DENNIS CARROLL has lived in Honolulu for 37 years. He is currently Director of the Theatre program at the UHM Department of Theatre & Dance. He has had seven original plays workshopped or produced. KKT presented his version of Captain Cooks encounter with Hawai`i, Way of a God, in 1998, and Spur, a contemporary play set on Lana`i, in 2000. His compilation Massie/Kahahawai was staged by KKT last year. His most recent plays are Leid, written in 2002, and Age Sex Location.

THE DIRECTOR:

TAURIE KINOSHITA holds a BA in Theatre from UHM, and is currently in the MFA program in Directing there. Her first KKT role was in the premiere of Lum's A Little Bit Like You in 1991. Since then she has directed over thirty productions and worked on over sixty. She spent three years directing professionally for the Sex Abuse Treatment Center in Honolulu, and founded her own group, Cruel Theatre, in 1998, inspired by the ideas of Antonin Artaud. Her work includes original, inter-active political plays such as Material Witness, The Stranger, and Limbo Street Blues, which have sometimes involved one-on-one actor-spectator encounters, and also traditional premodern and contemporary plays done in theatre venues, such as Sarah Kanes Crave (UHM Lab), Buchners Woyzeck (KKT Dark Night) and Shelley's The Cenci (her most recent production, at Mark's Garage). Her acting work while at UHM Kennedy Theatre won her the Lucie Bentley Award in Acting. Age Sex Location marks her KKT directing debut.

DIRECTORS NOTE:

While speaking to its community and audience--the people of Hawai`i--Age Sex Location also deals with several universal themes. The idea that the global village has taken away a context for families, and isolated them from the past, is one. This idea is symbolically conveyed in the character of Kazuo--unable to communicate with other family members. The fact that all the men in the family are obsessed with the past in some way and unable to communicate with their connection to it--Kazuo--is significant. Also, the idea that local people need a voice--the importance of local literature, the importance of supporting small businesses as opposed to only large chains, are honorable principles.

The form of the play is Epic, Buchnerean: 28 scenes follow the structure of Woyzeck. We are allowed slices of life, a look into the world of a Japanese-American family. Perhaps the most significant device in the play is Carroll's use of the CompuChorus. They become characters the family imagines or has met, pop-ups selling things on line: the voice of the computer. The character of the CompuChorus evolves through interaction--the way a relationship with your car might. After driving it for weeks you name the car, the car has a personality. Since the CompuChorus functions are multi-faceted--sometimes dreams, advertisements, nightmares, other people on line--this play is not a referendum on how computers, the internet, technology are bad--we must recognize that it's our misuse of them that can be.

Yet, of all the themes in the play, the most important to me is the idea that people do not connect with each other anymore. Bobbie longs for attention--for someone to listen to her. No one really does. In a world where more people are interested in reality TV than reality, in playing video games than playing with each other, in watching movies and DVDs than in going out and experiencing theatre, Carroll's play is a warning and reminder to us all. The sad fact is that more people see films or sitcoms than theatre. In theatre you have to sit with other live human beings and watch live human beings. You cannot sit back and eat popcorn. You are active, responding to the energy given to you, just as the actors respond to your energy, hold for laughs, etc. Theatre involves making connections with other people, which far too few people are willing to do. The truth is we are all alone and there is so much space between us, and the only way to keep going in the face of our inherent isolation is to believe in each other, to struggle to fill the gaps--not with cyberspace but with real human contact. Thank you for coming out and experiencing theatre.

PRODUCTION AND SUPPORT STAFF

DANIEL M. GELBMANN (Set Design) holds a BA from Concordia College in Minnesota and an MFA in Design from UHM. Previous design work for KKT includes Armitage's Ola Ka Lau, Cataluna's Folks You Meet in Longs, and Territorial Plays, as well as the current season opener, Houston's Tea. He has been KKTs technical director now for two seasons. He has also designed for Ohia Productions, including last summers revival of Matsumoto's Once Upon One Time, and Adventures of Gary and Harry.

ALVIN CHAN (Costume Design) has recently added a second theatre string to his bow with Costume Design--he is more familiar to Honolulu audiences as an actor, in diverse productions covering the last six or seven years, including Shakespeare, Asian Theatre, pidgin comedy, and contemporary work. His Costume Design debut was with A Winter's Tale for the 2005 HSF, and now he moves on to Tea and Age Sex Location. Alvin is working towards his BA in Theatre from UHM.

MIKE LEE (Lighting Design) has designed lights for Mamet's Edmond and Kane's Crave in the UHM Late Night Theatre series. He also designs lights for the Hawaii Baptist Academy. His acting credits include appearances in Deshiell Hammett, Fortinbras and Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at UHM.

NICOLAS LOGUE (Stage Combat Choreography) is an Asian Performance MFA major at UHM and is currently preparing for the jingju to be presented in spring. He has assisted with fight choreography for several recent Honolulu productions, including Jaguar Priests last year, and the forthcoming Battle of Will at UHM Kennedy.

R. KEVIN DOYLE (Sound Design) has designed sound for productions at several different theatres, including HTY, the HSF, and UHM Kennedy. He is currently Chair of the Mid Pacific Institute School of the Arts in Manoa.

NOTE:

There is an Educational Guide available for Age Sex Location which includes suggested questions and discussion topics for school or college groups. Check for details on our web site or call the KKT office!

Age Sex Location is entirely a work of fiction. Any character's resemblance to a real person is purely coincidental.

KUMU KAHUA THEATRE 2005-06

Alissa Alcosiba, Managing Director; Harry Wong III, Artistic Director; Stu Hirayama, Box Office Assistant.

Board of Directors: Daniel Akiyama, Dennis Carroll--Secretary, Nyla Ching-Babb, Sammie Choy--Vice-President, Chris Doi, Bill Dendle, Meredith Desha, R. Kevin Doyle--President, Anna Fishburn, Karen Hironaga, Craig Howes, Jason Kanda, Wil T. K. Kahele, Karen Kaulana, Gerald Kawaoka, Bert Narimasu, Celeste Ohta, Martin Romualdez, Dann Seki, Doris Taitano, Marya A. Takamori-Prickett, John H. Y. Wat--Treasurer, Margie Welch.

Advisory Board: John Aeto, Eric H. Mita, Marcus Oshiro, Mei Jeanne Wagner.

Kumu Kahua Theatre is a not-for-profit theatre company. It is dedicated to encouraging the writing and production of plays and theatre pieces which speak particularly to Hawai`i's audiences. Each year, Kumu Kahua sponsors at least three workshop/readings of new plays; classes and special short-term workshops in acting and playwriting; and a dark night alternative season at reduced rates. It also co-sponsors an international playwriting contest with the University of Hawai`i at Manoa Department of Theatre & Dance. The core of its work, however, consists of the five full productions of its subscription season, offered to the public between September and June each year. Kumu Kahua is a licensed participant with ASCAP and BMI.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

A.D. and S.M..................................

Light Operator................................

Sound Operator................................

Poster Design & Program Layout............... Brian Onaga

Photography.................................. Brad Goda

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

DC: Bert Narimasu, first critic and pidgin-checka; Hilary Wright; George Kon; Walt Dulaney; and all members of the cast of the workshop presentation, March 22, 2005: Larry Fukumoto, Scot Izuka, Darryl Tsutsui, Chris Doi, Karen Hironaga, Sally Morita, Ginger Gohier, Kris Fitzgerald, Daniel Akiyama, Ron Encarnacion, Kathy Hunter, Mike Proffitt, Annie Lipscomb; and director Harry Wong.

TK: R. Kevin Doyle, Frances Zalman, Joseph Kinoshita, Danel Verdugo.

And: HTY; Robin Kitsu, Nanakuli Performing Arts program; Punahou School; Sister Joan of Arc, and Sister Grace Capellas and the staff and Business Office of St Francis School.