KASY 2025 Cultural Show

The Korean American Students at Yale (KASY) Cultural Show is an annual theatrical production that combines music, dance, comedy, and fashion to creatively and artfully showcase Korean culture and the Korean-American identity. The KASY Cultural Chair (Pamela Kim, 2028) writes and directs the show, which revolves around a different theme every year. Last year’s show featured relationships between friends and peers through a focus on “In-yeon (n.): the profound, mystically beautiful relationship between two people brought together by a destiny to cross paths in their lifetime.” This year’s show will focus on the complex Korean-American experience through the use of contemporary entertainment related to the Korean-American community.

The show incorporates various “sideshows,” including dance groups from the Asian American community, martial arts groups (such as Yale tae-kwon-do), and individual/group performances of dance routines. The production enables affiliated artistic groups at Yale to perform and reach a wider audience than they would be able to otherwise and serves as an opportunity for students who have wanted to participate in a show to demonstrate their talents. The show also involves a musical aspect, combining popular Korean music and traditional Korean music; thus, students with musical backgrounds in either genre would have an outlet to perform.

While the show focuses on Korean culture, it aims to serve the entire Yale community. For those with Korean parents, it is a celebration of heritage, but even for those with no background in Korean culture, this play would be an entertaining and informative production that will familiarize them with Korean culture, both old and new, and introduce them to various arts of Korea. In previous years, most people attending the show have been of non-Korean heritage. It will also be an opportunity for students who would not normally participate in other theatrical productions on campus to become involved, through KASY, in script-writing, prop design, costume design, stage setup, and acting.

The show will be approximately two hours long and held in Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall (not including the extra four hours before and after the show for set up and clean up). Historically the KASY Cultural Show has required more than 50 student actors and performers.