by Constance Jaquay Strickland

Quick peeks at #HFF26’s “Women on the Fringe” by Fringe Femmes who are behind the scenes this year. Click Here for all Check-Ins

WHO:  Jiyoung Choi

WHAT: K-Cordelia: Sword of the Wind

WHERE: Hudson Theatres (Hudson Guild) 6539 Santa Monica Boulevard

WHY: Watching Jiyoung, it hit me in a new way how much the theatre desperately needs a wide perspective of voice and interpretations. Even now, in 2026, it is continuously very rare to hear a woman’s viewpoint or witness her publicly work through thoughts. This is why this show matters.

I was intrigued, fascinated to see King Lear imagined as a one-woman show. Onstage as well as historically, a woman using a sword is not a typical staging. It is no easy feat to play Cordelia, her sisters, her father, the King, along with other characters. It is no doubt as daunting as running a marathon. Jiyoung clearly loves a rigorous challenge, and the audience is given a portal to King Lear through the lens of the Korean lineage. Where honor matters. Where the act of learning an ancient skill and keeping it alive matters.

Jiyoung’s sword technique took on such a fury of full-body embodiment that I caught myself dodging and ducking, fighting right alongside her. The beautiful traditional clothing pieces she weaves in/out of tell their own distinct story. Each one appears as a clue to a time not so long ago. For the past is a vessel. This interpretation reveals a woman fighting for her life, fighting to tell her own story, which matters, and we need more of it.

HOW: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13551