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Introduction
Kang-baek Lee, also known as Kang-baek Yi, was born in 1947 in the city of Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, the southwestern part of the Korean peninsula, an area historically famous for the depth of its traditional and cultural richness. He has been a leading contemporary Korean playwright since he started his playwright career in 1971 with a short play Five, included in this collection, through a prestigious Korean newspaper's spring literary contest, a common practice for writer's literary debut in the country. He later joined the Ga-gyo (Bridge) theater company, where he gained on-hand experience that eventually broadened his perspective of theatricality of dramatic text. Since then he has written about 40 plays. In recognition of his achievement as well as his contributions to the development of contemporary Korean theater, Pyongminsa, a major Korean publisher, has made an exclusive life-time contract with the playwright to publish every play he writes. So far, Pyongmin-sa has published seven complete volumes.
Lee has also received every prestigious theater award given to a playwright in the country, including the Korea Dramatic Literature Award (1983), the Seoul Drama Critics' Circle Award (1983), the Republic of Korea Literature Award (1986), the Dong-A Theater Award (1982, 1986), the Baeksang Art Award (1992, 1995, 2001), the Seoul Theater Festival Award (1995, 1996), and the Seoul International Theater Festival Award (1998). In May 1998, a theater festival in his own name, the Lee Kang-baek Theater