果冻影院

For the April 24 event only, doors open at 7 p.m. and there will also be an opportunity for the audience to participate in a Q&A discussion following the production with the playwright, Mia Chung. 

Additional showings are set for Apr. 17 and 18 and again on April 23鈥�25 at 7:30 p.m., with ticket purchases required. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors/Hope faculty and staff, and free for Hope students and those under age 18.  

All performances feature live captioning, DeWitt鈥檚 standard hearing loop, and an optional sensory-story for the production鈥檚 light and sound design. The DeWitt Student & Cultural Center is located at 141 E 12th St., facing Columbia Avenue between 10th and 13th Streets.

ABOUT THE PLAY 

Directed by Rhett Luedtke, associate professor of theatre at Hope, 鈥淵ou for Me for You鈥� follows a pair of sisters, driven to desperation in their lives in North Korea, as they make a mad dash for freedom. While one sister, Junhee, makes it to America and must wrestle with a new language and fast-paced culture, the other, Minhee, is trapped, stuck in a world where symbolism and double-speak are necessary for survival. As the sisters fight to find each other, they must also determine where home is and what they are willing to sacrifice to gain it. 

Luedtke says, of the directing process, 鈥淢ia Chung鈥檚 play is one of the most challenging and exciting plays I have worked on in quite some time. It is simply beautiful. The play juxtaposes the brutality of North Korea鈥檚 authoritarian regime against the craziness of American big-city life but does so through a poetic blend of realism and dream-like sequences that are both comic and surreal.  It has been a delight to co-create this world with our creative team.鈥�

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT & AUTHOR

Mia Chung is a writer for theatre, film and TV. Her play 鈥淐atch As Catch Can鈥� premieres in Chicago in 2026 as part of Steppenwolf鈥檚 50th season and will be published in a special edition of THEATER magazine (Spring 2026, Yale). She received a 2024 MacDowell fellowship, a 2023 Whiting Award for Drama, and a 2022 MAP grant for a new music-theatre work.

ABOUT THE HOPE THEATRE TEAM

In addition to Luedtke, the college鈥檚 production team consists of Jungah Han as guest scenic designer from the University of Michigan; Michelle Bombe, chair of the department, as costume designer; Eric Van Tassell, assistant professor of lighting and sound design, as lighting designer; Ken Chamberlain, dance and theatre lighting and sound technician, as sound designer; Kevin MacLeod as guest props designer; Stephen Krebs, technical director for theatre, as technical director; Anna Hill, theatre department costume manager and dance department costume designer, as costume shop manager; Dr. Mihyun Han, associate professor of education, as primary cultural consultant; with additional help from seniors Wujin Kim and Yeageon Song; and first-year students Seoeun Lee and Yenna Lee of S. Korea.

Also serving on the production team are junior Gabrielle Parker of Novi, Mich., as assistant sound designer; first-year students Benjamin Bierma of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Adia Falvey of Griffith, Ind., and Lee Tull of Delton, Mich., as assistant stage managers; and junior Jacqueline Schatz of Clarkston, Mich., as stage manager.

The cast includes sophomores Ashlynn Blankenship of Lindale, Tex.; Trey Hunter of Detroit, Mich., and Victor Powell and Bea Salazar, both of Norton Shores, Mich.; junior Isabelle Park of Caro, Mich.; and seniors Eliana Cocking of Orlando, Fla.; Claudia Hwang of Norton Shores, Mich., and Elliana Johnson of Greenville, SC.

Hope senior Claudia Hwang, president of the Asian Student Union and cast member, says, 鈥淐ollaborating with the Department of Theatre and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion to bring playwright Mia Chung to campus has been one of the most rewarding experiences from my time at Hope. It has been a joy to see the camaraderie formed through the sharing of cultural experiences and stories, and we cannot wait to share this production with our audience for this reason. We hope that, through Minhee and Junhee鈥檚 story, our audience鈥檚 eyes may be opened to the similarities that humanity shares across cultural divides and borders that we ourselves have created.鈥�

Tickets are available at the Events and Conferences Office located in downtown Holland in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.). The ticket office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be reached at 616-395-7890. Tickets may be purchased by calling or visiting the ticket office, online at hope.edu/tickets, or in person at the performance. Reserved tickets must be claimed ten minutes prior to performances in order to guarantee seating.

The April 24 talkback session is being presented by the college鈥檚 Center for Diversity and Inclusion in collaboration with the Asian Student Union, the Hope Theatre Department, and Hope鈥檚 Office of Culture and Inclusive Excellence.

To inquire about accessibility or if you need accommodations to fully participate in the event, please email accommodations@hope.edu. Updates related to events are posted when available at hope.edu/calendar in the individual listings.