Ex-DIA member Kwon Chae-won eyes first musical in August after idol debut fell through

Kwon Chae-won, a former member of girl group DIA, is taking on her first musical in August. It's her most concrete acting milestone since leaving the idol world.

On August 3, she appeared on KBS Joy's Mueosideun Muleobosal and laid it all out. Seven years of DIA activities ended in 2022. Since then, she's been navigating her first year as a rookie actress on her own terms. The road has been messy: a global survival audition, a virtual idol proposal that collapsed when the company vanished, and more recently, short-form dramas to build experience.

"As actress Kwon Chae-won, I don't want to stay in an ambiguous position, so I came here," she said on the show. She takes acting lessons one to two times a week and practices alone every weekday.

Panelist Seo Jang-hoon pushed back directly. "How many aspiring actors in this country are practicing with their lives on the line? If you don't know much about acting, what's the use of practicing alone?" He urged her to increase lesson time significantly rather than rely on solo sessions.

Co-panelist Lee Su-geun saw it differently. "Why do you think of yourself as ambiguous when you've lived so hard? You came to this place today because you are absolutely not an ambiguous person."

Seo Jang-hoon closed with a challenge: "From now on, it depends on what you do whether you become an ambiguous person or someone who stands out distinctly."

(The musical in August will be her first time on a theatrical stage. The short-form drama work was the warm-up.)