A team from the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa tasked with groundbreaking efforts to help advance the campus as a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning launched an immersive initiative with an inaugural cohort of executives, faculty, staff and students this spring. On March 18, the UH Mānoa (NHPoL AO) started a weeklong professional development series guiding more than 50 participants in activities focused around Native Hawaiian values and traditions such as mapping various moʻokūʻauhau (genealogies that shape us) mālama ʻāina (care for the land), oli (chants), and pilina (connection) circles.

“If we want our students, the next generation, to be more connected to each other and to this place we have to model that and sometimes that means we have to go learn that and so we are growing the next generation by also growing the sources that nourish them,” said Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Punihei Lipe, director NHPoL AO.

• Related UH News story: Leading UH Mānoa to become a Native Hawaiian place of learning, March 6, 2024

Cohort lessons to inform long-term goals

This launch marks the start of a two-year journey for the first cohort of UH Mānoa units, called Cohort Kumukahi. These efforts are part of a multi-step process to achieve goals articulated in the , which outlines UH Mānoa’s main priorities and strategies for achieving them.

The NHPoL AO team will help units, schools/colleges and departments across campus work toward creating five-year strategic plans focused on how each can take steps toward becoming a Native Hawaiian place of learning in four specific focus areas; Native Hawaiian student success, staff and faculty development, Native Hawaiian environments and Native Hawaiian community engagement.

While on this Indigenous-based path, participants will delve deeply into exercises based on Native Hawaiian ideals and perspectives.

ʻIke �鶹��ý (Ways of knowing)

• Moʻokūʻauhau (the many genealogies that shape us)
• Kaikuaʻana and Kaikaina (Intergenerational interdependent relationships)
• Kuleana (our responsibilities and privileges)
• Hānai and Hoʻomalu (nourishing and protecting each other)
• Mālama (tending to and caring for one another)

History Professor Karen Jolly expressed her enthusiasm for incorporating Indigenous perspectives into classroom curriculum.

“I want to be able to do that…to integrate Native Hawaiian ways of thinking and being and doing into my classroom and research,” Jolly said.

With this initiative, UH Mānoa is taking significant steps towards fostering an inclusive and culturally rooted educational environment that pays homage to �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ��’s Indigenous people.

A total of 13 units comprise Cohort Kumukahi:

• UH Cancer Center
• College of Arts, Languages and Letters
• College of Engineering
• College of Social Sciences
• Division of Student Success
• �鶹��ý Institute of Marine Biology
• Institute for Astronomy
• John A. Burns School of Medicine
• Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing
• Office of Communications
• Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health
• �鶹��ý Sea Grant
• School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology

This May, more than 90 participants will join this work and begin training.

What does it mean to be Asian in 2022? Faced with the rise of Anti-Asian hate crimes and the continuing need for representation and voice, the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa and Kennedy Theatre will highlight the Asian-American experience both in �鶹��ý and on the U.S. mainland. The theatre’s 2022–23 season opener, , is a devised theatre production led and directed by Reiko Ho.

The guest director leads an all-Asian, female-identifying student cast featuring original scenes based on collective personal experiences from the cast, headline news articles and events from the past. This production explores adult themes and includes strong language and references to racism and racial slurs.

“Like a good Asian dish, it is a little salty, a little sweet, a little sour, a little bitter, and very savory,” Ho said. “It is my fervent belief that we must include young people in these important conversations and empower them to grapple with our collective past and present as Asians in America. This show is inspired by that belief.”

Borrowed from a local playground rhyme, Chinee, Japanee, All Mix Up will also feature poems from noted local playwright Lee Tonouchi (also known as “Da Pidgin Guerilla”) in addition to original monologues, scenes, and other various performance pieces by the student performers.

for the in-person production at the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre set to premiere September 21–24 at 7:30 p.m. and September 25 at 2 p.m. Some of the subjects raised in the multimedia production range from the Chinese Exclusion Act and the internment camps of World War II to memories from cast members great-grandparents working on �鶹��ý plantations. Cast members discovered common traditions regardless of being raised throughout Asia, �鶹��ý, or the continent. However some shared experiences weren’t always pleasant to uncover.

“We cried over how discrimination has found its way into all of our lives and what we have lost by living quietly as the ‘model minority,’” Ho said. “This show is a collage of pieces inspired by our discussions, shared memories and stories, pop-culture, and what the world might look like through an Asian lens. We hope you enjoy our musings.”

Ho is the artistic associate for Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY) and part of the Emmy award-winning team creating HTY’s hit T.V. show, The HI Way.

For more information, .

The University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa will host in-person performances showcasing selected scenes from award-winning playwright Edward “Ed” Sakamoto. The UH Mānoa alumnus’ entire catalog of plays, which includes highly acclaimed works in pidgin and nostalgic comedies and dramas largely focused on local Japanese in �鶹��ý, was gifted to the department last spring—an extremely rare endowment.

�鶹��ý Nō Ka ʻOi: A Sakamoto Celebration, will shine the spotlight on scenes produced by student directors at UH Mānoa in Kennedy Theatre’s Earle Ernst Lab Theatre February 24–27, as a testament to Sakamoto’s contribution to the local and world-wide theatre community. Tickets to the anticipated production sold out quickly.

• Related UH News story: UH Mānoa gifted rights to award-winning Asian American playwright’s works, May 9, 2021

“We are honored to work together with local community theatre artists and scholars to preserve Ed Sakamoto’s plays and legacy,” said Markus Wessendorf, UH Mānoa Theatre and Dance chair. “Our priority will be to extend the rich cultural reach of these plays; the funds raised from licensing his plays will be used to support that endeavor and to celebrate and nurture local playwriting in �鶹��ý.”

Scenes chosen for the production depict first generation Japanese sons struggling with their duty to family against the Western ideals of individualism and the “American Dream” (Taste of Kona Coffee and Mānoa Valley), three friends and the consequences of their choices to stay or leave �鶹��ý (Stew Rice), breaking the cycle of domestic violence against women (Obake), a dark comedy about the consumerism and tourist industry of �鶹��ý (Lava), and a fairytale set in early 1700s Japan combining traditional Japanese performance theatre elements of kabuki and bunraku with modern American dialogue and humor (Chikamatsu’s Forest).

The live production will showcase seven UH Mānoa graduate student directors; Robert Torigoe (Taste of Kona Coffee), Kaipulaumakaniolono (Stew Rice), Maggie Ivanova (Obake), Ākea Kahikina (Lava), Iasona Kaper (Mānoa Valley and The Life of the Land), Marguerite Saxton (Lava) and Ron Heller (Chikamatsu’s Forest) under the guidance of program director Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker. Scenes will feature local community actors such as UH alumni Denise-Aiko Chinen, Brandon Hagio and Sean-Joseph Choo, Stu Hirayama, Allan Y. Okubo, Dann Seki and Renée Whitehouse, alongside UH Mānoa student actors.

In conjunction with the production, Baker has organized a virtual symposium on February 27 that will feature Asian American theatre artists from across the country. One of the panels will gather UH graduate student directors to share their perspectives on producing Sakamoto’s work.

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This work is an example of UH Mānoa’s goal of (PDF), one of four goals identified in the (PDF), updated in December 2020.

The University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa and will transition back to in-person performances in the spring beginning with the much-anticipated production, . Mark Branner, associate professor and head of the Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) Program at UH Mānoa is the director of the mainstage production that pays homage to beloved �鶹��ý waterman, Eddie Aikau. The imaginative TYA production incorporates giant and majestic aquatic puppetry, dance, ʻōlelo �鶹��ý (Hawaiian language), pidgin English, hula and original music.

The play geared toward family audiences, especially those with elementary-aged children, will be presented on the Kennedy Theatre Mainstage from January 28 to February 6. Ticket prices range from $8 to $20.

Adapted from the book by UH alumna, Marion Lyman-Mersereau, a crewmember with Aikau on the 1978 Hōkūleʻa voyage, the play tells the story of when the canoe capsized and Aikau went to get help. Audiences hear from imaginary sea creatures who watch from underneath the upside-down canoe. It is a tribute to Aikau that honors the truth of his final act of courage, while also offering hope and inspiration. The production also highlights Aikau’s life of service to others. He was the first lifeguard at Waimea Bay where he saved more than 500 lives. Aikau’s legacy is about love and giving of himself to others through his actions.

“We’re trying to illustrate and introduce to young audiences and families the whole story of Eddie; what he represents and what that means for us today as members of this community,” Branner said.

Students, faculty bring puppetry alive

The creative team includes theatre faculty Maile Speetjens (costume design) and Michelle A. Bisbee (scenic coordinator, scenic charge and puppetry adjustments for the stage), graduate student Claire Paul (lighting design) and recent MFA graduate Laura Nigon-Holmgren (scenic and puppet design).

Choreographers Kaohi Yojo Daniel and Amy Schiffner join Branner and fellow director Annie Lokomaikaʻi Lipscomb. Guitar virtuoso Ian O’Sullivan provides the original musical underscore.

Several cast members took Branner’s giant puppetry course during the fall 2021 semester in anticipation of the production. One of the largest puppets, Tutukāne Koholā, a giant whale, is more than 15-feet long and requires five puppeteers to animate it.

“It’s a physically demanding show for all the cast members involved who started training and practicing as early as October for the late January performances,” Branner said. “By the end of the show, the puppeteers should almost disappear from view and all you see are these giant puppets come to life.”

Last season, the decision was made to wait for the possibility of live audiences, rather than stream the production. All patrons (ages 5 and up) are required to show proof of full vaccination and complete the prior to entering Kennedy Theatre. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-approved mask covering the nose and mouth must be worn at all times.

An adaptation of the traditional Balinese folktale makes its way to the University of �鶹��ý at Mānoa’s mainstage, February 7–16. The shadow theatre production features puppets, shadow actors, dancers, punakawan (clown characters) and live gamelan music that takes the audience on a journey filled with drama, love and battles.

The story is centered around the last king of Bali, King Dalem Dimade, and his emissaries to defeat the powerful demon, Dalem Bungkut. Dalem Bungkut brings chaos and illness to a small community on Nusa Penida, a small neighbor island to Bali, during a Hindu ceremony, leaving the King of Bali as the village’s only hope to end their misery.

The Last King of Bali is co-directed by professor and graduate student, Kirstin Pauka.

Event Information

The Last King of Bali dates:

• February 7, 8, 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m.
• February 16 at 2 p.m.

Tickets:

• $25 Regular
• $22 Seniors, Military, UH Faculty/Staff
• $20 UHAA Members
• $15 Students
• $8 UH Mānoa Students with valid ID

Throwback Saturday ticket prices (valid for 2/8 show only):

• $15 Regular
• $10 Discount
• $5 UH Mānoa Students with valid ID

Regular ticket sales are available online at , by phone at 944.2697, at Campus Center, at Stan Sheriff Box Office and at the Kennedy Theatre Box Office (during open hours).