A Woman’s Place in the World—KA‘IULANI at Kumu Kahua Theatre

 by Eleanor Svaton

Originally produced in 1987, a world premiere that debuted at Kumu Kahua Theatre (KKT) and then went on tour all the way to Edinburgh, the epic Ka‘iulani has returned to the stage. This stylized rendition of the short and troubled life of Hawai‘i’s last heir to the throne grips the audience, surrounds and envelops them, embraces and breaks their collective hearts. Like being adrift at sea for many years, Ka‘iulani is more than a play: it is a journey, full of beauty, wonder, danger, pain, uncertainty, and homecoming, though home is never really what it once was upon returning. 

Ka‘iulani—written by Dennis Carroll, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Robert Nelson, and Ryan Page; directed by KKT Artistic Director Harry Wong III; and performed by an strong ensemble cast of women and men of various ages and ethnicities—takes a fluid approach to storytelling. 

Danielle Zalopany as Princess Ka'iulani in the 2015 production of “Ka'iulani” at Kumu Kahua Theatre. (Photo by Denise DeGuzman)

The princess is portrayed through three stages in her life: first as a playful yet lonely child by Summer Royal; next as a student in Scotland, with her identity-split between her mingled heritage personified in the duo of Amanda Stone as Victoria and Domina Hoffman as Ka‘iulani; and finally as the fully formed woman returned to Hawai‘i, embodied, enheartened, and ensouled by Danielle Zalopany. These versions of the titular character form a chorus with the other female cast members: Jaime Bradner as governess to the young princess; Brooke Reams as a modern student perplexed about the significance of what she perceives as a wasted existence; Karen Kaulana as Princess Miriam Likelike, Ka‘iulani’s mother and a prophet, a seer in her last moments of a bleak future; and Anne Lokomaika‘i Lipscomb as HRH Queen Lili‘uokalani, a woman in no way ready to forsake her throne or her people. These girls and women are linked by costume, by physical closeness, by the circles they create together onstage, by the lei they exchange, by the love they extend one another, by the wombs in their bodies, the beauty in their hearts, by their feminine power, pain, position, and purpose. Ka‘iulani is a feminist play, exploring the role of women in a world of male dominance and aggression. The life of the princess becomes symbolic of the life of the Hawaiian kingdom, subjugated to the will of the outside world for exploitation and profit, powerless to protect itself from dominion, though never submitting willingly. 

In contrast to the feminine orbit, male characters move in and out of the cosmos, separate, intrusive. Steven Royal plays Ka‘iulani’s father, Archibald Cleghorn, and  William Ha‘o acts the part of her uncle, HRH King David Kalakaua. The two men take it in turn to navigate the future of the intended future monarch, sometimes in accordance, but not always. Other invasive voices barking history and proclaiming with assured importance belong to Jason K. Ellinwood, who impressively pontificates in three languages, and Brandon DiPaola. While the women are close, connected, harmonic like nature herself, the men sluice through the scenes, disturbing disruptions. 

As I attempt to write this review, tears stand in my eyes. The scenes portrayed in the small space of Kumu Kahua Theatre are not meant to be related here in any journalistic fashion. They are meant to be experienced, for only then can the power of this drama, these performances, this story, Hawai‘i’s history, be felt and understood. The layers of meaning, the use of plants and flowers, of bodies and words, of kaona, of hula, of music and movement and dancing and fantasy, of historical narrative and artistic enactment, flow continually to cover the span of over a dozen years in the life of one woman, and yet it feels like a harnessing of the essence of the universe, for although this is a very Hawaiian story, it is also the story of humankind, of the eternal struggle, of the cycle of death and rebirth, of life and loss, of hope and despair, of dark and light. The play actually begins with reference to the Kumulipo, the story of Hawaiian cosmogony. It ends with the ending of all things, whenever that may be.

It is a blessing to witness Ka‘iulani at Kumu Kahua Theatre. The actors give perhaps the most important performances of their careers, and from what I’ve seen from many of them, certainly the most moving, heartfelt, and powerful. This production engages the mind and soul from start to finish, gripping tightly, evoking laughter and tears, changing the viewer so that you won’t quite feel the same about the world or your place in it afterwards.