 American Indian Center of Chicago, and I was the first like to say. My sister and mommy a little half are inviting me here today to address all you wonderful people. Chicago is the ancestral homeland of both my mother and my father. I'm the first one to switch with Cree from my father's side, he's from Minnesota, Canada. And I am, he kind of goes up up at Nick's ancestry, Irish ancestry, from my mother's side. Chicago is a home base of where both of our borders meet. Chicago was forged by the glaciers. That is why we have, we have become the heart of the Midwest because of our waterways and because of Lake Michigan. We have one time we're able to connect to all of Canada, all of Mexico, and then to both oceans. Through the colonization process, our Chicago river was remandored and now flows in a different direction, which leads to the Gulf of Mexico. So I would first like to acknowledge that out of the nation, here in Chicago, it has happened to the people of the land, it also happens to the land in itself. Today, Chicago is the leading polluter of the Gulf of Mexico because of the way that our river was commanded. But it still remains a sacred space to indigenous people, especially those with the three fires of the castle, the Anishinaabe, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi. As I and others, and that's another different phrase including the Poetan, the Miami, and the one that forced removal of America started in the 1700s with the Odawa Nation, which is now in Michigan, and it continues all the way through the Indian River Basin Act of 1830, which pushed any native people who weren't already in reservation lands west of the Mississippi. Today, Chicago and the state of Illinois, though they are a remaining indigenous word from the Anishinaabe language, they have no tribal territory. So we're standing here on an unsucceeded land today that is being occupied illegally since Chicago has been urbanized. I would also like to take a moment to recognize that Chicago, though it remains an indigenous name, has a different history than most large cities in our nation because even though we only learned the colonized history, the colonized history of Chicago starts with the Potawatomi woman and her husband, Yusavo, who is of Black and Haitian descent. So I want to thank you all for coming here. I'm going to let, or not let, but I've asked my 16-year-old nephew to share a song with you all today to ground us in this place, and he's going to introduce himself. My name is Adrian Borchel. I'm from the Mississippi, Chicago, Lakota, Black and Haitian descent too. I sing with shy nations. I am a part of shy nations youth council and I sing with a youth drum called Shiba Madzi, which means New Beginning. I just wanted to say mahalo, Lani Aloha for helping us do our proper protocols and mahalo to our Hawaiian contingent for helping us also be part of that protocol, mahalo. That was Lee Lani Chan. It's so important to start well and know where we start in. Hello, my name is Randy Reyes. I'm the board president of Cata and the artistic director of Theater Moo, Asian-American theater company in the Twin Cities, celebrating our 26th season. Thank you. On the shoulders of Rick Shiyomi, the founding artistic director. I want to welcome you all to the sixth National Asian-American Theater Conference and Festival, first time in Chicago. And we're thrilled to be here and have some special thanks to our partners starting with Victory Gardens, Erica, Danielle. It's Danielle, right? Not Daniel. It's Daniel. Erica, Daniel. It's hard to tell in just reading. And Che Yu and staff. Silk Road Rising with Jamil Malik and Corey. Thank you. Our generous funders, including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment of the Arts, Artworks, Theater Communications Group, Latinx Theater Commons and NEFA. And also our host today, the DePaul University School of Theater. And from there, I'd like to introduce Dean John Colbert to say a few words. Thank you, Randy. Good morning. And welcome to the theater school. And thank you for the recognition of the land that we occupy with this building. And this is our fifth year in this, in our new home here in this facility. And happily in those five years, we've dinged it up a bit. So it feels a bit more theatrical and now has some stories to tell. Like the time on Christmas Day when the pipe froze and nobody was around to know that water was running everywhere. But that's a story for another time. We've learned a bit about the impact of this building on our school, our students and ourselves in those five years. First, when you walk in the door and sense the specialized beauty that comes from the very specialized and dedicated nature of the building, not unlike a barn or a steel mill or a concert hall, you get the feeling that they take this enterprise seriously here. And we do. And that enterprise is the making of theater artists. We know we are privileged to have the kind of support this enterprise requires from DePaul, from the philanthropic community, from our alums and from the families of our students. And with privilege comes responsibility. And we take that seriously as well. And that leads us to today. This building enables us to have you here to do your work. The work you do is convening of Asian American theater artists and development of new voices and new plays could not be more relevant to the goals of the theater school and our dreams for our students as they create our future. Now, I'll not be doing my job as dean if I didn't tell you about a few of the things that we're excited about here at the theater school. We're starting a comedy arts program this year and a projection design program. We're also starting a summer high school theater festival that we use Chicago as a classroom and represent the values of the school to that generation of theater artists. On behalf of the entire theater school community, thank you for being here. Thank you for all who worked so hard to make this happen. It is not easy to pull this off. And thank you for your commitment to Asian American work in our theaters, new work in our theaters, and underrepresented voices in our theaters. Have a great confess. Enjoy Chicago. Cata's mission is to advance the field of Asian American theater through a national network of organizations and artists. We collaborate to inspire learning and sharing of knowledge and resources to promote a healthy, sustainable artistic ecology. As a collective of Asian American theater leaders and artists, we bring together local and regional leaders to work nationally towards our shared values of social justice, artistic diversity, cultural equity, and inclusion. We hold national conferences and festivals biannually in different parts of the country, reaching as wide a range of Asian American populations and communities as possible. We survey Asian American theater artists and organizations to find out their foremost concerns. We form alliances with other theater groups of different affinities to advance mutual goals cooperatively and to exchange ideas and strategies. The last confess at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival was about seismic shifts in Asian American theater. It intentionally sought the inclusion of other voices into the movement and movement building. This included cross sector work around refugees and new immigrants to this country, building consensus and challenging us to expand our perception of our cultures. This year's conference, Revolutionary Acts, continues to build momentum, is inclusionary in nature and hopes to disrupt systemic and structural oppression and create a new vision built by, about, and for us in this room. It's okay. Yes, it's early. I'm just getting warmed up. It's all good. Right now, we are taking action around immigration, xenophobia, unjust incarceration, detainment, and expulsion. We are taking action around black lives matters. We are building coalitions of people of color, native and indigenous peoples. We are taking direct action around yellow face, black face, brown face, red face, Crip face, and trans face. We are challenging each other in this space created by, for, and about us. In this conference, we're exploring the question of what it means to take direct action and to look at your participation here as a revolutionary act. At this time, I'd like to introduce two of our board members, Leilani Chan, Chan, who you met earlier, and Andy Meyer. Aloha. Aloha Kakahiaka. Aloha. My name is Leilani Chan. I come from Los Angeles, and I am the artistic director of theater productions. I'm Andy Meyer, and I was born in Hawaii. I am native Hawaiian, mixed native Hawaiian, and I run a small organization called Trade Wind Arts in Kansas City, Missouri. And as you know, my first name is Hawaiian, but I actually don't have native Hawaiian blood. And so on that, before we get started with our keynote, Andy and I want to kind of prep you for the keynote. So if you guys could... Ala Larissa, fast horse inspiration. I'm going to ask you to close your eyes and visualize for a moment. I made this up because... Visualize, I know that you're... See, you hear Hawaii and you think about that vacation that you had or you're going to have or you wish one day you could go dream have. It's a lovely, lovely thought. Put that in a box, close the box, wrap it up, tie it with a string, put it on the side. For my Asian American friends here, those of you who have been to Hawaii and had that euphoric experience of finally being in a place where you are in the majority, take that wonderful, pleasant, inspiring, empowering thought, put it in a box, close the box, wrap it up with a string and put it on the side. I'm here to tell you that our next conversation isn't about any of those lovely memories and thoughts. This is about the people who are of the land in Hawaii who are not in the majority in Hawaii now. And we are here to witness and be blessed by their conversation and their interests in the perpetuation of their culture, their language, and as theater practitioners, as our colleagues. Open your eyes. As an artist of Hapa Native Hawaiian descent, it is very deeply meaningful for me to be able to welcome our artists here today. And when I think back about the history of my family and how colonization affected them. And if you know anything about Hawaiian and indigenous cultures, you know that your name is, it's your identity, it's part of who you are, it's your roots, it's your trunk, it's your growth. And my family was so colonized that my grandfather had a hard time passing on his Hawaiian heritage in the form of a name to his own children. And so what we're about to talk about, language, reclamation, arts, participation, self-representation and empowerment is to me the heart of why we are all here in this room. So I have great pleasure in introducing to you Tami Haley Opua Baker. O kahi au, a, o ka ie ie o waho, a o ka ulakahi a loha. Pelano i ho ea mai ne i ne i a ana, o ka po e o iwi o ne i. Nolila he a loha ke ia i a o ko, ena po e o iwi o ne i a ana, ka po e noho oni pa ana mako o ko ana. I loko no ka ke kolonaio i ana. Mai ke la kihi o ka hale a ke ia ki, mai ke la kukulo o ka hale a ke ia kukulo, mai ke la kala a ke ia kala, mai ke kanaka i ki a ke kanaka nui, he a loha nui ke ia ia o ko, he kavelina o ke a loha ke ia ia o ko, a loha mai kako. He wahileo mahalo ke ia. Traveling across the vassies of kanaloa, kalamai, we kanaka mahali have come here to share our works and we are grateful for the inclusion to be at the table with you all and to share our works. I'd like to recognize the Indigenous people of this land and the aina that we congregate on here today this morning. I also wanna express my warm gratitude to those who opened up the space for us today so that we would be comfortable as Malihini in your space. So mahalo for that. I also wanna mahalo everyone who organized the conference, special mahalo to those who invited me to come and be able to share the works that we do in Hawaii. I also wanna say mahalo and a loha to my fellow kanaka maoli in the house, mahalo for making the journey as well and for those of you who are living on the continental U.S. Onipa'a, yeah. Ma la ma mao i ka ike kupuna. So also a loha to the guests who are here today, our esteemed speakers and as well as each and every one of you who have come to take part in this conference where we get to celebrate revolutionary acts. So aloha kakai a kakako, aloha. The pahu hopor, the goals of this talk this morning, it's gonna be a little bit academic, a little bit kalamai here. I wear that hat as well, so kalamai. So basically I wanna provide an abridged history, very much a abridged history of Hawaii in order to contextualize the work that we do, the creative work we do. And then we'll look at the cultural renaissance of the 1970s focusing on the revitalization of the Hawaiian language. And finally we'll look at theater in Hawaii, what's happening and we'll focus on hanakeaka, which is Hawaiian medium theater. So this term comes up, yeah, Hawaiian, native Hawaiian. And the term, I'm just gonna clarify, it's a term that was created by the United States government to refer to a member or a descendant of the people who before 1778 occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now comprises the state of Hawaii. The term kanaka maoli has been popularized as the appropriate indigenous term for native Hawaiian advocates of native Hawaiian indigenous rights, sovereignty movements, and independence, as well as kanaka maoli scholars and academics. So kanaka maoli are genealogically connected to the aina or to the land. The origins of kanaka maoli are recorded in our Genesis stories. The Genesis stories illustrate this intrinsic connection to the aina. For example, the story of Papahanaumoku, Earth Mother, and Waakea Skyfather expresses the spiritual connection that exists from primordial times for all kanaka. Traditional society in Hawaii was based on religion. The kapu system instituted restrictions and prohibitions based on religious beliefs and nature. The system developed a very well-ordered, efficient, and practical world, creating a codified social order, provisions on food consumption, fishing seasons, farming practices, ceremony, rituals, and performance. Kanaka maoli survival was based on the resources available on each island. Therefore, the environment was treated with reverence. Key to sustainability was traditional spirituality, which encompassed, sorry, the worship of all elements of nature, air, wind, rain, rivers, springs, ocean, sun, mountains, trees, volcano, fire, and so forth. Kanaka maoli established a complex, sophisticated society with an intricate system of governance, a high sense of political engagement, a heiau or temple complex for ritual practices, emphasizing the spiritual connection to the land and our gods. Exquisite arts, games, crafts, intellectual debate, performances were all produced for seasonal celebrations. Like many indigenous peoples of the Pacific, Kanaka maoli come from an oral society. Knowledge was fortified, preserved, and perpetuated through the rich legacy of oral tradition. Kanaka maoli from all walks of life were composed poetry regularly, both in the secular world and in the religious or ritual practices. In this thriving oral society, my pigeon is coming out, you guys heard that. Ka maoli, I try not to be all professional when I eat. Okay, all right. In this thriving oral society, the composition and performance of poetry was a dynamic thread of personal expression that made the tapestry of the Kanaka maoli world. And then came Captain James Cook. With gifts of sexually transmitted diseases, metals, nails, guns, and so forth. And all jokes aside, it is generally accepted that this initial contact with Cook, beginning in 1778, was the major catalyst for a societal change and the decline of the Kanaka maoli world. This marks the onset of colonization as Cook's arrival preempts the subsequent influx of Po'ehale or foreigners. But our ancestors took care of Cook on Valentine's Day nonetheless. So while people are celebrating love and new romance, we Kanaka celebrate the death of Captain Cook. Yeah, please do not get the impression that I'm trying to romanticize traditional Kanaka society because there was trouble in paradise. Many Kanaka died during King Kamehameha's quest to unite the islands under one kingdom. And those from Kauai, like myself, never conceded. Yeah, yeah. And then in King Kamehameha's passing, the Kapu system is broken when his wife, the Paramat Chivis Ka'ahu Manu, eats with her son Liholiho, their son Liholiho in public in December of 1819. The struggle to reinstate that Kapu would be a source of a massive war, numerous deaths, and even divisions between siblings. In March of 1820, the Protestant missionaries arrived on the shores of Hawaii to spread their message of Christianity. Christian missionaries perceived the ritual dances, the prayers, the chants, incantations of Kanaka Maoli as acts of idolatry and heathenism. Traditional performance and cultural practices that honored a pantheon of gods were likened to dark pagan worship. The missionaries demanded a complete ban of chant and dance as a means to dismantle Kanaka Maoli religious practices. This was coupled with massive, massive efforts to empower the Christian church and ways of white enlightenment. This attempt to overturn traditional Kanaka Maoli performance was motivated by religious supremacy, which was synonymous with political power. To aid their efforts, the missionaries also pushed for a literary society, first translating the Bible and then teaching Kanaka Maoli to read and write. Kanaka Maoli embraced and excelled in the new technology of print. Kawee Keauli, Kamehameha III, proudly declared, Healpuni Palapalakau, my kingdom is literate. His declaration drove his people to rapidly acquire written literacy. In February, 1834, the initial edition of Kalama Hawaii, which I have here, was the first newspaper to be printed west of the Rocky Mountains. Within two generations, from the establishment of a written language, Hawaii had the highest literacy rate of any country in the world, with over 90% of the population able to read and write. With the establishment of Christian schools and the growth of trading in the islands, the Haulais settler community increased across the island chain. Soon, those Haulais settlers would enter the political scene, attempting to influence new legislation, policies in the kingdom, and the establishment and development of Western commerce in Hawaii. On January 17th, 1893, a committee of 13 white businessmen read a proclamation establishing themselves as the provisional government and seized control over government and crown lands without convenience, but through revolt. They imprisoned our queen, demanding her to abdicate her throne. Queen Liliuokalani refused to recognize the illegitimate government, submitting her formal protest to the United States in writing. In December, 1893, United States President Cleveland addressed the US Congress, stating that the seizure of the Hawaiian kingdom was a self-proclaimed crime of high treason, led by the likes of Sanford B. Dole, the president of the provisional government. Dole Canary, anybody been to the maze, connected to this one very individual, okay? Unfortunately, President Cleveland's request for the restoration of the queen did not happen, and his withdrawal of the annexation treaty would resurface under a new administration. Contrary to popular belief, Kanaka Maui did mobilize to oppose the annexation of Hawaii to the United States. Political resistance expanded through the formation of the organization of Hui Kalai Aina and Hui Aloha Aina. These organizations led protests, rallies, meetings, and petitions, asserting their rights for self-governance. I want to highlight that in 1896, the illegitimate provisional government abolished the Hawaiian medium school system in Hawaii. They banned the language from being spoken, and in 1898, through the annexation, they seized 1.8 million acres of government and crown lands from the kingdom of Hawaii. One of our foremost activists of Kanaka Maui rights and proponents for self-determination, how Nani K. Tras got it right when she exclaimed. The 1970s was a time of revolution, a time of protests and rallies to create serious change for the status of Kanaka Maui. A prime example of this is the Aloha Aina movement to stop the bombing of the US Navy on Kaho Olave, which was taking for bombing and target practice for many years from the 1940s. This very political Aloha Aina movement had a domino effect on various aspects of Hawaiian rights and movements, such as the modern-day sovereignty movement, the resurrection of traditional navigation on the double-hauled canoe, the Hokulea, as well as the growth of Halao or hula schools throughout the Hawaiian archipelago. At the heels of the cultural renaissance was the reemergence of the Hawaiian language, Olalo Hawai'i. This cultural revolution and the rise of Kanaka Maui consciousness likely saved Olalo Hawai'i from extinction. Political uprising fueled protests and lobbying for the language, resulting in the reinstatement of Olalo Hawai'i as an official language of the state in 1978. Soon thereafter, we see the establishment of Hawaiian immersion preschools modeled after the Māori Kohanga Reo, beginning on the island of Kaua'i. For Kanaka Maui, the choice to Olalo Hawai'i in our homeland is a political choice. We position ourselves as the native people of our aina, claiming our sovereignty through speaking our language. We know that in order for our culture to survive, we need our language. However, the key to survival of a language is the expansion of domains for our language to be practiced in. The practice of Hawaiian medium theater, Hanakiaka, a movement in itself, empowering Kanaka Maui identity while reclaiming history and space. Hanakiaka shares the stories of our ancestors and addresses political issues faced throughout the generations that continue to resonate today. The retelling of our stories is a means to reconnect to our roots. We carry our ancestors on our shoulders as we navigate through the turbulent seas as cultural and language warriors braving the battlefield. I want to pause here on Hanakiaka just to take a brief look at the theater landscape in Hawai'i. We have theaters that address specific genres of theatrical performance, such as the mainstream theater, producing musicals and plays from off-Broadway at Diamondhead Theater, Manoa Valley Theater. We also have theater for young audiences, such as Honolulu Theater for Youth and other college programs. Then we have an Asian theater program, mostly out of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, where forms of Japanese, Chinese, and Indonesian theater take center stage. Dance theater of varying genres are very visible in Hawai'i. Then we have local theater. We classify it as local theater, mostly produced at Kumukahua Theater, whose mission is to produce plays of Hawai'i by Hawai'i playwrights. We also have local Asian theater, exemplified in the works of Edward Sakamoto and Daryl Lum. Then there is a movement of ethnic theater other than Asian Pacific Islanders in the arts with their Samoan-oriented creative works, or Katipunan with the Filipino Language and Literature Program at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. We have Hawaiian Theater and Hanukiaka. Now there's often crossover of genres, of theater, of artists, of playwrights, directors who go pretty fluidly with all of these venues that I've mentioned here. Inamona Theater Company's work is a prime example of Hawaiian Theater, which is theater of Hawaiian content written by a Kanakamaui playwright, very often featuring Kanakamaui actors. Both Hawaiian Theater and Hanukiaka share many similar characteristics. Hawaiian Theater is predominantly produced in English, however it includes Oledo Hawai'i. I'd be remiss if I wouldn't mention Hanukiaka Hula or Hula Drama. A distinguished Hala'u Hula, Hala'u Kekuhi, accounts for eight generations of Kumuhula in their lineage. Internationally recognized for their artistic contributions, Hala'u Kekuhi produced eight theatrical productions based on their Pele lineage. Since 1995, their productions have formalized the genre of Hawaiian dance theater, a form deeply rooted in hula genealogy. Utilizing primarily dance and chant, each performance is a recitation of travels, challenges, and triumphs of an ancestor of theirs or an ancestral hula deity. The term Hanukiaka, I'll let you enjoy the photo, take my time on this one, yeah. Okay. In its current incarnation, Hanukiaka recounts traditional mythologies and historical events, typically classified as Mo'olelo. The stories communicated in these Hanukiaka productions are drawn from oral tradition and Hawaiian literary texts, often extracted from the Hawaiian language newspapers, published between 1834 through 1948. Sorry, gang, good, move forward. Okay. Hanukiaka are based on traditional Mo'olelo, depicting ancestors and historical figures as characters in these productions. Frequently, those involved with the productions are genealogically connected to the characters portrayed. This familial connection creates a sense of responsibility and accountability on the part of the cast members, the artistic team, and the playwright to present authentic representations of this Mo'olelo adapted for the stage and their ancestors. Hanukiaka also interweaves Hanono'eo with dialogue. These traditional performance forms are utilized as dramatic structural devices that create an indigenously Hawaiian aesthetic. The performances utilize Hawaiian language as its medium. The four pillars listed here, Mo'olelo, Ku'auhou, Hanono'eo, and O'olelo Hawaii constitute the foundation of Hanukiaka. In Hawaiian medium theater, our dialogue is supported by traditional performance forms. Projected here is a list of those forms. It's not exclusively, this is not exclusively what we use, but this is the foundation for most of what we use. We have Pule, Oli, which are chants that are not danced to, yeah, we don't dance to Oli, we dance to Mele. Ha'a called Hula after the 1800s. Lua, Hula Ki'i, which is the dance of images done by performers or with wooden puppets. Ka'a Ka'a O'olelo, Ha'i Mo'olelo, and Ho'opapa. I'll briefly mention here King David Laamea Kalakaua, a true patron of the arts and a staunch supporter of traditional practices. He is one of our earliest theatrical directors. Kalakaua created and organized multiple performances of dance, chant, puppetry, and tableau performances for both his coronation celebration and his golden jubilee. He is our merry monarch. Ka'a Ka'a Mo'olelo embraced the art of theater, integrating their indigenous genre of performance into a dramatic framework to create Hanakyaka. The traditional performance forms that pre-existed Western contact undeniably created the foundation upon which Hanakyaka was developed, giving birth to an indigenously Hawaiian aesthetic. Here are some examples. In researching the newspapers, I found this production on the far left. In 1880, this is the story of Hi'iaka Ikapoli Opele, and on the advertisement for the production, you see the different types of hula that were actually performed and the storytelling that took place. The middle article speaks to an opera, a Hawaiian musical opera for La'i'e Kauai in 1902, and then the advertisement closest to me with the photo of the cast was from 1925. This is the cast of Pele and Lohio, and this production actually toured to Los Angeles and San Francisco out of O'ahu. La'i'e Kauai is a story that frequently resurfaces as a Hanakyaka. In April of 1893, while Queen Lili'uokalani was imprisoned, this performance was staged across the street from Iolani Palace where she was held. The themes of this story resonate with the turmoil that Kanaka Maoli and the nation of Hawaii was experiencing in 1893. Perhaps this theatrical performance was an actual political protest by Kanaka Maoli. To retell this story of a woman who is stripped of her power and her status, eventually to be restored by the gods, I wonder if this performance was actually done for our beloved Queen. This Kanaka Maoli theater group sending her a message to their performance of their hopes for her reinstatement. Kahalao Hanakyaka has led the way since 1995 for this modern form of Hawaiian medium theater. Our work has contributed to the Hawaiian language revitalization movement through performances for the immersion school children and the creation of curriculum around these performances. Since its inception, Kahalao Hanakyaka has committed to touring our productions to schools across the Hawaiian archipelago. Through travel grants and funding, we've created access for these Mo'olelo, these stories and the experience of Hawaiian medium theater to more rural Hawaiian communities. The Halao was officially established in 1996, shortly after the premiere of our first production in December 1995. This first production featured here in this picture is an actual picture of the one that this performance was for. The production was called Kalui Ko'olau Ke Ka'e'au Napali Kalalao and it told the life story of P'Illani, the woman featured here and her husband Ko'olau who was one of the many Kanakamaoli stricken with leprosy in 1892. Leprosy was an awful disease that claimed the lives of many Kanakamaoli in the 19th century. The story goes Ko'olau and his wife P'Illani refused to be forced separation as deemed by the provisional government to keep those who contracted the disease away from the general population. With their child who had also contracted the disease, the couple fled to Kalalao Valley for refuge. This one act play shared the last years of Ko'olau's life depicting his courage to resist the Hala provisional government and to fight for what he believed in, Ohana, family and Aloha, unconditional love. P'Illani was a lone survivor who was the lone survivor of the tragic deaths of her son, Kalei Manu, who died at the age of nine and her husband, Kalu'i Ko'olau. After burying both of them, she returned to Kekaha, their homeland, only to be arrested by the provisional government for harboring a fugitive. Since Kalu'i Ko'olau, Kahalao-Hanakeaka has produced more than a dozen Hawaiian language productions and supported efforts at the University of Hawaii at Manua to produce Hawaiian language plays and curriculum. The value of Hanakeaka is in the retelling of our stories which present traditional knowledge, practices, beliefs and lessons to a new generation of Kanaka Maoli, confirming that one, we have our own stories to tell. Two, we are connected to these rich stories. And three, our language is alive and it is a viable means of communication. Besides providing opportunity to be entertained in the medium of Hawaiian language, Kahalao-Hanakeaka holds steadfast to intergenerational knowledge transmission, ancestral knowledge, cultural practices and the socialization of our people. Each production has been a means to honor our kupuna, our elders, to perpetuate Oledo Hawaii while raising the level of language fluency in the community and to empower Kanaka Maoli identity. This list is representative of those things in life that are awakened by each production that we do. I'll talk about the most recent achievement of the advancement of the teaching and practice of Hanakeaka which has been the institutionalization of Hanakeaka at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In the fall of 2014, the Department of Theater and Dance established the new Hawaiian theater program inclusive of a graduate degree, not a D, sorry, a graduate degree, a master's of fine arts in Hawaiian theater. And to my knowledge, this degree program is the only indigenous graduate degree of its kind in the world. Mahalo. You won't be able to see this, so sorry. Program coursework includes the history of theater in Hawaii, the study and analysis of indigenous Hawaiian theater and training in both traditional and contemporary Hawaiian performance forms. Students now have the opportunity to learn the art form of Hanakeaka and participate in original Hawaiian medium productions. These productions represent and honor the language, traditions, history and values of the Hawaiian community. Two Hanakeaka have been produced since the establishment of the program. Laie Kaua'i in 2015 and most recently, Nakawahi Iaka in 2017. The inaugural main stage production, Laie Kaua'i featured here, toured, oh, sorry, played to sold out audiences on Oahu and then toured to neighbor islands, the neighbor islands of Kaua'i, Molokai and Hawaii. The production also toured to Aotearoa, New Zealand and was featured showcase production at the region eight 2016 Kennedy Center College, Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Reviews in the local newspapers commended the production calling it a cultural and linguistic triumph. Nakawahi Iaka was written and directed by Kaua'i Kaina. This was the first Hanakeaka MFA theist production of our new program. Ms. Kaina graduated in August, 2007, making her the first to receive the degree. Both Laie Kaua'i and Nakawahi Iaka presented traditional Mo'olelo with themes highly relevant to today's world, evoking strong emotions from audience members. In addition to the theater productions that we've done, the Hawaiian Theater Program has organized an Acha Hanakeaka or Hawaiian Theater Symposium. This symposium held in the fall of 2016 featured presentations on the survey and landscape of Hanakeaka and Hawaiian Theater. It also featured short Hanakeaka performances from the kids at the different immersion schools on Oahu and then we had three focus panels that featured Kanaka Maoli artists, Kanaka Maoli community members, and Kanaka Maoli educators. We finished the day with a community dialogue on the future of Hanakeaka, talking strategically about what we need to do to further the movement. We also concluded the evening with the 20-year anniversary celebration and reunion to commemorate the establishment of Kahalo Hanakeaka. I'd like to mention that both Laie Kaua'i and Nakawahi Iaka are available online and thanks to OEV Television for documenting the productions and doing the post-production editing. Anyone can access these productions at any time in your leisure. Just go ahead and Google Hanakeaka OEV Television or actually go to their website. You can view these things, these videos with or without English subtitles as well. Here is a preview of laie kuwai. Laie kówwai. The mole or ancestral root foundation of Hanakyaka are the traditional performance forms that existed since time immemorial. Therefore, Hanakyaka is an innately Kanakamaoli expression of art that serves the community of Kanakamaoli. Hanakyaka provides a venue for Kanakamaoli to articulate their voice, recount their historical events, and promote Hawaiian epistemology, ontology, cultural values, and practices. Performing our stories in our language is a revolutionary act. This act empowers Kanakamaoli identity, elevates our people, and awakens Kanakamaoli consciousness for generations to come, which is the reason why we do our work. E'olamau ka'olelo Hawaii. Mahalo. E'olamau ka'olelo Hawaii. E'olamau ka'olelo Hawaii. E'olamau ka'olelo Hawaii. Mahalo. So, Andy and I are going to just introduce the next panel if we can hold back the tears. Sorry. You first. So our next panel is going to be a continuation of the discussion about the various forms of Hawaiian theater. And to moderate it, we have the one and only Sammy Akuna, aka Coco Chandelier, an incredible theater artist, as you can imagine, who has taught and been a role model for many of us. Coco Chandelier. Come on down, Coco. Sitting next to Coco, we have Christopher Morgan, who's the festival artist who has brought his show Pohaku. And with great appreciation, because he's stepping out of tech so he can participate in this conversation, so he ran right over here from Victory Gardens. And then we also have Moses, who of Inamua, who many of us saw last night with Kinolau, and of course our keynote speaker, Kumu Haileopua Baker. And again, we're setting this up as more of a fishbowl conversation because we really wanted to witness a conversation between all of these four Native Hawaiian artists. And we're not going to open up to conversations because we want to hear what they have to say to each other, giving us the great privilege to hear their conversation. And they will be around, so if you have burning questions, you can ask them later. But we're here to witness their conversation. Mahalo. And I'll give you five minutes, Coco, when it's five minutes to the end. To strip or to do the start? I only need two minutes. We only need two minutes. You have bingo later, honey. It's okay. Aloha, everyone. And I'd like to say thank you to our Native representation that came and welcomed us, Mahalo. Also to the Dean of the School, thank you for creating this safe space for us to explore and challenge and question. And also, standing on the back of our ancestors, our kupuna, and all of our teachers, standing without our teachers, we could not provide the work that we are sharing. But most importantly, the stories. It's the stories that we share that we share amongst each other. Those stories, they have so many cross contamination with all of us Native people, brown people, people of color, Asians, Kanaka Maui. There's so many of those stories that we connect with on so many levels. So to our playwrights, to our performers, our actors, our dancers, please keep the thriving of our stories alive because that's why we're here. It's theater. It's dance. Yeah, so let's start with our panel. So we're just going to have, so it's very open. It's very relaxed. So if you want a far tour, whatever, you know, don't be ashamed. We're kind of in a very open and safe space. So before we start, everyone stand up, please. You're just going to stretch so you can stretch. We got through the academic protocols of Hanakeaka, and we're going to enjoy the rest of the week and have so much fun with each other. And just look to either side of yourself. And if you say, see someone just say aloha, or hello, or ola, or jamba, or whatever. And then look to the other side and say the same. Say hi because you might not see this person later, or you might be in a scene with them. Who knows? Okay, so we can sit down now. Thank you. All right. Okay, so we're going to start with Christopher K. Morgan. We just met like two minutes ago. So we're going to have, this is just some notes I have. In May 2000 of last year, he was named our Executive Director of Dance Place. Yes, a 37-year-old institution in Washington, D.C. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But now we're going to get to the nitty gritties. So I'd like to ask my panelists before we engage them just so we know a little history about them. And this is just about food. Food always connects us in some way. We all have them. We all share that. Christopher's favorite type of food to eat is, okay, take a wild guess, it's a starch. Rice. Rice. So the youngest of eight children in his family, his responsibility was to cook the rice every night. And that is a very big responsibility as we know, because everyone has to eat rice with their meal. And if you're not eating a meal, you're eating rice. So a favorite smell of his is pikkake. His mom grew it in California for them as children. So that smell of pikkake, if you know what that smell is, it's a beautiful rich smell. And that's a little bit about Christopher. We're going to move off to Moses Goods, Aloha Moses backwards. His favorite type of food was his dad's barbecue. Only his sister can make that barbecue now. Yeah, make her do all the work. Yes. So bring your rice and have your sister bring the barbecue. But you're perpetuating theater and the stories. His favorite drink or Inu is dirty gin martini, a beef eater gin. Where did he get to ask you what your favorite drink was? I like them all. It just depends on the day and the time. So wet always. Wet and moist always. Moses' favorites or a smell that takes him back is small engine exhaust. So his dad would, it would remind him of his dad because every summer he would work with him on cars and mechanics and stuff like that lawnmowers and stuff. So that smell of small engine exhaust. Moses studied at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He's currently an independent theater artist, actor and playwright. Thank you, Moses. Welcome. And next we move on to Kumu Haleopua Baker. And her favorite food is luau or just the taro leaf. It's just the leaf of the taro. You know what the taro leaf is and kulolo. It's a native Hawaiian dish. It's not my favorite dish, but that thing always made me itchy because I always had to prepare that and make it itchy when you got to make that. Okay. My pigeon is coming out, so it's okay. Her favorite drink or Inu is vai or water. And when she's feeling colonized and earl grey tea. That's her favorite drinks. Her favorite smell is the smell of coconut. It reminds her of her childhood making haupia which is another Hawaiian sweet delicacy with her grandmother. I like haupia. You don't get too itchy making that one. She is an associate professor and director of Hawaiian theater and playwriting at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Thank you, Kumu. So just a little history of myself just so you know I will always be a student of Kumu Haleopua Baker. I graduated with a master's degree in Asian theater. Call my everyone on this side. But my foundation was theater dance. My teacher always said that dance is the number one theater before any other theater. And I feel that's true for a lot of Asian theater because dance is the way that we trans scribe our stories. Korean hula, Jingju, Chinese opera. It was always theater of the dance. Our friends that came to Hawaii a couple years ago. They shared their movement with us. And so I always believe dance is my foundation for theater as it is for all of us in some art form. And I am currently in the Continental U.S. exploring. I had no idea about this conference existing. So it's an honor privilege to be here and be welcomed into your play space. Thank you so much. It brings me back to why I miss theater so much. And I am an example of myself which is Coco Chandelier who still performs in the Continental U.S. because she makes more money than she does in traditional theater. So come to my shameless promotion show tonight which is actually a fundraiser for Kata. We like to offer our mahalos and thanks to Kata and the board and everyone for inviting us. Elani especially that reached out a few months ago and I was like Kata what is that? Never heard of it. So thank you so much everyone for being here and sharing the stories last night. Beautiful. So engaging. So much connectivity. So much love. So much drama. Thank you for kicking off the festival for us. And is that my friend Munchkin? You look like my friend. And we also have another university student alumni here from Hawaii. So nice to see you. Yeah. Okay. So we are going to open up the panel. So let's talk. Okay. What you guys like to talk about? Now we're just going to talk. Okay. So you folks want to share something that you're like currently that's in your field. What you're doing like right now. Like right here and right now. Who would like to begin? Christopher Mahalo. Well I feel very honored to be able to share my work during this conference with all of you. Tomorrow night and Thursday you'll see this work that in some ways I'm surprised I'm still doing. It premiered in 2016. It had its foundations with research and dreams that I were given by my ancestors in 2009. And so it's been a really long journey with this work Pohaku. So that's what I'm sharing here right now. I'm very grateful as you already identified to stand on the shoulders of my ancestors. And my teacher is here with me. Kelsey. Elsie. Haleku. Oh my gosh. I think I'm getting nervous. Yeah. Elsie Kalehulukea Ryder and our teacher John Kaimikawa my late cousin. So it's a real real pleasure to be here amongst all of you amazing people. Something that I've been working on in my research you'll see that work tomorrow. So I won't talk too much about that or Thursday. But I've been really trying to think about next steps. What is the next big project for me. And I'm very curious about the intersection between appropriation and appropriate sharing. Because I don't want my culture to live in isolation. And I grew up away from my culture. I grew up on the continent in Southern California. Grew up with a strong presence of Hawaii, Hawaiian culture in my life through my family. Not as strong as I would have liked actually. But it was always there. And so now as I've integrated that into my work which has mostly been in Western influenced modern dance. I'm really curious about how to find the ways especially in places that are far from my homeland. To appropriately share and get people involved and invested in feeling that heart connection that I think so many people are attracted to in our beautiful beautiful cultures. But in a way that is still respectful and honoring of that culture and has the right sense of intention behind it. And it's a really slippery slope as you all know very very well. But that's something that I'm trying to figure out. So the next work that I've started to develop is called native intelligence, innate intelligence. And looking at the subtle difference between those two words native and innate. And where they overlap and reside within us both universally. And then uniquely as indigenous peoples. And it's just more questions that I keep uncovering and all of that. So that's sort of what I'm digging into lately. Dig away, dig away. Uncover the earth. Moses. I guess what I'm working on right now. I'm always working on about three or four different projects. But one of the big ones I'm working on is entitled Paniolo. And Paniolo will tell the story of the Hawaiian cowboys. Which many people have no idea existed. But before there were the cowboys of the west. And that we, you know, we see in the westerns there were these group of amazing individuals called the vaqueros. And they came to Hawaii to teach Hawaiians how to how to rope wild cattle that were introduced a number of years before. And so before those western cowboys that we all know of, there were Mexican cowboys and Hawaiian cowboys before all of that. And that's a piece that I'm going to tell. In telling of that story, you have to tell of this particular event where several Native Hawaiian men, several Kanakamali, went to Wyoming to a rodeo. And we're basically laughed at. This is way back in the 1800s and ended up winning first place in one of the biggest rodeos that happened at that time. Kicked everybody's asses. Okay. Now, I guess the reason why I gravitate to stories like this, the one that I'm telling as well as the story of Dukahanamoku, which is one men show that I am touring is I have to go a little bit, take it back a little bit and talk a little bit about me, about all this right here. This, this weird shaded brown guy that you're looking at, I went to the University of Hawaii. I guess I'm a little too old because I was there before Kumu Haili started with the amazing work that she's doing there. I entered, okay, let's take it back a little bit even before that way back to my mom's time. My mother is pure Hawaiian. She, her grandfather, her father, my grandfather was born in 1886. So around that time when all that stuff was happening where our language was not allowed, it was illegal. So my mother grew up in a place called Hana, which is a very remote place where there was a lot of Native Hawaiians, a full-blooded Native Hawaiian still. And her first language was Hawaiian, but she was forbade at a very young age to speak that language. So if you talk to my mother today, she's this beautiful, statuesque Hawaiian woman that can barely speak a word of the language. So she grew up without the language even though that was her first language. Fast forward to when she became a young woman, met this handsome guy from Virginia, got married in and lived, raised myself and my four sisters in Washington, DC, moved to Hawaii when I was three. And so we were a family that although we were Native Hawaiian, we didn't have a strong connection with the language or the culture. And that's how I grew up. Fast forward to UH. I discovered two things at UH, theater and Hawaiian language. That's about the first taste of Hawaiian language I had really was at the University of Hawaii. And I excelled in theater. And then I was done with the theater program and I was out in the world. I'm like, oh, great, what now for this weird, shaded brown guy that is pretty good in theater and wants to have a career in acting. What is there for me? There's nothing. There's wonderful roles I could go out for in Shakespeare and all of this and that. And I love doing those things, but really there's nothing that is there for me, for a person who is exploring his identity as this brown person that wants to connect with the language, wants to connect with culture. So I had to create my own stuff. And so I looked for these these people and we have some amazing heroes in our own stories. Like Kumuhari says, we have our own stories that we can tell that we want to tell them. So that's why I focus on these heroes of these these native Hawaiian heroes, first of all for myself and also so we can showcase to the next generation that you have these people that we can look you can look to for inspiration, not some other story that you see wherever in the theater on in the movies and whatnot. So and along in a big nutshell, that's kind of where I am, what I do and how I'm trying to move forward. Thank you, Moses. And then next we have Kumuhari before we move on, we just recognize we do have one of our other homeowners from UH University of Hawaii, Manoa, Ilong is here and actually he's doing a play reading tomorrow. Yes, so for every student of Kumuhari too. So Aloha, it's nice to see you. So I feel like I just got done with a bunch of things. I had a talk today. No. And honestly, there's a bunch of projects that just wrapped up not not to bring the mouse into the house. Yeah. But we just finished the Moana production in Olalo, Hawaii. So just got done directing that which featured Kaipulao Makaniolono as Maui, just to tag that on, I guess. And then we won't go into details about working with the mouse, but so there's that I and I did this crazy thing. I went back to school. It's crazy. So at you know, at 40, yeah, I decided to go back and do a doctorate. So I am finishing that up right now, my doctoral thesis, which documents Hanakeaka. And that hopefully will conclude in February. Hopefully I'll be, you know, Dean Doctor, I don't know, like Dumbledore for something, whatever you know, whatever, however that works. So it was weird after getting my tenure at the University of Hawaii at Mando, I said, I wouldn't mind maybe being a doctor. There was a lot of, you know, colleagues in my department who tried to really divide those of us with MFA's and PhD's. And I thought to myself, I can do that. Yeah, I can be a practitioner and be real and apply the knowledge. And I can also go ahead and write the scholarly work and be this academic. So another motivator behind that was the fact that there is nothing really written on, except for in the newspapers. There's no real critical analysis about the work that our kupuna did. So that, that kind of drove me. And then also the need for a text for the courses, the courses that I created that I'm teaching. So also often I'm like giving them handouts of talks I've done or whatever. And I said, Hey, would be nice to have a book. So that that is something that's in the works as well. And then I have syllabi to create for next week, because we start the semester. So there's those kinds of things. Also supporting my, the next MFA in Hawaiian Theater, Akea Kahikina, his production should come up in 2020. And in 2019, fall of 2019, we have our next main stage production. So like Laie Kauai, this will be the second one. And just one little note about Laie Kauai, that was that production was the first time anything Hawaiian ever took place, ever transpired on that stage of Kennedy Theater. And like, yeah, like Moses mentioned, because we're students that came out of this program, yeah, came out of the the program at Kennedy Theater, there was never a role for us, never a role for us. So that's also important for us to be writing our stories so that, you know, the next generation or our colleagues, our momma have something to audition for. Yeah. And we're not just put in the ensemble, or we're not constantly an understudy for a white role. Yeah. Because I did the whole Howley thing. Yeah, I did the Shakespeare thing, because that was a thing to do. And it was always disconnected. Yeah. But you know, that was a training. So you come through the program, you do that training, you can do UNESCO, you can do Sheridan, you can do all this white stuff, yeah, the Howley stuff. But then there's still something empty here. And so like a gathering like this, I'm preaching to the choir. But you know, that's what it's about. And that's been the motivation. So yeah, that's kind of what's going on. I'm writing the next production for Main Stage and can't release any information yet about the theme, because there's been all these different things coming. And I feel like our kupuna, they're really interesting. Our ancestors, they're so interesting. They leave crumbs on a bread trail. Yeah. And you follow those crumbs. And then sometimes in a dream, something comes. And then you go, oh, that's why that piece of bagel was there. Yeah. You know, and then we're able to thread it together like a lay. And when that threading comes together, we have our work. So yeah, mahalo, mahalo, mahalo. Mahalo, cool. The next question I have for you folks is what is most important to you in your work? What is the takeaway for either yourself or for the audience? Something that's important to me is I think of three things. One is inspired by something you just said, which is about a lack of critical discourse, informed critical discourse. And it's important to me that because I grew up on the continent and I live on the continent and I have an opportunity to share some stories and some insight into things Hawaiian with audiences that may not necessarily have the opportunity to be exposed to those things and to learn about something different or new to share that. But then it's very challenging when we premiered Pohoku in Washington DC in March of 2016, the Washington Post review of it said a hip shaking a vocation of Hawaii's last queen. And I was like, really, you had to talk about the hips of all the things. And then a whole paragraph was dedicated to how the writer, after having seen three things about our last queen, still could not pronounce her name. They dedicated a paragraph, not even talking about the work yet. And it was so offensive, as you know, as you know. So I think how to foster critical discourse that's informed, or just hopefully have people engaged in mindful conversation if they aren't informed. So that's something more with my directors had at dance place and as someone who has an opportunity to create situations for others that I'm really interested in fostering. But from my own work, you know, that work was very challenging to make because I think I was commissioned by my ancestors to make something that told a story to people who didn't know our story. However, it's also been viewed by Hawaiians a lot, it's performed, been performed on three of the islands in five different venues over the past couple years. And so we had to create something that was still hopefully meaningful and then provided a connection to Kanaka Maoli and still then reach people that didn't know anything about our people and our history. So I hope that an audience can leave with an opportunity to see themselves reflected, whether they are Hawaiian or not. And then for myself, the biggest journey, you know, when I first met Moses, it was on the research for this. Back then he was working at the Bishop Museum still. He gave me and some of my collaborators from the continent a beautiful tour of the museum. And then we sat in his office with one of the musicians that you'll see in here on Wednesday and Thursday. And he shared all these Hawaiian instruments that were hidden in this office with us. It was really beautiful and meaningful, especially when I think back now I've known you all these years in different ways. But I met so much resistance, not from him, but from other people in the early stages of the research of this work, other Hawaiians who were skeptical of my intentions. Understandably so, given all that's happened to us as a people. Very understandably so. However, how to toe the line between what I am reflecting of my people and then maybe providing my slightly different insight. So with that, what I have to take away from myself is making sure that I'm being honest. And sometimes that might mean that I meet with some disapproval from all kinds of different people. But if I know if I've done my due diligence and I can sit with it in my own heart, then that's okay. And that was really hard to get to, right, Kumu? We had to work and sweat and cry a lot over all of this. But then we got to that place. And that's what's important for me in leaving the work for myself. I think that what I hope to do with the work that I create, several things, I hope that it educates. And I think that's needed now more than ever. We had an amazing march just yesterday on the streets of Chicago about the aloha poke thing. If you don't know what that is, please Google it because there's another rally tomorrow. We could use your support in that. But it all stems around someone just not being educated on what it is that we do. So I hope that the work that I create educates, and if you're not like Christopher said, if you don't know, then find out. Go do the research or engage in conversation with the artist if you're able to. Because that's when our work really has the impact that we want. And also the work that I create, I hope that it inspires people to continue to explore their identity because that's what I'm still doing and I'm creating my work. And people that are familiar with the stories that I put on stage, I hope that we're able to engage in conversations about the work that I do and question each other. Like last night, if you saw one of the pieces that I wrote, we took one of our akua, one of our deities, the Hinau, who's called the Goddess of the Moon, and I made her into a rock star. And I hope that other Hawaiians feel comfortable enough to come to me and talk about, okay, why did you do that? Why do you tell that story the way that you told it? Because in Hawaii, the moʻolel that we have, there are, we have eight different islands and we have many different many different moʻu on the different islands. And so there are many different ways to, there are many different versions of one story. And what I have to tell myself when I'm creating these pieces is that you're going to piss somebody off because somebody from Molokai knows a different version of the story. And you're going to tell it in a way you can't please everyone. And I think that's okay. But I think what needs to happen is we all need to come together and talk with each other and have this conversation between each other. We have on stage right here three Hawaiians that we're all involved in performance and theater and dance, but we we're in different places, I think. And I think it's important for us to have, continue to have these conversations. And I hope that the work that I create sparks and, you know, just a conversation between, between both us as native Hawaiians and those, those viewing the work that that that I put on stage. That's all I have to say. This one long enough, yeah. Okay. I kind of want to say diddle, yeah, to keep it short, diddle. Absolutely educate, entertain, because I think part in entertainment we can educate and we don't have to knock people over the head. Yeah. And actually when someone feels elevated and enlightened in the form of entertainment, they actually take away more. If you're enjoying it, you take away more. You like the class, you're going to learn so much more about it, right? Same thing with a performance. So that the awareness that we actually exist, that's kind of a big one. Actually, Olalo Hawaii exists. Yeah. Kanaka Maui exists. So that's one thing putting us on the map. And definitely the language. That's also one of the primary goals of the work that we do. But inspiring our fellow Kanaka and our fellow sisters and brothers of other nations, yeah, of other indigenous backgrounds. That's, that's core to the work that we do. Because at some, at some point, we're all able to collectively plug in, we're collectively, we plug in to this understanding of what is porno, yeah, what is righteous or right for our people. Yeah. Our stories being told. And so we share that as a, as theater artists, as indigenous peoples. And I think to continue to foster that is also one of the goals of the work. And I just, I just want to look back this way and say, I would love to do a show with the three of you. I would love to create this would be awesome. A dream team of sorts. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I had to do that. I'm getting all excited sitting over here. All right. So we just have a few more minutes left. So if you could leave a message for the entire conference, just one sentence or, or if you had one dream, like you had a million dollars, what would those three things that you could do with that to promote this, this conference, this work that we do. And just, yeah. Can the next one be in Hawaii? Yeah. And I say that I say that for, for, for partly a selfish reason is that, you know, we're with the Hawaiian theater, what we're doing as Hawaiians is it's pretty new. And I would love to just get a few more resources in to help us build what it is that we're already building. So if we have this, the next one in Hawaii, I think it'll be mutual beneficial, usually beneficial to all of us. So Kata, thank you. We'll start the fundraising tonight at the drag bingo. It might not be a round trip ticket, but you can at least get there. I think you said something about, I'm so curious about how the stakes are so much higher for all of us as marginalized people, as immigrant communities, as part of diasporas, as anything other than the default of whiteness. You can have one really good hit show. And then everyone looks at the second one with a exponentially more critical eye. Yeah. I mean, everyone's looking for the second slump, right, for anybody, but it's just exponentially more critical. So if I had infinite resources, it would be to create the space where we can have artistic failure, because that's so important to grow as artists. Yeah, that's what I would wish for us, the space to get in the mud and get dirty, because that's where growth happens. I like to get dirty. At drag bingo. I was thinking the loy, but yeah, the taro patch, if we host this in Hawaii, we can have a day trip. But the same thing came to my mind when I was delivering this this morning was, why doesn't the University of Hawaii at Manoa host something like this? That was rolling in my mind. So thank you for bringing that up. Million dollars, we can all go. Yeah. Yeah. No, you said a million because a million can't build a theater today, which is unfortunate. But it can definitely support networking. It can definitely support people having the opportunity to be in a space. And you know, we are so used to just being fed. Yeah, which is main thing. This food will go will perform. We do it for Aloha when it, you know, a dream though, a dream is that we have professional theater in Hawaii. That has been a dream of mine. And currently I'm collaborating with one of my former Halmana students to get a television series off in Olalo, Hawaii. But I want, I want to see the opportunity. So when people come through our programs or people decide I want to be an actor, I want to be a director, I want to be a playwright. They can stay home. Moses brought this up about, you know, wanting to do theater and not having those opportunities at home. So I hope in some way that we can build a foundation for that, that we can build professional theater. And, you know, maybe not adhere to the Screen Actors Guild and make our own union. Yeah, why can't we have our own union? I think we can. Yeah, where we create the paradigm and we create the scale and all of all of those questions, all of those logistics in having a union. So those are bigger visions, bigger ideas. Yeah, but Mahalo again, Mahalo for inviting us to be at the table, to have this opportunity to discuss with you and to share with you. It means a lot. It really means a lot to be here. So I'm sure I'm speaking for all of us who made the journey over Nakai Evalu, yeah, our eight Cs. Mahalo. So we are going to finish up with Al Pao here. Thank you everyone on the panel for sharing your Mo Olalo, your stories, your history, the love for theater and to dance. And to everyone, we look forward to working with you this entire weekend. If you want to meet them later and ask them more pressing questions, please poke them, not pocky them, poke them for questions, and not the other kind of poke which we'll do later tonight after the drag bingo, poking. So to cut to thank you and to everyone and to our panelists, Mahalo. Hi everyone. Thank you so much again to Coco Chandelier, Christopher Moses and Tammy. Thank you. One more round of applause please. It's been already a great opening last night in today, this plenary. I am with Joan Osato. We are the co-chair of the steering committee. We finish each other's sentences now. We want to just offer you a few announcements as we go into the next session. You will see you have the newspaper that gives you the program for today, but we also encourage you to keep looking on the website at the schedule because as we do, as people of color and because the paradigms we're in, we are responsive in our revolutionary acts. So today we adjusted the plenary because we wanted to make sure we were inclusive and we were learning that we had beautiful native and indigenous guests and locals here that could come together and open our plenary in the most beautiful way. So we thank you for that flexibility and that's called decolonizing the space. So thank you. We'll be doing that throughout. So that means today our first breakout session will start at 11.15 and go to 12.45. And then you'll have a few minutes break and the second breakout session will start at 1 o'clock and go till 2.30. And I understand that the refreshments are still out in the lobby, so grab and go please. And then we have a very special session today with Kumu Viki Holt Takamine, who is in from Hawaii. And we went to a community gathering where she taught us the Hawaiian chants for the political actions. So at 2.30 today on the fifth floor, in room 549, she will be there again to teach us those chants, to lead us. So that tomorrow we have another special opportunity, an important opportunity, to participate in the political action. So we will once again shift the schedule tomorrow and the breakout sessions, the second breakout session will start later at 1.30. And I'll give this information to our front desk. You can keep referring and we'll see if we can get it on the website too. That will help you to keep referring to schedule as we get it current. So that political action tomorrow on Wednesday will happen from 1.30 to 2.30, no I'm sorry, 12.30 to 1.30, right down the street here at Aloha Poke Company. It's a peaceful rally led by our local Native Hawaiians. So we wanted to give us the opportunity to participate in that revolutionary act. Right, so again I'll make sure we have the schedule available to you. With that I want to share the microphone with Jono Sato. Thank you. Thank you everyone. So one thing is that I just wanted to do a few housekeeping notes and let you know that please pull up your schedules like on your smartphones and everything because all the room numbers, everything is on there in terms of the sessions that you want to attend today. And then just to go into the afternoon acquittal the performance will be at Victory Gardens at 3.30, 8 p.m. we have embedded over at Victory Gardens right down the street. And then at 9.30 of course with the lovely Coco Chandelier we have Drake Bingo. And that's going to finish off our night of the official part. Yes, okay. All right. Thank you. Oh, Drake Bingo is literally almost next door to Victory Gardens at Fiesta, Mexicana. So yay, just roll out riding. Yeah, so thank you for being a part of this plenary session. And yeah. Go out and do it. Do it. Make the revolution happen as you see fit. Thank you so much. Oh yes, participants who are with us today could you please stay for a photo. We want to get a group photo with you. Thank you so much everybody. Thank you to our breakout session leaders who've been flexible to roll with our schedule changes. Have great sessions everybody. We'll see you throughout the day and the evening.