Kim's Convenience creator's new play examines his childhood as son of head pastor in a Korean church

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 02, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Ins Choi grew up attending a Korean religion successful Toronto, wherever his dada was the preacher and his gramps earlier him. 

Although helium earned a master's grade successful theology and expected to go a pastor himself, Choi went connected to go a playwright and author. His sanction mightiness beryllium acquainted to fans of the CBC deed sitcom Kim's Convenience, which was really a play earlier it was connected television. The show, created by Choi, was inspired by his clip moving successful a convenience store successful Toronto. 

But now, he's written a caller play that looks astatine increasing up successful a Korean religion arsenic the lad of the preacher. 

Son of a Preacherman runs April 2 to 13 astatine the Pacific Theatre successful Vancouver. 

Choi spoke with CBC's The Early Edition up of the premiere. 

LISTEN | Ins Choi's caller signifier amusement premieres successful Vancouver:

This interrogation has been edited for magnitude and clarity. 

I recognize the play is semi-autobiographical? 

Yeah, it's beauteous overmuch wholly autobiographical. It tells benignant of my root story, if you will. My begetter is simply a preacher. I grew up successful the church. My gramps is simply a preacher. There's a batch of preachers successful my family. And truthful there, I conjecture it tells, successful short, it tells the communicative of maine being pressured to beryllium a preacher and choosing to beryllium an artist.

And what denomination was your household portion of?

It was non-denominational astatine first. My dada moved to Toronto successful 1975 with us. I was 1 twelvemonth old, and I deliberation technically it was non-denominational, but past aft a portion it became technically evangelical free. I consciousness similar each Korean churches benignant of consciousness the same.

What was it similar increasing up successful that space?

Pretty great. The religion I went to is called Toronto Korean Bethel Church, an migrant church. Many migrant churches are usually a hub for the community. Now, it's possibly a small different, but backmost successful the 70s, the Korean churches successful Korean communities were the assemblage centre, the connection school, Taekwondo classes, history, Korean past classes — each of that would happen. Plus, they had the champion nutrient successful the city; the champion Korean nutrient successful the metropolis would beryllium astatine the Korean church. All these grandmothers, you know. It'd beryllium truthful warm, similar 1 large immense household gathering each Sunday. I person a batch of large memories of sports activities and clubs and camps.

You travel from a agelong enactment of preachers. You became a playwright and writer — you're a storyteller. Do you spot telling stories arsenic a mode of sharing your ain ideas and experiences with radical overmuch successful the aforesaid mode that a preacher might?

It's funny. It didn't hap to maine until a fewer years ago.  I watched my dada successful his tiny small retention locker bureau successful our apartment, which helium turned into an bureau with, like, beverage crates, planks of wood and mounds of duct tape, and helium would read. It would conscionable beryllium filled with books. It was similar the backyard shed from the movie A Beautiful Mind. It was, like, conscionable pictures connected the walls and books. I'd ticker him work a clump of things, a clump of books, and past commencement penning what he's going to accidental successful his sermon, and past helium would rehearse however helium would accidental his sermon.

That's benignant of what I do.

I work a batch of things. Then I write. And then I get up connected immoderate benignant of signifier and talk to an assemblage with the volition of making them laugh. Definitely, there's an amusement value, but besides to benignant of link with them, to springiness the assemblage a consciousness of assemblage connection, adjacent if it's for, like, an hr oregon 2 that 1 evening.

Kim's Convenience, the play, of course, which preceded the tv program, took connected a reasonably accepted format with characters and a communicative arc. What tin the assemblage expect with Son of a Preacherman?

This is simply a precise antithetic play. I don't know. It's a clump of stories and songs that I wrote and 1 poem. It lasts 75 minutes. Me and Kaitlin Williams, the creator manager of Pacific Theatre and the manager of Son of a Preacherman, she and I became friends, and we started moving connected this astir a twelvemonth ago. I had written a clump of things, and she helped maine sift done it and cod it and benignant of enactment it together. We didn't truly rather cognize what it was. And past she came to Toronto astir a period oregon 2 ago, and we did a spot of a nationalist reading, a archetypal speechmaking of the play to an audience, and it went implicit ace well. It's portion stand-up, portion root story, portion conscionable storytelling, portion concert.