The Angel and the Woodcutter is a traditional folk tale loved by Koreans. It tells the story of an angel who ventures down to earth to bathe in the mountain stream, where she’s discovered by a woodcutter and his mother. They steal her wing cloth, without which she can not return to the heaven, so she remains on earth becoming wife to the woodcutter and mother to his child. Cho-In takes the framework of this traditional tale, and sets it among a terrible war. All Koreans know the angel and the woodcutter story but we have never seen it take this format before and the plot has been dramatically altered in a major way. Inspired by their country’s experiences during the Japanese Occupation and the Korean War.
Cho-In Theatre performs entirely without words, using body movements, puppets and beautiful music. Cho-In is emblematic of new wave of Korean theatre companies; using a blend of traditional and contemporary physical styles, they aim to bring audiences together to share those universal traits that make us human irrespective of nationality, race or culture. Their productions are rich in Korea’s history and culture. They have performed in festivals around the world and recently enjoyed great success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Angel and the Woodcutter is a deeply moving piece of theatre with a powerful anti war message. You’ll need a hanky by the end. There are approximately 150,000 Koreans and peoples of Korean descent living in the Bay area. Korea has its own unique language, alphabet and rich culture, yet we rarely see performing arts that interpret Korean history or peoples. So, while we point out that our community is culturally underserved, our target audience is both Korean and mainstream. We want to present a performance that Koreans can identify as something that evokes their culture and country and simultaneously appeal to mainstream audience as a piece of theatre they can understand and enjoy and, at the same time, learn something about Korean culture and folklore.
The performance will take a place Thursday 8:00 pm on May 21st and Saturday 6:30 pm on May 23rd at Cowell Theatre in the Fort Mason Center. For More information: InfoPack_eng2.pdf 
Cho-In Theatre Company from South Korea will be making their U.S. debut at the SFIAF with a fascinating nonverbal physical theatre piece based on the traditional folk tale The Angel and the Woodcutter.