{"id":141540,"date":"2021-05-14T13:33:36","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T23:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=141540"},"modified":"2021-05-14T13:33:36","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T23:33:36","slug":"national-theatre-honors-manoa-windward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/14\/national-theatre-honors-manoa-windward\/","title":{"rendered":"National theatre festival honors UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, Windward CC<\/abbr>"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Keola Simpson in I’m Lot Lane (a solo effort)<\/em> (Photo courtesy: Christine Lamborn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa Department of Theatre and Dance<\/a> is reveling after a student theatrical production scooped up 11 national awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival<\/a> (KCACTF<\/abbr>). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the national theatre program reviewed plays through submitted recordings, but upheld its recognition of productions in higher education that promote long-term societal impacts through an artistic lens.<\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr> Mānoa production, I\u2019m Lot Lane<\/em> (a solo effort) interrogates the power dynamics in race, gender relations, and theatre while addressing the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and examining its aftermath in modern Â鶹´«Ã½.<\/span> UH<\/abbr> Mānoa theatre students created, directed, designed and performed in the production. Graduate student Kealiʻikeola<\/span> Simpson<\/strong> wrote and starred in the play alongside graduate students Christine Jamlig Chang<\/strong>, Catherine Ann Restivo<\/strong>, and an ensemble of 10 contributors. Simpson was inspired by real-life Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> historical figure Lot Lane, who was one of the last royalist insurgents to be captured by government forces after the overthrow.<\/p>\n

Pushing the artistic envelope<\/h2>\n
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Kealiʻikeola<\/span> Simpson stars in the solo cast play inspired by historical accounts of the last remaining royalist insurgent in Â鶹´«Ã½.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“The man himself paved the way for this conversation to happen, even 100+ years after his own efforts,” Simpson said. “He deserves all of our attention…I stumbled onto Lane a few years ago while researching another story. I found his name in a book of letters written to and from Princess Kaʻiulani<\/span>. A friend (or family member) of the princess wrote about this man and his fight against the provisional government. This person wrote to the princess about how he walked himself into their prison, announcing, ‘I\u2019m Lot Lane.’ Once I saw that letter, I knew I had to learn more about him.”<\/p>\n

The production also sheds light on occupation and appropriation of Hawaiian lands, including Kennedy Theatre, by UH<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

“I hope that I\u2019m Lot Lane<\/em> will encourage other current as well as prospective theatre and dance students to engage with the pressing issues of our time and to push the artistic envelope by developing and pursuing their own aesthetic visions within the context of our department—even if that won\u2019t always be uncomplicated because of our own institutional challenges,” said Markus Wessendorf<\/strong>, chair of the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa Department of Theatre and Dance.<\/p>\n