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A Brilliant Glass-Half-Full Spectacle – ALICE IN WONDERLAND at LT

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The anticipation of seeing Alice in Wonderland had me giddy—the characters, the wordplay, the wonder , and, not to be forgotten in such a fabulous list, young Alice herself; after all, Wonderland represents the inner-workings of her child-mind. At least that’s the publicized theory behind this production: Jungian psychology.  Photo (stolen from facebook) Credit: Raymond Rivera Leeward Theatre, director Betty Burdick, and designers John Signor, Donald J. Ranney, Jr., Sarah Whitehead, Mark Kalani Imaizumi, Chelsea Campbell, Cocoa Chandelier, and Johathan Reyn present a landscape of enchantment inhabited by brilliantly decorated characters. The spectacle of colorful set pieces, props, costumes, makeup and lighting combine with musical notes of tantalizingly mysterious charm to draw the viewer deep down the rabbit hole. Alice, played by Tina Uyeno, alternates regularly between practiced and polished wonder, contempt, and gladness, all delivered with singsong intonation. She

Questions Raised by Frames – UNCLE VANYA AND ZOMBIES at KT

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The trick to why television and movies are so popular, so prevalent, so everyday, has to do with catharsis. The average person can experience the world without ever leaving the couch. We believe what we see on the screen enough to have physical reactions: an increase in heart rate, an outburst of laughter, the welling of tears in our eyes. Theatre, with its obviously constructed nature, isn’t able to match the believability of film, no matter how hard a production may try. This could be seen as a limitation, but only if the object of a play is to be as “real” as what’s on screen. A better objective might be to play with the very idea of realness, believability, and the human desire for catharsis. This is what Uncle Vanya and Zombies does. The play is actually a play within the frame of a reality TV show within the frame of a theatre within the frame of a Zombie-infested version of O‘ahu. The contestants are acting in Chekhov’s classic in the hopes of winning a ticket to the main

Pupu with the Living Dead

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Historical figures come back to life in the Mission Cemetery If all the world’s a stage, that must include graveyards. And what better location for bringing back to life long-dead historical people of Hawai‘i’s history than in a cemetery—at the very spot where their remains lie buried? Cemetary Pupu Theatre , presented by Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, is back with an all-new cast of prominent departed Hawai‘i residents.  Ha‘o rises from Kanui’s grave Photo courtesy of Mission Houses Each character has been thoroughly researched and the monologues are all based on historical, documented fact. This season, patrons will meet an array of intriguing persons, with each monologue scripted by Zach Thomas, who also plays the part of Reverend Hiram Bingham. Other characters include: William Kanui, played by William Ha‘o, one of only two native Hawaiians buried in the Mission Cemetery; Mary Tenney Castle, played by Jo Pruden, of the famed Castle Trust; Will

Cuz That's What the Play's About — ONE COMEDY OF ERRAS at KKT

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Shawn Anthony Thomsen is not only my friend, but also one of my theatre heroes. Not the kind of hero that basks in the glory of constant praise with puffed-out chest and arms akimbo. The kind of hero that works long and hard, day after day, for all the right reasons. The kind with a touch of genius tempered by a dash of humility. A seriously gifted sense of humor balanced by an acute sense of seriousness. Photo by Jonathan Reyn (stolen from Shawn Thomsen's facebook page) OK, he’s not dead or anything. He’s just directing his first show at Kumu Kahua Theatre. And, in my obviously biased opinion, he kills it. Given a script loaded with stereotypical and not-so-stereotypical Honolulu characters, twists and turns, talktalktalk, hitting, yelling, singing, insulting, and then some, it’s hard to imagine a director actually adding and layering. But that’s exactly what Thomsen does. He embraces Taurie Kinoshita’s One Comedy of Erras , wraps his arms around it, caresses it, shapes i

Superficial Authenticity — A DOLL'S HOUSE at TAG

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Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is a very “well made” play. It follows all of Aristotle’s rules about unity, telling a detailed story without jumping around in time or changing the scene location. This is an old fashioned play and TAG’s Brad Powell delivers an old fashioned production. You can almost imagine it as a film in black and white. Roberge, Jones, & Farmer Courtesy of TAG—The Actors' Group But this is a play. Live and in color. Which is good, because otherwise you’d miss how lovely the set and costumes are. The small theatre abounds in detail, from the stove to the picture window to the decorated Christmas tree and so much more. Andy Alvarado has truly outdone himself. Carlynn Wolfe’s and Christine Valles’s costumes complete the transportation to 1890’s Norway. The story centers on Nora and the moment when her world, or what she imagines it to be, dissolves. And beyond the mirage she finds the mirror, and faces, for the first time in her life, unadorned

Halloween Comes Early to Honolulu — JANE AUSTEN ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE at AMG

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by Guest Contributor Becky McGarvey There was a large turnout at the ARTS at Marks Garage this past Thursday. Although the art exhibit (pottery by local artists) was beautiful and would have drawn a crowd on its own, this particular crowd was excited to be the first to see a special preview performance of On The Spot's Jane Austen Zombie Apocalypse , which turned out to be the best play I've seen all year. [Photo taken from Jedi M. Aster's Facebook album ] Jane Austen Zombie Apocalypse is exactly what it sounds like. But instead of just being yet another play/book/movie to rent space in the recent popular zombie trend, Zombie Apocalypse is a very well-written, well-acted, well-done production that has what so many popular plays/books/movies are missing these days—a good story. The play follows main character Katherine Montgomery­—played by Lisa Anne Nilsen—a strong young woman who likes to play with pistols and rapiers. All of England is beset by zombi

The Ebb and Flow of Resistance — KĀMAU A‘E at KKT

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Has anything changed in fifteen years?  Timtim, Murray, and Jaime Bradner as Lisa Kealoha Courtesy of Kumu Kahua That’s one of the questions I’m left with after seeing Kāmau A‘e , Alani Apio’s dramatic interpretation of the Hawaiian Sovereignty movement and its impact on one particular family. The play premiered at Kumu Kahua Theatre in 1997, three years after its predecessor Kāmau , which had its revival in 2007. In the program, the setting is listed as “Present Day”—today, as opposed to the present day of its creation, fifteen years ago. And so the question...has anything changed? What does the play mean today? Is it more or less powerful, relevant, accurate? This may not be for me to answer, first, because I never saw the original production, and second, because I have only lived in Hawai‘i since 2003. It is, however, something this revival calls into consideration. Fifteen years is barely a teardrop in the grand scheme of things, but in mere human time, it could easi