KUMU KAHUA THEATRE IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE A NEW EDUCATION SERIES
Kumu Kahua Theatre is proud to announce a new education series: Kumu Kahua STAGES: Supporting Theatre Arts Guidance and Education Series!
STAGES will include innovative learning opportunities for actors, directors, and playwrights. This series is specifically designed for artists of multiple levels of experience and training, in direct response to artist surveys and requests within our community. All of these classes and workshops will be offered free of charge for our artists (donations are accepted, but not required).
"What’s Kumu Kahua’s mission? You are our mission. Writer’s that have a story to tell through theatre about who we are and how we live here in Hawai‘i. Individuals who will embody us on stage. People who will bring these stories to life on stage. Through these classes you will discover if you have a talent for this art, but more importantly, we’ll help you to take that talent and hone it to a skill that will create theatre which celebrates and confronts the people of Hawai‘i. You are our mission." —Harry Wong III, Artistic Director of Kumu Kahua Theatre
The series kicks off with a playwriting class taught by Lee A. Tonouchi, Da Pidgin Guerilla! This course is designed for playwrights with some experience, but not necessarily with a finished script.
Requirements:
No mo' limit on class size.
Can be any age. Although I probably recommend da person be at least high school, but if one younger person like chance 'em, das cool too.
Knowing how for write Pidgin stay optional.
You no need be from Hawai'i for sign up.
Course Description:
Playwriting, Guerrilla Style! In da vein of Miyagi-do karate, dis going be one unorthodox kine playwriting class. We not going emphasize da technical aspects of writing plays, but rather we going focus on our innate human ability for tell stories and see if we can translate that into script form. Da class stay open to anybody who like chance 'em. You going be asked for write, share your writing, read, read aloud, give feedbacks and participate in class discussions.
About The Instructor: Lee A. Tonouchi a.k.a. Da Pidgin Guerrilla taught one college-level creative writing class for several years. He also stay one award-winning Pidgin playwright and author. His most recent-est play wuz Oriental Faddah and Son dat premiered at Paliku Theatre earlier dis year. His plays Gone Feeshing, Living Pidgin, Da Kine Space, Echoes of Dat Red Guitar, and UchinaAloha wuz produce by Kumu Kahua Theatre. Da Honolulu Theatre for Youth wen go do his youth play Three Year Swim Club. An'den da East West Players did da adult version which wuz one Los Angeles Times Critic's Choice Selection.
The class will take place on six consecutive Sunday mornings, 8am-11am, June 5, 12, 19, 26, July 3 and 10 - via zoom. This class is offered free of charge, please contact us ASAP if you would like to attend by filling out this FORM.
Following the great success of our last class for those with no previous playwriting experience, the New Playwright Workshops will continue with additional new writer one-day intensive workshops on ʻOahu and Maui, dates and locations TBD.
We will also host one-day intensive classes with established playwrights, designed to meet our writers’ needs, based on their progress in our other workshops.
For our directors, our artistic director, Harry Wong III will lead a season-long critical analysis workshop that will include reading, analyzing, and discussing scripts that will be performed by theatres on ʻOahu, attendance to those performances, and follow-up analysis and discussion of directorial choices. That season will begin in the fall of 2022.
Following the same framework of the directorsʻ workshop, experienced acting teachers will lead a season-long critical analysis workshop for actors. This workshop will also include classroom monologue and scene work to exercise what is learned from the analysis of performances. This series will also take place throughout the theatre season, beginning in the fall of 2022.
As many auditions are conducted digitally, and digital performance opportunities, we will host a class in which actors will workshop monologues with a panel of experienced directors and actors. This workshop will be conducted via zoom, dates TBD.
Our hope is that all of these opportunities will be conducted in-person, except for those specifically noted. We will continue to remain flexible, based on government guidelines in response to COVID-19.