 Lucas Host of Hawaii is my mainland, live streamed Fridays at 3 p.m. Hawaiian Standard Time and available 24-7 thereafter on YouTube and as a podcast from Think Tech Hawaii Radio. Playbuilders of Hawaii Theatre Company is a grassroots community collaborative theater non-profit. Along with the foster care training committee, they have just debuted Dragonfly. Presented as a musical, Dragonfly follows characters paced on two very real individuals, Arthur and Aline Usugi, who have fostered over 300 children in their Waianae home, as well as story circles and interviews with former foster youth, therapists, and social workers. Dragonfly will be performed free this Sunday, April 3rd, 30th, 6.30 p.m. at Calvary by the Tennessee Lutheran Church in Aina Jaina and next weekend at other venues. With me today are Terry Madden, the managing director and founder of Playbuilders of Hawaii, as well as the program organizer and playwright of Dragonfly. Becky Macgarvey, the choreographer, cast member, and dancer. And Apu Turano, who is a former foster youth who is both cast member and songwriter for Dragonfly. So, welcome, welcome. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you, we appreciate it so much. I can't wait to see it. But tell us how this kind of came together, Terry. It came together. Well, our mission is to gather and share real stories that resonate with, empower, and connect individuals within the many rich and diverse communities here in Hawaii. We're six years old, and we have done communities, geographic, like Chinatown, Waipahu, Wahiwa, as well as with special groups like Hawaii's Homeless, LGBT, and now Foster Care. We did two years ago a play in Waipahu called the Waipahu Project. It was written by a student. And we met so many wonderful people, and some of those people happened to have connections with the foster care community. So they saw what we were doing, and Vernon Vernes from Queen Leo Kalani Children's Center, and Alan Pestello from, it was Partners in Development said, you know, this would really be good for the foster care community. And actually, I've got to go back even further, because the initial spark of the idea actually came from Apu, who was working on some legislation with high hopes, with high hopes. And he was telling me about it, and I thought, we really should. So it just, everything just came together, confirmed it, and we moved forward from there. And we've been working on it for two years now. Wow. So it's a musical, although you're not calling it a musical. Right. But it was never meant to be a musical. The idea that we could even do a musical is, I couldn't write a song if my life depended on it, but we would meet once a week at the Arts at Marks Garage, and we would work on our craft of acting and singing and dance. And who's the we in this case? It's myself with members of our ensemble, and Apu and Becky are part of that. But we also invited former foster youth to join us. And they would share their stories with us, and we also would invite people from like therapists and social workers to join us. Just once a week. It was very simple. We met for a few hours, and we found we really enjoyed it. So it happened from a very organic way, and I just one day in circles said, you know, something tells me this should be a musical, but I can't write music. Can anybody here write music? And like three forums are like, yeah, I can do that. And so that's what they did. Wow. Very cool. So can I hear a little bit of your story, Becky McGarvey? In regards with Playbuilder? Sure. Just take it. How did you get involved? Why are you doing this? I'm not a former foster youth, but when we started interviewing people, I learned really quickly that we have a lot in common. I came from kind of a poor area. So that was really interesting and connecting with people through these stories and these similarities. And I also kind of, with Terry, feel that there's a strong need for this play to get those stories out there. We learned through this process a lot of people are not encouraged to share their stories, especially if it's sad or scary. And we just had one performance so far, but the people who came to that, the feedback's been amazing. Yeah, it was an incredible review. I really am so excited. So when this is up, we'll put the schedule of the other performances. Thank you. So you're having four performances overall? No, we're having 13 performances overall. So we're doing these free performances in conjunction with the Foster Care Training Committee with the idea that if people hear these stories, they'll want to help. And so it's part of recruiting resource caregivers and adoptive homes for these kids that are needed. At any given time, there's over 700 kids just on Oahu who are living in sometimes overcrowded emergency shelters. And that's not even counting the outer islands and if we count them, it's over a thousand. So we just thought this is the best way to bring it to people. And we hope that they're moved. When we did our last performance at the Mission Memorial Auditorium, I think there was about 150 people there. Out of that, we sent out surveys. Out of that, we got maybe 40 back, which is actually pretty good. And then from that 40, there were 10 people that said that they wanted more information about how to help. Oh, that's fabulous. That's what it really means to be working in a community. And I'm a firm believer in the creative process, really being transformative. So it's really great. So Apu, how did you join this Mary Band? I started off with House Listen Paradise. Terry was working with another man who I volunteered with at IHS, November Morris. And he brought me the attention to Terry and she said, you want to work with this project? So I played a homeless man in there. Then several months later, there was other projects, but I ended up having my own life situations had occurred. But she came, it was one night in Waikiki. I got to share this story because I was listening to music at the Waikiki. I forget what the hotel was, but I was just having my own time relaxing. And then out of nowhere, Terry, Madden and her family and friends were walking on the beach walk. And she approached me and said, is that you, Apu? And I'm like, yeah, what are you doing here? Just hanging out listening to music. How about you come next week? We're having auditions for play about foster care. And it would be a great opportunity for you to share your story. So that's when the magic began. It was kind of miraculous because he was the first one who brought it to our attention. And then just to run into him on the beach like that, just like, yeah, you're coming. You're going to be doing the right thing. So how long did you say you've been working on this for two years? That seems like a really long time. Yeah, it is. But you had to do it from... There's nothing to begin with. Right. It was an idea. So we have to raise money. So that takes several months of grant writing. And then we have to gather the stories. When we start off, we have no idea what the play is going to be about. We have no preconceived ideas about who it is we're going to be talking with or what they have to say. So it took a year of just doing that. And then over the summer of last year, we took a break. I took the break, really. I wrote the play, but Becky continued meeting with them to work with dance. And Apu and Leila used that time to write the music. Well, you've sent a little video clip. Let's have a little video clip so that the viewers get just a little taste of what the show is like if we can... That looks like an amazing process. It was. It was pretty intense. And you saw some of the story circles. Sometimes we went outside the Arts Marks garage where we were meeting once a week. And we went to Queen Lillio Kalani Children's Center and held story circles in that instance with members of the foster care training committee. Sometimes I went out on my own and interviewed people independently. Like Aline Usugi, who by the way, her husband died seven years ago. And so this play is written in his honor as well as her and the 300 children that they fostered together. How many people do you think you interviewed? I would say dozens. And not all of them, of course, are in the play. But every story that you hear in the play is true. And much of it is verbatim. Like when we do the monologues, especially, those are verbatim. The main story is based on a story, but it's not verbatim. It's like I took creative license with that. And then the music themselves that they wrote sort of helped as we wove those together, knowing what they had to say, also helped a great deal to shape the play. And what is the best way for people to find out what's going on about this? The best way is to go to our website, www.playbuilders.org, or to our Facebook page. But yes, we're doing various churches, but we're also starting the 18th to the 27th, Thursdays through Sundays. We'll be at the Arts at Mark's Garage. Okay, we're going to pause for about a minute and come back and learn some more. Thank you. Aloha. My name is John Wahee. And I used to be a part of all the things that you might be angry at. I served in government here and may have made decisions that affects you. So I want to invite you in. I want to invite you in to talk story with me and some very special guests every other Monday, here at Talk Story with John Wahee. Come on in, join us, express your opinion, learn more about your state, and then do something about it. Aloha. Welcome back to Hawai'i is my mainland. I'm Kaui Lucas. And with me today are three people from the Playbuilders of Hawai'i Theater Company. And because I can't stand anymore, I really want to hear them. Here's some of this original music that this part of Dragonfly, their new production. So let's hear it. So this song is called Going On Your Way. It's more of a uplifting, you know, for your spirit to be revived and hopefully it gives insight to positive energy. And you wrote the song as part of this production. Yes. Okay. I have faith you may want to know of it's so strong that it inspires hope. Faith and all might just come true in a matter so don't give up, don't fall astray just keep on, keep on moving on your way. We could do this in the parking lot. Yeah. Let's hope to hear hope so strong as the roses appear and she'd with this golden scent will appear right before you so don't give up, just keep on, keep on moving on your way. Want to see hope so strong it's hidden inside of me you succeed with this love you share you touch a heart one day at a time I swear so don't give up, don't fall astray just keep on, keep on moving on your way just keep on, keep on moving on your way just keep on, keep on Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. So Becky what did you use for your inspiration in the choreography and I because I haven't seen I have no idea what choreography in the in the in this kind of a show what do you even mean? Well as Terry mentioned earlier I have a background in in contact improvisation style of modern dance so the cast choreographed a lot of it really I would give them kind of like constraints like and it has a very modern dance feel I didn't want it to look like a musical okay you know so there's also something in the play about this ritual that the foster kids do when they leave a home this circle of light yeah that involves flashlights so we used flashlights and some of the numbers which was fun but yeah a lot of like one of the numbers I just told them you have to make a pose and it's all that frustration that you're feeling or your character is feeling and just how does that go into your body do that and you know they'd have to do in time with the music and it just shaped from there some of the strongest moments that she choreographed are the monologues themselves so it wasn't just choreography with the music but with the spoken word as well okay well I mean we can't divulge the stories of course because people have to come and see the performances but this transition from being in the foster care system as a child and then you know transitioning out of it how long has that process been for you how long were you in the foster care system I went into the foster care system when I was actually eighth grade so I was 11 years old my father I just passed away I ran away from my family my biological family I ran away to friends and since then the friends that I ran away to well my first foster family didn't really work out well then I ran away to another friend and that friend is still in my life to this day and his family take me as their own and I'm really glad that because of that experience even though things were going drastic it turned out to be a positive ending yeah that song is about faith it's very beautiful and uplifting you know it is kind of scary to even contemplate these stories sometimes those of us who know people and know how really painful it can be but it really is that that spirit of resilience that that needs to be spoken about more needs to be told more so Terry this is probably a little different than some of the other shows in that sense I think with everyone that we do we've gotten a little bit better at it and this time we took our time with it rather than trying to write a play in five months we really took our time and I think that you know what you're speaking about how difficult these stories are they are but at the same time you realize how resilient humanity is and I think the thing that I learned the most is that these foster kids are heroes because despite living through unspeakable hardship at the start of their life that they keep trying and these songs that you hear come from former foster youth and they're beautiful and the reason why we called the play Dragonfly the story of a young girls journey through local girls journey through foster care is because that they save themselves maybe there as much as possible but it's through learning how to mature and turn inward it's their faith that's why so many have faith and that's what got them through like I'm not I don't consider myself a particularly religious person but hearing about their faith built my faith so it's very inspiring and the Dragonfly that's the symbol worldwide of that type of change and that's one of the main songs is change and that willingness to change as we learn and we grow that's kind of how the play formed is we were listening to all these stories and that was kind of something that strung them all together was you know how did they and sometimes they would say I don't know I just kept going kept moving perseverance was something that came up a lot if you can recall back to when you were hearing the stories maybe of the professionals are they somehow incorporated in the play looking at that side of it was interesting we have a character by the name of who plays a social worker and if we she's able to speak her side of things and as well as the therapist she goes to rehab center in California so yeah we got those and what one of the most difficult things for us to address is that things have gotten better within the last 6 months to 5 years laws have changed things are better for foster kids than they ever have been but it hasn't had time to really reach the kids as they age out like up who's age or even younger so trying to bring that in how they've changed we can tell people that things have changed but we can't tell them the results of that change and I think we also it's really important to know that if we don't keep stewardship of our kids that's like one of the people that we interviewed was Abby Sylvester's family their friends of ours right and she kept talking about how it takes a village and how Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church has been instrumental in helping support that family she has 10 kids all together 7 adopted well I guess 3 now 3 biological in a way so it's 10 I said how do you do that and she said it takes a village and I know that Pastor Tim takes them dinner once a week and I was like if we could all be like that with our kids we have about 3 minutes so I'd like you to talk about where the next performances are and perhaps what's in your futures our next performance is Sunday at Calvary by the Sea Lutheran Church and we're so excited about going there and then after that we head out to Wahiawa to Dot's restaurant where we're inviting the whole community to come all these performances are free and then we are going to be at the Arts at Mark's garage and we'll have our final performance we'll be there I think 7 performances there and that's the only place where we charge that's because we need to raise money to keep our programs going and then our final is May 28th at New Hope Leeward and we'll be doing another free performance there so that's pretty great spread out all through the month of May which happens to be national foster care month oh fantastic so Becky and Appu what's next for you actually Iona is rehearsing right now for their next show which is Paint by Numbers where the hub is now in June and then after that I'm going to the spa I will be performing in another play called Happily Ever After and it's with Manoa Valley Theater and then I will also be taking a trip in August my little sister is getting married I wrote a song for her wow so the best way for people to find out more is your Facebook page or your website www.playbuilders.org or you can also go to the Arts at Mark's Garage website and there will be dates and things there and to purchase tickets for the Arts at Mark's Garage is to go to our website or go to Eventbrite Eventbrite great well thank all of you for coming and being my guest today I will see you again Sunday at 6.30 at Calvary by the Sea Thank you for having us on this show Thank you so much