who lives in the same villa. The neighbors each have their own opinions about this, but in particular, in the eyes of #301 ‘Hyeon-tae’, this ‘pepper theft incident’ does not seem to be a trivial problem. This has to do with a world that is falling apart. Everyone in the villa, including the family, feels uncomfortable with ‘Hyeon-tae’s’ words, but only one person, No. 303 ‘Dong-gyo’, begins to help ‘Hyeon-tae’ and take action for unknown reasons. The fight between neighbors that started because of that red pepper starts to spread into a huge commotion throughout the villa.

Program

〈2026 Quad, Questions of Theater: Evolving Text〉
This project focuses on 'text', the essence of theatre, and explores the present and future of contemporary theatre through the power of plays that are constantly reinterpreted anew across time. From William Shakespeare to modern plays and contemporary Korean theatre texts, five works evolve anew through five master directors—Kim A-ra, Kim Gwang-bo, Kim Woo-ok, Lee Seong-yeol, and Han Tae-sook—who led the golden age of Korean theatre.
〈Why are there peppers in the rooftop field?〉
Premiered in 2017 through a collaboration between director Kim Gwang-bo and writer Jang Woo-jae, it starts from a very trivial and everyday dispute, such as 'someone picked peppers from the rooftop garden,' and is a masterpiece that closely examines the capitalist monstrosity and moral bankruptcy that Korean society suffers from.