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Another Heavenby Eric Anderson
May 18 - June 18, 2006All photos by Brad Goda
Based on a true story, Eric Anderson's Another Heaven tells a
tale of racial conflict, ambition, and greed in late nineteenth-century
Hawai`i. Katsu Goto, owner of a general store, tries to help the Japanese
plantation workers stand up for their rights against their foreman and the
plantation owner. Violence ensues, and an investigator from Honolulu
comes looking for evidence that others would rather keep buried. This
historical drama won the Kumu Kahua Playwriting Competition's Hawaii Prize
in 2001. The historical record is fascinating and disturbing. A lower level bureaucrat in Japan, Katsu Goto immigrated to Hawaii in 1885. He fulfilled his three-year contract plantation worker contract at Ookala on the Big Island, and apparently managed to save some money, because he received a retail license to operate in Honoka`a in 1888, making him the first of the first ship immigrants to open a store after the expiration of their contracts. Though next door to a store owned by Joseph R. Mills, Goto did so well that he had to hire staff, and eventually opened a new, larger store. He sold foodstuffs, clothing, household goods, hardware, to a largely Japanese clientele; Hawaiians and Caucasians also bought from him.
In October of 1889, Katsu Goto was found hanging from a telephone pole in Honoka`a. The lynching of any member of the Japanese community would have caused dismay, anger, and fear, but Goto's store, the only one in the area owned by one of their countrymen, had become a community center. The death of Goto meant the loss of the leader of their community (summary drawn from Gaylord Kubota, The Lynching of Katsu Goto).
Eric Anderson, has taken the historical records of the lynching, and the subsequent trial, to create a dramatic portrait of the workings of entire community in 19th Century Hawai`i. Act I ends with the lynching. Act II follows the subsequent investigation, and its implications for our understanding of Hawaiis social and cultural dynamics.
Anderson lives on the Big Island, in the area of Honoka`a. He has written several plays. Another Heaven was also produced this past Fall on the Island of Hawai`i, directed by former Kumu Kahua Board Member Justina Mattos. Kumu Kahua board Vice President Sammie Choy will direct the Kumu premiere of Another Heaven. The production team includes set design by Dan Gelbmann, costume design by Dusty Behner, and light design by Gerald Kawaoka. The cast features Kumu veterans Laura Bach Buzzell, Shiro Kawai, Patrick Torres, and Brent Yoshikami. Nina Buck, Phillip Bullington, Will Ha`o, Frank Episale, and Josh Greenspoon will make their Kumu debuts with Another Heaven.
(left to right) Sammie Choy, Wayne Paakaula, Laura Bach Buzzell, Frank Episale, Shiro Kawai, Will Ha`o, Josh Greenspoon, Nina Buck, Patrick Torres, Brent Yoshikami, Craig HowesThursday, Friday & Saturday @ 8 pm, May 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27; June 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 2006 Sunday @ 2 pm, May 21, 28; June 4, 11, 18*, 2006 * Interpreted in American Sign Language on Sunday 6/18.
Another Heaven Program (MS Word)
Another Heaven Viewer's Guide / Newsletter
Another Heaven Educational Guide (MS Word)
Two Public Events in Conjunction with Another HeavenKumu Kahua Theatre is sponsoring two evenings devoted to examining some of the historical events, cultural legacies, and artistic issues that arise in its upcoming production of Eric Anderson's Another Heaven. The events will take place on Tuesday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, 2454 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, and on Tuesday, May 30 at 7:30 p.m at the Kamehameha V--Judiciary History Center, at Ali`iolani Hale, 417 South King, across the street from `Iolani Palace. These free events are funded by the Hawaii Council for the Humanities, and co-sponsored by the University of Hawaii at Manoa Center for Biographical Research, the Departments of English and of Theatre and Dance, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, and the Kamehameha V--Judiciary History Center. The Humanities Events: Event #I: Another Heaven: Labor History, Labor Conditions, in the Monarchy Period
Tuesday, May 23, 2006, at 7:30 p.m. This event will deal with the ways labor was regulated--by law, by administrative action, by coercion--during the late Monarchy period, and after. William Puette will talk about the details of contractual labor in this period, and how the presence of increasing numbers of Japanese immigrant workers from the very beginning generated tensions of a distinct and long-lasting kind. Jonathan Okamura will talk about how the racial and ethnic tensions between multiple groups in a plantation economy--haole, Hawaiian, Portuguese, and Japanese in Another Heaven--set up assumptions and spurs for discipline or criminal behavior that would reappear in the decades of the territory. Playwright Eric Anderson will describe how he worked with these dynamics when writing the play, and Sammie Choy, the director of Another Heaven, will discuss how she worked with the actors to present in multiple ways the nature and the consequences of racial and ethnic conflict and community. A scene from the current production of Another Heaven, chosen for its special relevance for the discussion, will also be presented.
Event #II: Another Heaven: History and Drama, Fact and/or
Fiction?
The historical incident, and the play that takes this incident as its starting point, provides an excellent opportunity for discussions of artistic license, cultural as opposed to documented memory, and the relationship between art and history. On this evening, Davianna McGregor will talk about the specifics of Hawaii Law in the Kingdom, and how changing notions of labor, from pre-contact practices through the Masters and Servants Act, and into the operations of large-scale plantation ventures, provide an important context for understanding the events represented in Another Heaven. Craig Howes, Principal Scholar for the program, will provide information about the specific historical details of the case, and how they relate to Another Heaven. Eric Anderson will describe how he worked with, altered, or ignored the historical record as he wrote the play, and Sammie Choy, the director of Another Heaven, will discuss how her research into legal and cultural history shaped her approach to the play. A scene from the current production of Another Heaven, chosen for its special relevance for the discussion, will also be presented.
Kumu Kahua's 100-seat playhouse puts you at the heart of the drama. And with well over 100 plays to our credit, our reputation attracts some of Hawaii's most talented actors, directors, playwrights, designers and other theater artists and technicians.
46 Merchant Street, Honolulu, Hawai`i 96813 Box Office Phone: (808) 536-4441 Email: kumukahuatheatre@hawaiiantel.net URL: www.kumukahua.org |