Kāmau Trilogy, By Alani Apio (Honolulu, HI)

Kāmau Trilogy, By Alani Apio
Kumu Kahua Theatre

Kāmau
Exploring the concepts of aloha and kuleana (responsibility), Kāmau follows three cousins who were raised in their family’s beach-side home and taught that they must care for the land to ensure the survival of their ʻohana. When their ancestral homestead is sold to build a hotel, the cousins’ perspectives on kuleana put them at odds. Michael will not abandon his responsibility to the ʻāina, and refuses to leave. Left to provide for the family alone, Alika must choose between joining Michael’s battle against the resort — at the expense of his niece, Stevie, and her mother, Lisa — or continuing to work for the very corporation that has displaced them.

Kāmau Aʻe
Part two of the Kāmau trilogy picks up ten years later as Michael is released from prison and returns immediately to occupy the beach that he was evicted from. He has become a member of a sovereignty group (‘Ai Pōhaku) that has embraced his quest to retake his ancestral homestead. Alika is now the resort’s manager: offering cultural tours and classes, providing hundreds of jobs for Native Hawaiians. The cousins’ worldviews once again collide, and they are used as pawns against each other as larger forces vie for control of the place that was once their home.

Ua Pau
In this explosive finale to the Kāmau trilogy, past and present collide as Stevie returns home from college and uncovers hidden truths about her family. Devastated, she begins to experience and unravel the inter-generational trauma that haunts them all. Her struggle to release old ghosts and claim her place — and her kuleana — will determine whether she and her ʻohana survive intact, or at all.