{"id":155757,"date":"2022-02-22T15:47:29","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T01:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=155757"},"modified":"2024-05-09T16:03:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T02:03:13","slug":"celebrated-pidgin-playwright-kennedy-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/22\/celebrated-pidgin-playwright-kennedy-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrated pidgin playwright\u2019s works to be highlighted at Kennedy Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><figure id=\"attachment_155786\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-155786\" style=\"width: 676px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/manoa-kennedy-obake.jpg\" alt=\"Man drinking sake and woman with a fan\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"size-full wp-image-155786\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/manoa-kennedy-obake.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/manoa-kennedy-obake-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/manoa-kennedy-obake-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-155786\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Denise Aiko Chinen and Gage Thomas in a scene from <abbr>Obake<\/abbr><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/liveonstage\/\">Department of Theatre and Dance and Kennedy Theatre<\/a> will host in-person performances showcasing selected scenes from award-winning playwright <strong>Edward &ldquo;Ed&rdquo; Sakamoto<\/strong>. The <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa alumnus\u2019 entire catalog of plays, which includes highly acclaimed works in pidgin and nostalgic comedies and dramas largely focused on local Japanese in <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, was gifted to the department last spring&#8212;an extremely rare endowment.<\/p>\n<p><em><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> N\u014d Ka &#699;Oi: A Sakamoto Celebration<\/em>, will shine the spotlight on scenes produced by student directors at <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa in Kennedy Theatre\u2019s Earle Ernst Lab Theatre February 24&#8211;27, as a testament to Sakamoto\u2019s contribution to the local and world-wide theatre community. Tickets to the anticipated production sold out quickly.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Related <em><abbr>UH<\/abbr> News<\/em> story:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/09\/edward-sakamoto-fund\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa gifted rights to award-winning Asian American playwright\u2019s works<\/a>, May 9, 2021<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;We are honored to work together with local community theatre artists and scholars to preserve Ed Sakamoto\u2019s plays and legacy,&rdquo; said <strong>Markus Wessendorf<\/strong>, <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Theatre and Dance chair. &ldquo;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 <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Scenes chosen for the production depict first generation Japanese sons struggling with their duty to family against the Western ideals of individualism and the &ldquo;American Dream&rdquo; (<em>Taste of Kona Coffee<\/em> and <em>M\u0101noa Valley<\/em>), three friends and the consequences of their choices to stay or leave <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (<em>Stew Rice<\/em>), breaking the cycle of domestic violence against women (<em>Obake<\/em>), a dark comedy about the consumerism and tourist industry of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (<em>Lava<\/em>), and a fairytale set in early 1700s Japan combining traditional Japanese performance theatre elements of kabuki and bunraku with modern American dialogue and humor (<em>Chikamatsu\u2019s Forest<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>The live production will showcase seven <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa graduate student directors; <strong>Robert Torigoe<\/strong> (<em>Taste of Kona Coffee<\/em>), <strong>Kaipulaumakaniolono<\/strong> (<em>Stew Rice<\/em>), <strong>Maggie Ivanova<\/strong> (<em>Obake<\/em>), <strong>\u0100kea Kahikina<\/strong> (<em>Lava<\/em>), <strong>Iasona Kaper<\/strong> (<em>M\u0101noa Valley<\/em> and <em>The Life of the Land<\/em>), <strong>Marguerite Saxton<\/strong> (<em>Lava<\/em>) and <strong>Ron Heller<\/strong> (<em>Chikamatsu\u2019s Forest<\/em>) under the guidance of program director <strong>Tammy <span aria-label=\"Hailiopua\">Haili&#699;&#333;pua<\/span> Baker<\/strong>. Scenes will feature local community actors such as <abbr>UH<\/abbr> alumni <strong>Denise-Aiko Chinen<\/strong>, <strong>Brandon Hagio<\/strong> and <strong>Sean-Joseph Choo<\/strong>, Stu Hirayama, Allan Y. Okubo, Dann Seki and Ren\u00e9e Whitehouse, alongside <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa student actors.<\/p>\n<p>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 <abbr>UH<\/abbr> graduate student directors to share their perspectives on producing Sakamoto\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/liveonstage\/sakamotosymposium\/\">Learn more about the virtual symposium<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This work is an example of <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/manoa-2025-strategic-plan.pdf#page=20\">Enhancing Student Success<\/a> (<span class=\"small-text\"><abbr title=\"Portable Document Format\">PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/manoa-2025-strategic-plan.pdf\">2015&#8211;25 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (<span class=\"small-text\"><abbr title=\"Portable Document Format\">PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><em><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> N\u014d Ka &#699;Oi: A Sakamoto Celebration<\/em>, features scenes produced by student directors and debuts February 24&#8211;27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1637,131,1466,130,76,9],"class_list":["post-155757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-aanhpi","tag-kennedy-theatre","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-theatre","tag-theatre-and-dance","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155757"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155795,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155757\/revisions\/155795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}