We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ella Sodam Yoon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ella Sodam, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

As of now, ‘After That Day’ musical is the most meaningful project from the bottom of my heart. I am the scriptwriter, composer, and lyricist for that musical. The original concept for the musical in 2018 was for the stage. In 2020, I made my NYC debut with ‘After That Day’ at the New York Theater Festival. It was a 30-minute one-woman show about a prodigy musician suffering from schizophrenia and alien hand syndrome.

Over the years, I have begun to realize that ‘After That Day’ was bound to be a film. Frankly, I didn’t even expect that I would rework this after 6 years as I struggled to mend some flaws. However, the tough part of my life experience has advised me on how to rewrite my first musical that was abandoned. Starting from November 2023, I’ve had to deal with some severe injuries and had to be stuck in the hospital/home for months. That’s when I started reviewing my past materials that I hadn’t looked at for years. Despite the special bond that I had with ‘After That Day,’ in my mind it was rather a practice show, not something to be developed further. I thought the fate of that project was doomed and I had already said farewell to it. Then it grabbed me and suggested, “It’s time for a rewrite!” I realized that I may have said goodbye to the script, but this script hasn’t agreed with it yet. The rewrite was incredibly successful, followed by awards from IMDb-qualifying film festivals (finalist/honorable mention at AIMAFF for Best Original Script and Best Original Score, Best Absurd Script winner from Absurd Film Festival, etc.) Somehow, hardships must have affected my writing. I hope this musical consoles anyone dealing with an attack from intrusive thoughts or people having trust issues.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Ella Sodam Yoon, and I am a composer, arranger, and writer. I’m passionate about crafting theater works that center on minorities and disability. I got my start in musicals through theater classes in college. What fascinates me about theater is that you’re allowed to explore within the structure. In other words, you’re not bound to write songs in one or two solid forms. There is a lot of room for musical exploration as long as the music serves the story right. My ultimate mission is to increase opportunities for minority artists to get hired in broader circumstances and raise the importance of disabled-friendly projects.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Through music and art, I want to change people’s viewpoint toward disability. To be honest, this goal is a significant driving force for me, and it is specifically targeted at Korea. Unlike other countries that teach people about disability awareness at a young age, Korea’s education lacks courtesy towards disabled people. Ever since I learned how tragically my country treats disability, I’ve decided to devote myself to improving the reputation / treatment of disability in Korea. It’s not merely me succeeding, it’s “Us.” I’m trying to build ways to make all of us successful. It would be a long journey, but I’m confident in what I do and believe. Just like how fast Korea’s other trends are changing, there was definitely a time when disability had equal rights with non-disability. For example, before the 21st century in Korea, disability wasn’t disrespected. According to the record and professional historians, disabled employees had always existed in the palace. Even the king listened to their advice. On top of that, if people financially helped a disabled citizen in their village, they didn’t owe taxes to the country. I hope what I create will make at least a small contribution to transferring what has happened in the past to the present and going back to a more equitable treatment of persons with disability. I’d like to bring up ‘Big Ocean,’ the first disabled K-Pop idol group that recently debuted. What they quoted resonates with me, “We want to be an unexpected idol group.” Like Big Ocean’s debut contributed to a meaningful change in the K-pop industry, I hope to become that musical theater artist who makes a splash that will bring a big wave towards justice and equality in Korean society.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the capability to provide the audience with thought-provoking art and stir all kinds of emotions. In other words, through arts that resonate with the audience, artists can influence the audience’s brain and mind. This is why I’ve started branching out to writing from solely composing music. Currently, I’m composing music for musicals that include people of color and disability content. For personal projects, I’m both a composer and writer, writing about the same subjects. It gets lonely sometimes to write alone about sensitive subjects. But ever since I felt that rewarding moment, I kept writing and rewriting. One time, a friend of mine who saw my musical said that they cried because the story was relatable to them. I’m proud to say that being a creator has enriched the scenery of my writing, and I can’t wait to share more of it with the world.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ella_s_yoon_/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzcZZ8RxyznGODAn3kt5FzQ
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ellasodamyoon

Image Credits

4th image: Upcoming album art by Ella Sodam Yoon), 6th image: performance at Berklee College of Music, 7th image: videography by ChanHo Kim, 8th image: photography by Ryo Ryan Yamaguchi