An Extraordinary Life Seen From ’29 Views’

Little is known about the life of Hwang Chin-i. A 16th century Korean kisaeng (a sort of glorified courtesan-artist, much like the Japanese geisha), Hwang Chin-i was equally famed for her charm and her poetry. Although she left behind only 16 surviving poems, she has taken on mythical status in her native country, where tales of her intellectual and seductive powers have enchanted listeners for hundreds of years.

Writer and director Stephen Legawiec uses Hwang Chin-i’s legend as a jumping-off point for “29 Views of Hwang Chin-i,” his one-person play starring Jenny Woo at the Gascon Center Theater. The founder of the critically acclaimed Ziggurat Theatre, Legawiec has become known for his myth-based theater pieces, which typically combine the traditional and the avant-garde in reinventing the legends of various cultures.

Inspired by Hokusai’s classic picture sequence “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji,” this small and stately piece transpires in a series of short scenes that trace Hwang Chin-i’s progression from giddy girlhood to disenchanted fame.

Unlike “Hammergirl,” Legawiec’s sprawling and vibrant take on a Norse saga, “Hwang Chin-i” is a somewhat restrained outing. As measured and austere as a tea ceremony, it is a thing of beauty, if not necessarily emotionally engaging. But if Hwang Chin-i’s perpetual pining after the boy who got away seems a one-note plot, the play pinpoints the glamour and the tragedy of this remarkable woman, whose genius was constrained by the accident of her gender and the times.

Woo also moves us to sympathy and admiration. An engaging performer with a fine singing voice, she is lively and contemplative by turns, making us feel the pain and irony of Hwang Chin-i’s glorified servitude. Traditional Korean music, performed live by June Yee, underscores the action and sets the mood. Leif Gantvoort’s versatile lighting and Don Kim’s lovely traditional costumes are also essential to this carefully rendered portrait.

* “29 Views of Hwang Chin-i,” Gascon Center Theater, 8737 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Friday and Saturday only, 8 p.m. $10. (310) 471-0545. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.