Ah-Jeong Kim

Ah-Jeong (AJ) Kim is a professor of theatre history in the Department of Theatre at CSU, Northridge. She is also a translator, author, researcher, producer, and lecturer. AJ earned her MA and Ph.D at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Her primary research areas are world theatre history, interculturalism, Asian dramas, translation and adaptation. AJ’s co-authored book The Metacultural Theatre of Oh Tae-Suk by the U of Hawai’i Press won the 2001 KLTI Translation Award in Seoul, South Korea. Her current research/publication projects are a new world theatre history textbook commissioned by Routledge and the world theatre handbook project at the International Research Center (IRC), Freie Universitat, Berlin under the supervision of Dr. Erika Fischer Lichte. AJ was a resident fellow at the IRC in July 2018. In the recent past, her research interests have extended to the field of applied theatre that addresses imminent issues in our complex society. In 2014 AJ won the NEA Art Works Grant as Principal Investigator for a six-week long research project, “Joining the Spectrum: An Interdisciplinary Research Inquiry into Effectiveness of Drama.”  She received the “Presidential Citation” at the American Psychology Association (APA) Conference, San Francisco in August 2018 for her presentation on the project. During sabbatical leave for Fall 2018, AJ travelled to South Korea to launch a new research project, tentatively titled as “Détente in DMZ -Demilitarized Zone and the Role of Theatre and Performance.”  From 2001 to 2017 AJ directed the CSUN Theatre Department’s MA program and served as the advisor for its Undergraduate Honors Program. She headed the Department of Theatre as Interim Chair for Fall 2014 when she oversaw the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) re-accreditation process and again for the academic year of 2015-2016. 

Teaching

California State University, Northridge     Professor 2006-present 

Department of Theatre                   Associate Professor 2000-2005                     
Undergraduate/Graduate Studies     Assistant Professor    1994-1999
General Education

• Theatre 102:  Form and Content
• Theatre 110:  Plays and Players
• Theatre 222: Mapping World Theatre and Drama
• Theatre 325:  World Drama and Performance
• Theatre 321A:  World Theatre and Drama I
• Theatre 321B:  World Theatre and Drama II
• Theatre 397:  Theatre Honors Tutorial
• Theatre 422: Theatre and Drama of Greece and Rome
• Theatre 425: Theatre and Drama of Europe and America
• from Naturalism to the Mid-20^th Century
• Theatre 531: Theatre and Drama of Asia
• Theatre 535: Theatrical Theory and Criticism
• Theatre 600:  Seminar in Research Methods and Bibliography
• Theatre 620: Seminar in Theatre History
• Theatre 621:  Seminar in Theatrical Literature—Postcolonialism
• Theatre 625: Seminar in Popular Theatre and Entertainment
• Theatre 630:  Seminar in Theatre Aesthetics—Interculturalism

Research (Publications)

BOOKS

• A New World Theatre History- Contributing Editor appointed for the new world theatre history textbook commissioned by Routledge, London, in progress.
• World Theatre Handbook –  Contributing Author on research/publication project under the supervision of Dr. Erika Fischer Lichte at International Research Center, Freie Universitat, Berlin, 2019.

E-BOOK PUBLICATIONS

• The Song of Ch’unhyang: Musical Text, a book on traditional Korean p’ansori epic narrative (2018) (co-author: R. B. Graves)
  https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-song-of-chunhyang/id1327696745 (Apple ITunes)
• https://play.google.com/store/books/details/The_Song_of_Ch_unhyang?id=R5NDDwAAQBAJ (Android download) 
  https://library.klti.or.kr/ebook (KLTI digital library download overdrive) 
• The Metacultural Theatre of Oh T’ae-sok:  Five Plays from the Korean Avant-Garde, an English anthology of contemporary Korean plays, published by the University of Hawaii Press, 1999.  (Co-author:  R.B. Graves) 
• Encyclopedia of Asian Theatre, contributor, “Modern Korean Theatre,” Greenwood Press, 2006. 
• “Joining the Spectrum,” a multi-disciplinary research inquiry into the effectiveness of drama for teens with autism, https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Research-Art-Works-CSUNorthridge.pdf, 2015. Principal Investigator, recipient of National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works Research Grant, Summer 2014.

BOOK REVIEWS

• Book Review on “Illusive Utopia,” Text & Presentation, The Comparative Drama Conference Series 10, pp. 223-226, 2013. 
• Completed book reviews for Columbia University Press, 2008
  Cornell University Press, 2007 and article reviews for Theatre Survey

INTERVIEWS

• “Blessed Thee! Thou Art Translated.” Shakespeare Unlimited, Folger Shakespeare Library, https://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=4843, featured podcast interview, June 29, 2014.
• “Real Talk” on English translations of Korean literature, Arirang TV, featured interview, April 11, 2011.
• Featured in newspapers, radio & TV programs in the U.S (Radio Korea, Daily News), U.K (London TV), Korea (KBS News, SBS, MBC), 2006-present

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

• Collaboratoria, Graduate Students and Faculty Dance Concert, Guest Speaker, Plaza Del Sol Performance Hall, 2015.
• “Joining the Spectrum,” a multi-disciplinary research inquiry into the effectiveness of drama for teens with autism in collaboration with Sociology, Child Development, Hospitality & Tourism, Summer 2014.
• “Theatre & Health Awareness on Hospice,” a multi-disciplinary research project involving Nursing, Health Science, Gerontology, and Family and Consumer Sciences at CSUN, recipient of the Office for Community Engagement and Service Learning Grant, Fall 2013.
• “Theatre Research as Practice LAB: Theatre, Interactivity, and Digital Technology,” Theatre/Art Interdisciplinary Research Project, on 5-Minute Macbeth, recipient of CSUN Campus Quality Fee Grant, 2013.

INVITED LECTURES/WORKSHOPS

• International Research Center, Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany, July 1-28, 2018. Resident fellow for World Theatre Handbook project, forthcoming 2019.
• International Research Center, Freie Universitat, Berlin, Invited Panelist for the Symposium, “Interweaving Cultures,” July 21-22, 2016. 
• Loyola Marymount University, Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, Invited lecture on P’ansori—History of Epic Singing Narrative, October 10, 2015. 
• LaMama Umbria International Theatre Festival for Directors, Spoleto, Italy, translator/facilitator for the master workshop by Oh Tae-Suk for international theatre directors and practitioners, July 4-11, 2015. 
• Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing, “A Path to Wellbeing Through Creativity,” Invited Panelist, April 27, 2015, Oviatt Library, CSUN
• Edinburgh International Arts Festival, King’s Theatre, Scotland, translator/facilitator for acting workshop and panel discussion for general audience and Royal Scottish Academy students and faculty, 2011.
• RADA & the Barbican Centre, London, lecture for two-day workshop with Oh Tae-sok, 2006.
• Theatre Museum, London, lecture presentation with Oh Tae-sok, 2005. 
• RADA, lecture and two-day workshop as interpreter/facilitator for Oh Tae-sok, 2005.
• British Museum, London, “Contemporary Korean Theatre: Tradition and Western Influence,” lecture delivered upon invitation by Asia House, Stevenson Lecture Hall, 2004.
• “Typhoon II: East Asian Theatre Festival in UK,” “East Asian Drama Today,” panel presentation upon the invitation of the Yellow Earth Theatre Company, London, 2003.
• National University of the Arts (KNUA), Seoul, Korea,
  Facilitated a two-day workshop on acting exercises as translator for James DePaul, 2002.