The Songmaker's Chair

by Albert Wendt

March 16 - April 15, 2006

All photos by Brad Goda unless noted

Read Burl Burlingame's 03/09/06 Star-Bulletin profile of Albert Wendt

Read Joel Tannebaum's 03/10/06 Advertiser play preview

The first full-length play by one of the foremost Pacific novelists and essayists, The Songmaker's Chair is the story of a Samoan family, the Aiga Sapeseola, whose members have been in Auckland since the 1950s. It is about migration and what has happened to this adventurous family over three generations. To survive and adapt to New Zealand, they have intermarried with Maori and Pakeha (whites) and developed what they call the Peseola Way -- defiant, honest and unflinching, even in the face of death.

First staged in New Zealand in September 2003, the play was a huge success, with sold-out houses through the run. According to the National Business Review, "The opening night audience, composed of a large number of Samoans, made it apparent that the best and more risque lines were in Samoan"; the review also notes the memorable moments of dialogue and staging along with well integrated singing and dancing."

The New Zealand Herald records the "delightfully festive atmosphere" at the premiere of The Songmaker's Chair, and admires how "Wendt deftly structures the scenes to present his 10 characters in an impressive range of combinations that reveal the nature of the various relationships between siblings, husbands and wives, parents and children and so on." The Herald also reports that "although the action is set in the one house and occurs largely within four days, we are taken to Samoa and other parts of Aotearoa, traversing more than 40 years. And Wendt cunningly complicates the issue of cultural (dis)location: Peseola's eldest son is married to a Palagi and his eldest daughter to a Maori."

Front row (left to right): Dennis Carroll, Albert Wendt; second row: Jackie Tufa-Marques, Emily Tam, D. Tafa`i Silipa, Wil Kahele; third row: Hina Kneubuhl, Vaialofi E.K. Samifua, Christine Silipa, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, Fata Simanu-Klutz; fourth row: Talavou Avegalio, Sami L.A. Akuna, Gilbert Molina (photo by John Wat)

Sunday @ 2 pm, March 19, 26; April 2, 9, 2006

* Interpreted in American Sign Language on Saturday 4/15.

What: Event #I: Pacific Migration in Art, Society, and History

When: Tuesday, March 21, 2006, at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Korean Studies Center Auditorium, University of Hawai`i at Manoa

This event will be devoted to exploring how the act of migration by Pacific Islanders within the Pacific--its history, its social consequences, its affect on the arts and the culture of both the immigrants and the hosts--has been represented in drama, fiction, poetry, and other artistic media. Historian Fata Simanu-Klutz will talk about the size, the nature, the history and the cultural implications of this traveling. Writer and folklorist Caroline Sinavaiana, who has lived in Samoa, the continental United States, other Pacific Island nations, and now in Hawai`i, will talk about the impact of migration on language, forms of expression, and self-understanding.

Playwright Albert Wendt, perhaps the best-known writer on this subject, will talk about how the challenges of drama influenced how he dealt with this subject, which could be described as one of the major themes in his work. Dennis Carroll, the director of the production, will speak on the process of representing the different cultures embodied in the characters through performance, how to make the issues of migration almost literally come to life. A scene from the current production of The Songmaker's Chair with special relevance for the evening's discussion will also be presented.

What: Event #II: Pacific Island Migration: Art at Home and Away

When: Tuesday, March 28, 2006, at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Kumu Kahua Theatre, 42 Merchant Street

On this evening, the related topics will be the nature of the Intra-Pacific migration, and also the challenges of "transplanted" art. Katerina Teaiwa, whose research and artistic interests lie "in the area of intra-Pacific movement/migration/diaspora, and the circulation of contemporary musical and dance forms," in talking about "the thing," rather than the artist, will explore how all the traveling that goes on between islands affects the ways "ideas, forms or materials move across cultural areas that still seem so fixed as 'Samoan' or 'Fijian' or 'Tongan,' etc." Robert Sullivan, noted Maori poet, essayist, and writer of fiction and non-fiction, will talk about how the great history of Pacific Islander travel is not only the subject of contemporary Pacific literary arts, but affects the variety of ways that contemporary migration is artistically represented. As with the first event, Playwright Albert Wendt will speak, as will Dennis Carroll, the director of the production. A scene from the current production of The Songmaker's Chair, chosen for its special relevance for the discussion, will also be presented.