 Welcome to Community Matters on Think Tech Kauai. I'm your host today, Carol Mon-Lee. Our show is called Manoa Valley Theater, celebrating 50 years as Honolulu's off-Broadway Playhouse, and we're going to talk about how community theater enriches our lives. Local community theater is not just entertaining and enriching, but also a thought-provoking educational experience that needs continued support. Our guest today is award-winning producing director Dwight Martin of Manoa Valley Theater. Welcome, Dwight. Thank you, Carol. Thank you. Well, Manoa Valley Theater has been around for 50 years. 50 years, yeah. And you have an exciting season this year. We do. So let's start talking about your season this year and what you're actually showing, what's playing right now. Well, right now we're just at the end of our 49th season. We have a delightfully entertaining musical comedy on stage over at Kameke High School Theater, actually. It's a play by Lisa Matsumoto and Rosalind Katracia. Lisa Matsumoto was a very prominent playwright in our community. Yes. She's a product of the University of Hawaiʻi, and she did these distinctive retelling of fairy tales using Pigeon English and all kinds of local references. And they're just hilarious, and it's a privilege for us to be able to produce her work. So this is the fourth play by Lisa Matsumoto that we have produced, and because they are ginormous in size, we are in partnership with Kaimuki High School Performing Arts Center, and this particular production is happening on their stage right now. I see. So what do you mean large in size? Well, there is more than 40 members in the cast, and there's about 10 people on the crew, and we need to be flying scenery in and out and using devices that we don't have in our 165 seat black box theater up in Manoa. So how many seats in Kaimuki? Over 600. And so you're in the middle of this particular? We are. We've just started the second week of the run. The play is planned to go for three weeks, and we have plenty of seats left, so we hope the people will come. It's family-friendly, and it just is hilarious. I know it. I'm going to show the audience. It's got a great view in the paper. It did. Yes, we're very lucky. Yeah. And so let's see. I think we have a couple of pictures from the production. Can you tell us about this? We do. There are pirates in the show. Many of your viewers are probably familiar with the old fairy tale about the princess and the pea. Right. And so this is a local adaptation of that, and it's very, very clever, and it's two different kingdoms, and one is trying to marry off their prince, the other is trying to marry off their princess, and just as in the original princess and the pea story, the princess must pass a test to prove that she is a princess, and she is thrown out to sea, she is captured by pirates, there are all kinds of sub-stories that come in and play. What tells about the actors here? Well, they're all from the local community. We have a great talent base here in Hawaii. We're very, very fortunate, and a number of these actors have been in this production before when produced by Ohia Productions and other theaters. So there are some alums from Lisa Matsumoto's days, and that's great because it instills it with a particular energy. She was just an amazing talent, and people were touched by her, and to have people who worked with her be involved in our production of her plays is a real privilege. Yeah, it's a real legacy that her productions still live on and are still very meaningful to us. That's true, and they are larger shows, so not everyone is going to be producing them, and we're very beholden to the Matsumoto family and to Rosalind Catraccia for giving us this opportunity. These are wonderful stories, and while Lisa tragically was taken from us 10 years ago, we think that her artistic work should live on, and it's interesting because we get a lot of emails from people when they've seen the show about how much they enjoyed it, and a number of emails we've gotten are from people who saw these shows first as children, and now they are parents, and introducing their children to it. So there's sort of a living legacy there, and we're very happy to be a part of that. Do you have one more slide from the show? Yes. There's our poster for the show, and you can see it tells a little bit about the story, and it's just a lot of fun. It really is. Okay, and we'll tell people that they can get tickets still, right? They can. They can contact Manoa Valley Theater through our phone at 988-6131, or the majority of our customers have been purchasing through our website, which is very easy, and that's ManoaValleyTheater.com, so the tickets are available there. Okay, good. Well, that's a great segue into actually the talent that we have here in Hawaii in putting on community theater. So I wanted to start out with that wonderful production, because it's got such great reviews. But tell us in general about community theater here, and the types of actors, and writers, and stage people that you have, and how do you get them? Well it's interesting, because we're training people at the University of Hawaii and some of the other educational institutions. Is that how you got started? Not me personally, but many, many of the people involved with our theater and the other local theaters are products of the University of Hawaii system. And of course, Manoa, we're right in the valley. We're right there in the valley, we're just half a mile away, so we're physical neighbors as well as cultural neighbors. And in Hawaii, you know, there are a lot of reasons people choose to live here, and all of them are good. But Hawaii doesn't have professional theater by definition of having paid opportunities for people, with one exception, Honolulu Theater for Youth, does actually hire actors each year to perform in their series of plays. But all the other theaters are using volunteer talent from the community. But just because it's volunteer doesn't mean that it's not high quality. And we boast an amazing high quality of talent here in Hawaii. Directors, designers, performers, you know, when people come to a play, they see the actors on stage in front of them and they sort of think two dimensionally that is the production. But of course, the play had to be written. It had to be directed, the lighting and the costumes and the props and the sets all had to be designed and constructed. And the people behind the scenes that are changing the scenery and helping the actors make fast costume changes are all very much a part of the show. So it's really a team that has to come together to put a play on the stage. So do you find, I know there are many other theaters. There are several other theaters. I don't know how many there are in Honolulu. Are you all competing for the same talent? Yes and no, we are competing for the same talent. But we also are working together to nurture the talent. Because if an actor goes to another theater and has a good experience and wants to do that again, chances are likely is not that they may come to Manoa Valley Theater the next time. And so we all are sort of committed to nurturing the local community and to give opportunities. And whether it's performing or directing or designing at Manoa Valley Theater or another theater, it's really contributing to the overall theatrical community that we have. And I think that all the local theaters are very good about supporting the overall community. We do have an organization called Hawaii State Theater Council. And all the producing theaters on Oahu at least are organizational members of that. How many are there? Well, right now on the statewide basis, we have 19 organizational members in the council. Yeah, so that's excellent because it gives us an opportunity to sit together as friendly competitors to talk about subjects of common interest and to sort of have a community vision of how we can work together to make the performing arts program as strong as we can to entertain the audiences as best we can. Have a variety of programming. And have a variety. So you make sure that you don't overlap. You're both not going to offer the same show in the same season. We certainly try not to do that, yes. And at Manoa Valley Theater particularly, one of our artistic fortes is that we do a very diversified season artistically speaking. So we produce six plays a year, typically. And within those six will be a couple of comedies, will be a couple of musicals, maybe a couple of dramas. And we believe that that blend provides a great year round program of performances. I often kid people that if someone calls me or writes me and says, gee, I really didn't care for that last play. That was a subject I'm not interested in or whatever. I say then absolutely you must come to the next one. Because Garen's is going to be very different. So some theaters will sort of choose a particular niche and most of their play productions may sort of fall in that niche. But one of the reasons we call ourselves Honolulu's Off-Broadway Playhouse is that we provide a variety of play type like you might see off-Broadway. And also because our physical environment is quite small. We're 165 seats. It's one room. It's a black box theater. There are shows that can be done to their advantage in a steer space like that that might not work in a larger theater. And conversely, some of the large musical comedies and musical pieces need a bigger stage, need a fly system to move scenery in and out and so forth. So do you do a lot of original plays from Hawaii? We actually don't at our theater. One of the reasons we call ourselves the Off-Broadway Playhouse is that we look very specifically to Broadway and Off-Broadway for plays to choose for production. And probably more than 50% of the plays we choose, we present in their Hawaii premiers. So this is the first exposure that local audiences will have to them. That's not to say that there aren't repeat plays that we do. We're popular like Tommy and- Right, exactly. But we really try and fill a mission of introducing Hawaii audiences to theater arts work that they have not been exposed to before. But have heard about, read about. You usually have, and another reason why we looked at Broadway and Off-Broadway because you've probably seen it in a news magazine or heard about it on television or watched the Tony Awards and so forth. Well, let's show in the next slide because I think this is one of those shows. Sheer Madness, now this is a fun, fun show. We've produced this last month and it's the second time that we've done it. Now Sheer Madness has the distinction of being the longest running play in American history. Really? The show has been going over 30 years. It originated out of Boston. And what's so clever about it is it's a murder mystery who done it. It takes place in a hair salon, hence the name Sheer Madness. And a murder has taken place off stage. The police arrive and they start interrogating the people in the hair salon. And about halfway through the play, the on-stage action pauses. The lights in the theater come up and the investigator turns to the audience and invites them to ask questions to help solve the mystery as to who the murderer was. And so it's obvious. I've seen that. Yes. It was a long time ago, but now I recall. Yes, and so it's very, very clever. It's very clever. And we first produced it 20 years ago. We were one of the first independent theaters in the country to be licensed to do so, because the owners of the show hold it very close to hand. And they have their own productions in major cities around the country. It's been playing in the rooftop theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. for over 20 years. So we approached them about doing it in Hawaii 20 years ago. They said, oh, thanks for your interest. But we're not letting independent companies produce it yet. And over a series of four or five years, I pestered them enough with my inquiry letters that they finally said, you know, we can't say no to you anymore. Please go ahead, produce it for Hawaii. And it was a big success then. And it was again last month. Oh, great. I think we have a let's show another slide, because this is so much fun to see these different shows. And what is this? This is from. We have three young Whipi. This is from Fun Home. Which is a musical drama. We produced it earlier this spring. It's a Tony Award-winning play. It's a masterpiece, really. And these three actresses are all portraying the same character, but at different ages. And so the story moves back and forth through time. It's about a family. And it's about a woman who has become a graphic designer professionally. And she's reflecting back on the values and so forth in her upbringing that shaped her adulthood. And it actually turns out that she is a lesbian. She discovers about herself. And she learns that her father, although he was married to her mother, also was sort of dallying on the side because he was having his own feelings, same-sex feelings. And so that informs the whole story. And here we have three actresses who are portraying her at different points in her growth. So how popular was the show? It was very popular. It did extremely well. Are most of your shows sold out? Or how does it do? Most are. Most of the productions hold over for extra performances to accommodate the demand. Again, with only 165 seats. And having a seasoned subscriber base, the remaining seats that are available for general sale are not that many. So usually our plays do sell out and hold over. Good. Well, we're at break time. Already? I know, it's very fast. So we'll be right back. This is Carol Monly with Community Matters. And my special guest, Dwight Martin from Manoa Valley Theater. Hi, I'm Bill Sharp, host of Asian Review here on Think Tech Hawaii. Join me every Monday afternoon from 5 to 5.30 Hawaii Standard Time for an insightful discussion of Contemporary Asian Affairs. There's so much to discuss. And the guests that we have are very, very well informed. Just think, we have the upcoming negotiation between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, the possibility of Xi Jinping, the leader of China, remaining in power forever. We'll see you then. Aloha. My name is Mark Shklav. I am the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Law Across the Sea. Law Across the Sea is on Think Tech Hawaii. Every other Monday at 11 AM. Please join me, where my guests talk about law topics and ideas and music and Hawaii Anna all across the sea from Hawaii and back again. Aloha. Welcome back. This is Carol Monly on Community Matters with my special guest, Dwight Martin, with Manoa Valley Theater, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Actually, next year, right? 2019. Beginning next month starts the anniversary season. Right. Well, tell us a little bit about Manoa Valley Theater's history. 50 years ago, and how many productions and how long have you been with it? Well, over 50 years, we've produced over 300 play productions. The theater was founded by some graduate students from the University of Hawaii back in 1969. And at that time, they were interested in doing some plays that other local theaters weren't doing. So they thought the best way to handle that was just to start their own theater. And whoever would have thought that it would have survived half a century. But over the years, through a lot of community support, through support of the local theater artists, the actors and directors and designers and so forth, it not only has survived, but it has thrived. And here we are at a half century mark, and it's hard to believe. I joined the team in year 12, so I've been there for the last 38 years. Oh my goodness, as producing director, which means what? Well, it means basically I run the organization. I'm responsible for the business side of it, as well as the artistic side. Artistic meaning you help select? Select the plays, choose the guest directors. I am an actor, yes. That's advocational on the side. I don't get paid for that. But I love to act. Actually, my university degrees in acting and directing. What have we seen you in lately? Well, most recently I was in a play called Equus by Peter Schaffer, which was a very searing drama. And that was a great privilege to be in that show. But there's so many people who are responsible for us being half a century old. They have given energy, they've given love, they've given talent, they've given time, they've given money. And I really see running the theater as being more of a coordinating responsibility to coordinate people who are interested in having a dynamic theater-producing organization. And whether they come to us as actors, whether they come to us as play sponsors, as donors, as well-wishers, whatever it might be, my job is to create an environment where they feel welcome, where they want to give. And to put together programs that they will want to be involved with. Right. And provide such an enriching community experience. It really is a great experience. And you know, we choose plays, as I said earlier, that are quite diverse. They're sort of all over the artistic map. We believe at Manawale Theater that any good play deserves consideration. Now, what's a good play? I mean, that's subjective. It sort of depends on who reads it and how they respond to it. But plays that are award-winning, plays that may have enlightening themes or even aggressive themes. Sure. We were the first... The educational opportunity for the game. Yes, we were the first independent community theater in the country to be licensed to produce Tony Kushner's Angels in America 20 years ago, which is an amazingly powerful play about the beginning of the AIDS crisis and how the government didn't respond to it. And it's just... It's written in two parts. Each one is a full length. And the two parts together have won the most Tony Awards of any play ever. And the Tony Awards, of course, are the theatrical awards that are given once a year. So we were privileged to produce that play. But then on the flip side, we'll do something that's innocuous, that's entertaining, that's family-friendly. So we try and do a little bit of everything. We can't please everybody all the time. So we try and please most of the people most of the time. Let's show our next slide, which is actually our background. There it is. Manoa Valley Theater. Yeah. This is... This facility... In the heart of Manoa. We built in the mid-1980s. The theater first moved to this property in Manoa in 1972. It's actually owned by Kauaihau Church. It was the site of their Manoa mission. And there's a graveyard on the property. And in 1972, the people who were then running Manoa Valley Theater were looking for a venue because they were gypsy-ing around town to different spaces. Someone was driving by this property one day, noticed this big rectangular building. That's all you need for theater. And approached the church. And they very graciously agreed to lease us the property. Reverend Abraham Akaka was one of our subscribers and donors, and was very passionate about the fact that the mission of the theater was not dissimilar to the mission of the church in terms of community service. Of course. And so do you maintain the cemetery? We do maintain the cemetery. It goes back 150 years. And so now let's talk about the 50th anniversary, the special year coming up in what you're planning for that. We're so excited. We have six play productions planned. This is our logo... This is the logo that we've created for the anniversary season. When we were first putting the plays together for it, I was somewhat conflicted between doing plays we'd done before or looking ahead to new plays. And we decided that there'd been so many wonderful plays we've done before. And over 50 years, many people who first saw them are no longer in our audience. They're new people to be exposed to them. They're children. And they're grandchildren. So we've chosen four of our greatest hits to be produced again. The new Q, Tony Tina's Wedding, The Rocky Horror Show, The Pagent, and that one has been around for a long time. It's been around a long time. It came out in the 1970s. And we produced it on stage about 10 years ago. So those are ways that we can bring back shows that were extremely popular that a lot of people would like to enjoy again. Now we have two very special productions that actually have some connectivity to Hawaii. Shipment Day by Lorenzo Di Stefano is actually a true life story. Lorenzo is a playwright, director, who now lives in California, but he was Kailua born and bred. And he discovered that he had a cousin who was one of the Kalapapa residents. And he met her about 10 years before her death at her age of 90. And she, in the 1930s, was diagnosed with Hansen's disease. And as was the case back then, she was incarcerated at Kalapapa. And so her cousin, Lorenzo, was very moved by the story, met her before her demise and wrote this play called Shipment Day, which is about the preparations before she was actually sent off to Kalapapa. Is it a new play then? It was in a shorter one-act form earlier and was read locally by playbuilders Hawaii. It was part of their play festival and won a Best Play Award. And he then expanded the script for a larger production, which is what we're doing. So it actually is going to be a world premiere. The second production we're very excited about is the musical drama Allegiance, which was on Broadway a year and a half ago. And it tells the story of the Kamuro family, who was directly affected by the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and how that internment and the whole political climate at the time divided this family. And interestingly, it was inspired by the true life story of George Takei, whom many of the viewers will know as Star Trek Lieutenant Sulu. And he was very vocal in today's... He was five years old when he remembers the American soldiers with rifles in arm coming up the family driveway and giving the family 30 minutes to get together whatever belongings they could carry and be taken off. So he met a playwright who was inspired by the story. And while the story is not autobiographical, it does reflect the experiences that George had in the camp. And it's amazing. And we're quite privileged to be able to produce the Hawaii premiere of that. Because it's a large play and because we expect it to have such great community interest, we're actually going to be producing that on stage at the Hawaii Theater next March. Hawaii Theater. Oh my goodness. Okay. So Allegiance. It's just an amazing story. It really is. And George Takei actually starred in it too, right? He did on Broadway. And then again, they just did a limited run in Los Angeles in February and March. And he reprised his two roles there. He has two roles in the play. And so here, have you already cast it? We haven't cast it yet. We're getting close to that. We're going to hold open auditions in September and the plays will be on stage in March. How do you find the local talent? How do you... We announce our auditions publicly. We have an electronic e-list that people who are interested in getting information can sign up for. It's free. And we notify them. I have about 1,100 people on that list. And then we put it out through the media. And of course, the theatrical community already has its own coconut wireless. So as soon as information hits the streets, it disseminates pretty quickly. Do you have any relationship with any of the universities or colleges as part of their drama department or their... We have a great working relationship. It's interesting because drama departments are so busy under themselves. So I have people ask me many times, well, aren't you affiliated with the university and don't you have opportunities for their students? And we do, but their students usually are very busy with the opportunities which are part of their degree program. But we have directors from the university. We have designers. We have performers also from HPU, from Leeward. So we're open to everyone in the community who has the time, the ambition, the talent and the interest in being involved. Are there any other events for the 50th anniversary coming up besides the season of plays? At the moment we have our hands full getting these plays organized. The board of directors is talking about some other activities that we might do during the year because again, we want it to reflect on the community. It is the community that has supported us. It's the community that continues to infuse the energy into our organization and sustain it. So is your funding all by what, sponsors? Well, it's hook and crook. About 50% of our annual revenue comes through box office, through ticket sales. The other 50% comes from community sources. And we have donations from individuals. We have corporate sponsorships, play sponsorships. We do have some grants from private foundations. We have a little bit of government money and that makes up the other half of the budget. So we're always out there working the community and letting people see the opportunities to be a part of the team and to help fulfill the mission that we provide. Good. Well Dwight, we have come to the end of our time, but we have a few more seconds that I'd like you to look into camera for and tell our viewers how they can contact you for more information about the season or the 50th anniversary. To learn more about Manoa Valley Theater, please do visit our website, ManoaValleyTheater.com. If you're interested in purchasing tickets to The Princess and the ESO Peanut or Season Tickets or any of the upcoming plays, you can call us at 9886131 or you can also purchase through the website. So we're very available. We're happy to talk to anyone at any time. And we welcome new friends and new supporters who are interested in theater arts and want to be involved with Manoa Valley Theater. Wow. Well, thank you so much, Dwight. Thank you, Carol. It's a delight. It really has. Yes. Well, this brings us to the end of our show. We've enjoyed bringing it to you, and I'm your host, Carol Monly. We've been talking about Manoa Valley Theater celebrating 50 years as Honolulu's off-Broadway Playhouse. Local community theater is not just entertaining and enriching, but also a thought-provoking educational experience that needs your support. Thank you so much, Dwight. Thank you, Carol. Aloha, and we'll see you next time. Thank you. Bye. Bye.