Jack Tamburri, Director of Drawing Lessons, shares 3 things to know about the World Premiere play:   

1) The role of Matt, the father, was written for actor-musician Matt Park, who wrote a musical with Michi Barall in 2016, and who is a Minneapolis native. Matt’s childhood informed the decision to set the play in Minneapolis and in the 1990s. 

2) Illustrator Blue Delliquanti, who is creating many of the drawings that you’ll see in the play, teaches comics and cartooning at MCAD, right next door to CTC. 

3) Elfquest, the comic book that inspires Kate to draw her own comic, is a real comic series, published independently by its creators Wendy and Richard Pini. It ran continuously from 1978 to 2013! 

• The terms ‘manga’ and ‘manhwa’ come from the Chinese term ‘manhua,’ which means ‘impromptu drawings.’
• Manga are Japanese comics, manhwa are Korean comics, and manhua are Chinese comics.
• The creators of these East Asian comics also have specific titles: a person who makes manga is a ‘mangaka,’ a person who creates manhwa is a ‘manhwaga,’ and a person who makes manhua is a ‘manhuajia.’
• Manhwa has its own history of development, though it’s still tied to that of Japanese manga.  

• • During the Japanese Occupation of Korea (1910-1945), Japanese soldiers brought their culture and language into Korean society, including the importation of manga. 

• • From the 1930s to the 1950s, manhwa was used as propaganda for war efforts and to impose a political ideology. Manhwa became popular in the 1950s but then experienced a decline in the mid-1960s because of strict censorship laws. 

• • However, manhwa became popular again when South Korea launched websites that publish digital manhwa known as webtoons.

• Manga and manhua are read from right to left, and from top to bottom, which can definitely take some getting used to. However, manhwa is similar to American and European comics in that they’re read from left to right, and from top to bottom.
• Digital manhwa is published in color, but print manhwa is traditionally published in black and white, similar to manga.

Source: CBS.com “The Differences Between Manga, Manhwa, & Manhua, Explained” By  Timothy Blake Donohoo,  Ederlyn Peralta,  Jenny Melzer  &  Katie Doll.