[7] During her time at university, Son watched her first play, "Our Town," and was captivated by the experience of being on stage, wearing old clothes and portraying someone else.
Although she wasn't the most diligent student in college, often skipping classes, Son never missed any theater workshop sessions.
Son had the opportunity to work with director Lee Hyun-gyu in her first leading role, starring alongside senior actor Hong Sung-duk.
It was selected as a work for the 2009 New Year's Literary Arts Festival and received favorable reviews for its delightful love story.
She was triple-cast as the female lead Nam Jeong-eun, alongside actress Hwang Bo-ra and Kim Yeo-jin, in the first season of the performance.
This creative musical was released by CJ E&M after two years of preparation, based on the tvN longest season drama Rude Miss Young-ae.
The roles of Min-soo, a homosexual general hospital doctor, were portrayed by Jung Dong-hwa and Park Seong-hoon.
The play successfully completed a reading performance at the Namsan Drama Festival on February 21, 2013, and received favorable reviews from the audience and critics.
New casts for debut performance were Oh Yong-lee (grandfather), Hong Woo-jin (Jun-hee), and Yang Kyung-won (writer).
[14] In the end of the same year, Son was invited as one of representative actress of Daehak-ro, in project 'Ganda GO', the 10th anniversary parade of the theater company 'Ganda Performance Delivery Service'.
Son, who was loved by many audiences in the debut performance by digesting the lines naturally, was become a vital force in the play by going back and forth between the grandmother and multi roles.
[16] In 2013, Son collaborated once again with Director Kim Tae-hyun in play The Age of Love (2013), which was an adaptation of Hisashi Nozawa's best-selling Japanese novel.
She shared the leading female role of Haru, a sports center instructor, with actresses Hwang In-young and Shim Eun-jin.
In 2014, Son had her first collaboration with the Noname Theater Company[note 4] for the Korean premiere of Fight of Cocks written by a young British playwright Mike Bartlett.
The play ran at Doosan Art Center Space 111 in Seoul from July 11 to August 3, 2014, and received a warm response.
In 2016, Son reunited with Director Kim Tae-hyun for the Korean premiere of the play Gloria, the work of the playwright Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins.
[21] In 2017, Son reprised her role as W in the encore performance of Fight of Cocks alongside fellow actor Seon Jong-nam, who played F in the original premiere.
[24][25] The play involved "character juggling" as five actors onstage seamlessly transformed into various roles, including the centenarian protagonist Alan and the individuals he encounters.
In 2018, Son participated in the 4th encore performance of Capone Trilogy at the Hongik University Daehak-ro Art Center.
[8] In 2019, Son shared the role of Sylvia with actress Shin Jeong-won in the 4th Korean encore performance of the play The Pride.
Directed by Kim Dong-yeon, the play explores the experiences of social underprivileged groups, particularly sexual minorities, spanning different eras from 1958 to the present.
[29][30] The Pride is the debut work of Greek-British author Alexi Kaye Campbell, which premiered in 2008 at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs and received critical acclaim.
The South Korean adaptation, written by Ji Yi-seon and translated by Kim Soo-bin, premiered at The 5th Best Plays Festival[note 3] at Art One Theater in 2014.
[31] In 2020, Son Ji-yoon portrayed the dual roles of Daisy and Claire in Wife, a play by British playwright Samuel Adamson.
The production, presented by the Seoul Metropolitan Theater Company, featured a talented ensemble cast including Lee Joo-young, Oh Yong, Baek Seok-gwang, Jung-hwan, Woo Beom-jin, and Song Gwang-il.
Son was double casts with actress Lee Jin-hee for role Sara, Joe Simpson's sister.