 Hi, welcome to Think Tech. We're raising public awareness on technology, energy, diversity, and globalization. This show is center stage. I'm your host Donna Blanchard, proud managing director of Kumukuhua Theater. And we are coming to you live from Pioneer Plaza in the heart of downtown Honolulu, very near Kumukuhua Theater. I am really excited to tell you that today my guest is Jessica Jacobs. She's the theater manager of Kennedy Theater here at the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus. Welcome, Jessica, without further ado. Thank you. You've got all kinds of other stuff in your resume that I'd like to talk about, but we'll just start there. What's going on at Kennedy Theater? What's going on right now? Yeah, let's just dive in. What have you got? Right now we're preparing for next season, which I think about as Kennedy Theater out of the box. The box being the four walls of Kennedy Theater. We're looking at getting some deferred maintenance taken care of during the next school year. That's some electrical upgrades, some soundproofing, a major wish list that's been out there forever for a building that is many years old now. It's time for a little internal facelift. But it's giving us the opportunity to look outside of our facility itself for unusual or different performance spaces. For example, Antigone, which is our first show of the season. It's our Theater for Young Audiences offering, directed by Mark Branner. It's literally going to be just outside the walls of Kennedy Theater in the beautiful lawn with the trees and the shaded area. It's a 45-minute post-apocalyptic, fast and furious Antigone that we're hoping will appeal to anybody from middle school on up. So that outdoor setting, very traditional for Greek theater, but modern day and post-modern day. It's those kind of opportunities we're looking for. That is really cool. Well, we were just talking about how necessity is the mother of invention, innovation. I love the idea of being forced to have Greek theater outdoors. You're taking a risk in Manoa, man. It rains a lot there. I know. I'm trying to be very clear with the director that it's a rain or shine show, but we have our glorious huge lower lanai that we can shift around the corner onto the lower lanai that has doorways and archways and a protected space big enough for many classrooms of students or a generous audience. I might suggest something to sit on like a pillow or something because it is a cement slab. You know, we have a backup plan in place. That's cool. And wouldn't the elements kind of add something to something like Antigone that's so emotionally charged and she's under so much stress? That get some wind, get some slight dewy rain, no major thunderstorms or flood. I was here for the flood in Manoa. Yeah, we don't want that. Now I did a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar Outside and we got this horrific downpour during the crucifixion scene. It was spot on. It was spot on. You never know when nature is going to want to give in. I hope it wasn't a mic'd show. Did you have body mics? The people who had body mics had to run and get rid of those. Yeah. But we kept going. We kept singing because it was perfect, right? I did a lot of contracting with Fairbanks Shakespeare which is a rain or shine theatre company in Fairbanks, Alaska. So that's land of the 24 hour sun, you know, in 24 hour dark and all extremes and they, it's absolutely beautiful when they are out there dripping wet, shouting Shakespeare lines at each other, sword fighting, glistening, spraying, you know. So there's opportunities there. Yeah. Let me just, I want to hear about the rest of your season but let me ask, did you know about the possibility of not being in the building when the season was decided upon? All, we were talking about it all year last year. It wasn't in the realm, it wasn't a real possibility until about January because that's when the people who evaluate what the project's going to look like formalize it and then send it out to bid. But at that point you know you're on the road because they're asking real contractors for real estimates of what it's going to cost. You know, we're awaiting the final signatures for the actual start of work but that was originally anticipated to be July and it's been, it has been bumped to possibly up to three months after July. So now we're looking at maybe a September first start date for a seventh month project. We're looking at rehoming our shows for most of the season but we have tentative plans in place or plans in place depending on the show. Our second show of the season is A House Divided which is an immersive theater piece set in a gala and what better place than our Upper Linnae for a gala because other groups try to use it for their gala. So dressing that up for this formal event which involves, I don't want to give it all away but it's an exploration of some political themes but putting it in a framework that we in Hawaii care about. So some of the things that we care about and being immersed in a theatrical production that might feel real where someone with a lone wolf kind of extremist personality is amongst the other people who passionately care and how do you manage that person from the inside, from the outside as a spectator. So I think that would be a really unique experience and very contemporary with what's happening in other places in the world but relevant to us because it's in the setting of the issues that we care about here. Interesting, that sounds awesome. I don't know how the wind and the rain will fit into that one quite so much but UH Foundation, lots of different groups use our Upper Linnae for formal receptions and they have found a way. What's the name of that show again? A House Divided. House Divided. And that's in what time of year? That is in October. October. And it's directed by MFA candidate Kevin C.K. Berg who's actually directing Next to Normal for Shamanad's Collegiate Summer Theatre Festival right now. So that is his thesis. What an awesome experience for him to get to be that flexible with the space that he's doing. I went to high school in the theater that had theater in the round, exclusively. Nice. And yeah, it just gives you something. Act with your back. And you have to get into an immersive experience like that. Yeah, that's cool for your students, for the director. Okay, then what? Then moving on through the season, well we have Late Night Theatre which is a student run theater group that is housed by our department. So they vote for two different productions per semester usually. Their first production will be a 24 hour play festival. You're probably familiar with those where the clock starts and 24 hours later there's a written play with actors that have learned their lines you hope and production. So that will, the date hasn't been exactly set for that. Okay. But that will be in and amongst the early fall semester shows. And their second show will be a devised show which is, you know, a type of theater that is taking over the nation, at least in collegiate theater. Where you have, in our case, it's Nathaniel Neyemi and Aubrey Watkins are leading the devising of this piece called The Thin Man on the Ladder. And Nathaniel actually won the national award for directing from the Kennedy Center's American Collegiate Theater Festival this year. So he was number one recognized in our program. So we'll take advantage of that. And he and Aubrey will be creating that piece together with their cast. It's the nature of the devised piece. So those are part of our Late Night series which it's all student run, student chosen, student costumed, lit, every function. They're fairly autonomous in that and it's later at night. So our students are attracted to the Late Night theater hour and kind of that extra edgy experimental mood, I guess. That's cool. And they're also, are they going to also be able to decide where their shows are then? Yes. That's cool. That's a great reason. But there's so many theatrically designed classrooms on campus that I've been, I go to a room for a meeting or a class and I covet it because it's got a sound system and it's got great walls to project on. And sometimes ramps like the Hanamichi, we end up building. So the art building has great rooms. There's the campus center ballroom. There's little mini theaters around. And then there's these outdoor spaces. I've been outside of Kumukuhua theater and looked at your little green space there and I'm thinking of 12 different shows that would be so much fun. We're going to be using that this year. Excellent. Also we have our Dance and Technology concert coming in November. That is our main stage dance concert and it'll be directed by Amy Schiffner and Cara Miller. And Cara's specialty is dance plus technology. So that we're negotiating with a warehouse in the Kakaako area with our backup being the campus center ballroom. But thinking of taking this innovative work and putting it in an unusual space to add physically to the out of the boxness that's going on and creating surfaces that you can project on that are interactive with the dancers and the audience may be moving through spaces to experience that. The dance concert has all sorts of flavors. There's hula and Balinese and modern and jazz and you name it. They're all kind of woven into this theme of dance plus technology and there also they'll be showing as part of this concert film that is being created with the Academy for creative media on campus. I believe it will be its debut performance. I can't promise that. But Cara has set up some relationships between our university and other entities in other countries where they have dance happening kind of across the Internet together in coordination. Kind of the live streaming thing that is catching on everywhere. So I expect a lot of surprises in that and some interesting textures and mood and movement and relationships between space and people. So that's pretty cool. I have to say I've always enjoyed all of the shows that I've seen at Kennedy and you do. While we're talking Zuri is showing us some pictures of your really lavish productions and you have done an amazing job with. I always think of you know when I was in school someone said to us yeah enjoy the costumes and the sets here because you're all getting spoiled and then you go to Chicago and you do a show in a garage. So yes your students have an opportunity to be wonderfully spoiled. But now there's going to be they and the audiences are going to get to be spoiled in a different way and have to discover different things you know when you're dancing not on a stage. Yeah as a as a theater producer administrator I think this is a fantastic experience for our directors our designers and our performers to experience going into a space and putting up a show like a touring show does. You know any of these anyone who is using a commercial theater has experienced going in on a Sunday tacking on Monday dress Tuesday dress Wednesday open Thursday run and you load out Sunday night. I love that this is preparing them. For what they may experience in the real world. Oh yeah it's you know wonderful experience for them. Sometimes you're coming in on Friday and you're doing a show Friday night and then you're washing your costume in the sink. In your room. I'm just saying that's what I've been there but yeah I've been there. Okay let's we'll come back and finish up your season in just a moment we're going to take a break really quick. Please stay with us if you would like to ask Jessica any questions as we are talking you may do so if you tweet at think tech H I will see you in about a minute. Aloha it's summertime in Honolulu Hawaii my name is Stephen Phillip Katz I'm your host for shrink wrap Hawaii we're on every Tuesday at three o'clock and we talk about mental health and general health. Join us thank you. Aloha I'm Chantel Seville host of the Savvy Chick show on think tech Hawaii. This show is for you it's all about inspiring and empowering girls of the future to do what they love get out there and be healthy fit and confident. If you're up for that 11 a.m. every Wednesday I'll see you there. Aloha Michael University of Hawaii football team under Rolovich is going to kick butt this season. In case you didn't understand me University of Hawaii football team is going to kick butt under Rolovich this season. So be sure to follow us on think tech Hawaii and Hibachi top I'll be at every game and remember Aloha. Hi we're back at center stage on the think tech Hawaii digital network. I'm Donna Blanchard your host and proud managing director of Kumakuhua theater and we're coming to you from Pioneer Plaza in the heart of downtown Honolulu very near Kumakuhua theater. We're talking with the Kennedy theater manager Jessica Jacob and we're right in the middle of your season. So to keep us on the edge of our seats any longer. What comes next we return from Christmas for 12th night. This is directed by Paul Mitri who recently directed Sunday in the park and before that blood spirit and many many others. He is a Shakespeare specialist which is fantastic and this production we expect. We don't have the signature but we expect it to be in the campus center ballroom which is perfect because he's setting 12th night in kind of as he puts it 12th night meets strictly ballroom. So Foxtrot and Tango and Big Band and Glitz and Shine and Sequins. So once again taking advantage of the true purpose of a space and using it for what it is instead of creating one on stage and then the audience is in that ballroom with them for this production. So that's in late January early February and then we have a very unique piece called smile your under surveillance that Marcus Vessendorf is putting together. It's a devised piece as well and it is featuring the experience of the whistleblower Edward Snowden. So it's kind of exploring what he experienced in a very innovative fashion. Marcus seems to specialize in the surveillance state and kind of political theater and that kind of thing. So I think that it'll be a very interesting room to be in during that production. Oh cool. Yeah I know I have my own image of what it's going to look like but I have no idea what it's really going to look like. But I think it will be memorable for sure. Okay it sounds interesting. I'm thinking like Pokemon Go. Well now that's part of our culture. Bam! So we are seriously under surveillance. Yeah everybody is. But we're here now. Yeah. Are you doing it anyway? No not yet. Not yet. I'm holding out. I've delayed gratification you know. It's all I can do to not check and see if there isn't one right here in the studio. Right here. Yes and then we end our main stage season with power and folly. A Japanese satire for the 21st century. It's a Kyogen style piece which is that medieval Japanese samurai nobility level theater. That was produced. They do a no play. The very meditative serene et cetera. No play. Dreamlike. And then a kyogen. And then a no. And then a kyogen. When they do a cycle of those plays. This is a kyogen. Kyogen. Kyogen. Kyogen. So their shorter plays. Comedic in nature. And the director Dr. Julietsi who's our Japanese theater specialist is selecting a suite of these plays that will cover everything from traditional Japanese theater to crossover theater to a Hawaiian, a Hawaii island based theater, satirizing the monorail experience. Oh my goodness. So we can look forward to a playful teasing or more about some of the issues that face us today on the island. And not just that, but other things that hopefully will elicit a chuckle from the audience when they're addressed. Yeah. Well, and so that definitely sounds like theater you're not going to get anywhere else. Absolutely not. I love it. Absolutely not. And all of these offerings are, as I was saying, outside of the box, but intellectually, physically, geographically, they're all over the place. They are all over the place. Okay, so the program that, forgive my ignorance here. Every year at the school, there is a show that I believe the students are immersed in in classes for up to a year to prepare for those. Yes. Like the... Like the Wang Listric this year, or Chinese Jinju, or Kabuki. Yes. Yeah, that is the Kyogen this year is our Asian theater offering. Yeah. And the master teachers fly in from Japan and work one-on-one or one-on-three depending on the scene with the current students. And I actually, I know some of these teachers because I flew over to Kyoto and did their program a couple of times in Japan. And it's a once in a lifetime, other than if you go, a once in a lifetime experience to have the Arnold Schwarzenegger of Japan coming in and teaching you one-on-one, or maybe the De Nero, through a translator or not, and shadowing and finding the physical movements with them. And Kyogen is so much about finding the correct kind of... Oh, what do you call it? Roller coaster of vocal quality. Oh, yeah. Because it's a very big vocal piece. So... Those are so exciting to see. Yeah. The program is exciting. It's, for me, thrilling to know that we offer that program here. I mean, I went to a wonderful school. It was ranked very high in the nation for undergraduate acting training at the time. We didn't have that sort of immersion and that sort of opportunity to have a year of study to get ready to do a Beijing opera. Yeah. This is the place. When I went to graduate school here, it was the only, I think, post-baccalaureate program in Asian theater in the world for a master PhD level. I don't know if that's still true, but it's certainly the most established and respected. So I think our position in the Pacific is an absolutely critical and wonderful way to have that merging of East and West and coming together to create amazing pieces of art. And the school's taking advantage of it. Mm-hmm. That's cool. So just really quickly, if people want to learn about the season or get a subscription right away, where should they go? They can go to our website, which is manoa.hawaii.edu. Live on stage. All one word. Live on stage. Live on stage. It's up to you. And navigating within there, you can find out about schools, school shows, about public shows, about subscriptions. Our subscription discount is up to 35 percent if you order before September 2. So that certainly helps out. Nice. And if you are able to come along with us wherever we go in our locations, you can subscribe today. So I hope that, you know, you have a really good subscription base, subscriber base. And I have no doubt that those people are going to come along with you truly. And I would hope that there are new people are going to say, I want to get on board with that. That's new and different. And as I said, in Chicago, you go see shows in garages. And a friend of mine went to the New Yorker conference and saw shows in, like, a hallway. And you're, you know, moving around the bowels of a building, watching little vignettes here and there. And that's, you know, every now and then you want to sit down and watch the Nutcracker. But then, for the rest of the year, let's get out and do something completely different that you will never experience again. So I hope it helps your subscription sales. Me too. When you put together the budget for the year, did you know, I don't know when your annual budget is, but, you know, did you know that you were going to have to be this mobile out of the box? Yeah. We are, we're aware of that. There's, you know, our, our, we are pretty much a self-sustaining program in some ways, our ticket revenue pays for our sets. And we get support from the student fee board. Thank you, student fee board. The Asian theater program gets support from the chancellor. And our directors are very good about going out and finding grants. However, within that, you know, the grants, the support plus our ticket sales, that's how we pay for our season. So there's no actual re-homing budget that's coming from anywhere else. So if any of these venues who so far have negotiated wonderfully with us, the cost of that will need to come from ticket sales or other support that we're getting. There's no kind of re-homing budget. Yeah. Got you. Built into the system. Okay. Yeah. Well, if you need a, our little grassy area. Don't say that. I have a lot of ideas. Let me know. That's cool. So let's talk about you just a little bit. Okay. And I'm, I'm sorry for your, your season is so exciting. So you came to us directly from Alaska? Yeah. Alaska Children's Theater? Alaska Theater of Youth. Okay. Yeah. How did you end up there? Well, I actually went up to Alaska for the summer in 1994. Oops. Like many people, you go up for the summer and 20 years go by. I actually, I moved out of Alaska three times and ended up back there, including coming here for graduate school from 03 to 06 saying anywhere but Alaska, boom, back in Alaska. But they have an extremely rich artistic community. Like the talent there is incredible. The talent pool is incredible. The level of performance is so surprising. And I think it's because it's dark and cold. So there's very little competition for going outside and playing unless you're a skier in the winter. So we see a lot of movies. We eat a lot of food and we watch a lot of theater. Is it a community that embraces theater that will come out and see shows and fill seats? I, I sure think so. I mean, we have very good Broadway series presenters. They bring in all the big shows. They do very well. Our Alaska Center for the Performing Arts is state-of-the-art, gorgeous 2100-seat house and 800-seat house and a 350-seat house all in one building. And my youth theater had the privilege of performing in the 350-seat house in, you know, the finest production facility in the state, which was incredible for the kids because it's, you know, state-of-the-art lighting systems, state-of-the-art control boards, passing in the halls, the Broadway cast of Shrek or the Broadway cast of any given show. Oh, wow. At one point, and this was several years ago when I was performing on that stage with a community group, Gregory Hines came onto our stage and tap-danced for us. Oh, my God. You know, it's moments like that, that when you're working in a professional house side-by-side with, you know, this little youth theater doing Secret Garden or doing Godspell, all of the above, and just telling them, do not stick your head in their dressing room as you go by. They can talk to you, but you can't talk to them. You know, we're doing Little Mermaid and we got a report that The Eel was talking to one of the, you know, people from Mama Mia or whatever show was happening at the time. But, let me ask about the demographics of the people who are coming to see your shows and the people who saw the shows, both. I'm wondering about both theaters. And I can tell you, at Kumu, we get about 30% of our audience is Caucasian. They look like us. And that is definitely the majority. The rest of the various cultures that we see are, you know, plentiful, but no one with about a 30% demographic. What did you have in Alaska? Well, Alaska is heavily Caucasian, although we have the most languages spoken in any grade school, middle school or high school. Some of these schools have 200 languages spoken. Part of that, I believe, is the military presence, because there's a couple of bases right there. And Alaska is still very much an open portal for immigration, because come on up. We got lots of room. We got lots of jobs. Come on. So it's a very welcoming position there. And so we had excellent diversity in our casts, which was awesome, because this theater program pulled from every school in the bowl. So 300,000 people, it was kind of an opportunity for kids who would never encounter each other to build new peer groups, which was awesome for kids that weren't succeeding socially in their own schools. They could come and create their own social group within this cast, which is built to support each other. That's wonderful. So them and their families. Okay, good. I'm sorry, we have to wrap up. Okay. About the same for Kennedy. Kennedy? It depends on the show. Oh, okay. People follow their interests. So the demographic changes wildly from show to show. Gotcha. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Really appreciate it. My pleasure. Thank you for watching the show. There's a few other people that I'd like to thank here in the studio. Our interns, Diamond and Emily, thank you very much. We lost one. Our floor manager, Rich, Pravis, thank you very much for your help, Rich. And our studio overlord, Zuri Bender, who is in my ear. Thank you, Zuri. I'd also like to thank Jay Fidel, who somehow manages to put all of this together. Thank you. And we will see you next week, two o'clock on Wednesdays for Center Stage. Bye.