Kumu Kahua Theatre’S 36TH ANNAVERSERY Season presents FIVE plays FOR THE PEOPLE OF HAWI‘I

In its 36th anniversary season, Kumu Kahua presents a wide-ranging collection including premiere productions and popular revivals. The premieres include the sequel to Kumu's highly popular production of Aloha Las Vegas, a Pygmalion-like story about a U.H. teacher and her student, and a collection of four short Pidgin plays. The revivals are a drama about the displacement of native Hawaiians and a revival of Aloha Las Vegas to accompany the new sequel. Also included in this season's offerings is a play about three local Filipino-Americans visiting the Philippines. With this outstanding season, our commitment to producing plays for and about Hawai`i continues.

The season opens with Mahalo Las Vegas by Edward Sakamoto, where having left Hawai‘i, Wally Fukuda lives happily ever after in Vegas – until Wally's luckless friend, “California” Harry, moves in to hide out from his creditors and two tenacious women looking for love pursue a reluctant Wally and Harry. Mahalo Las Vegas is the sequel to Sakamoto’s popular Aloha Las Vegas.
Thursday & Saturday 8pm: August 24, 26, 31; September 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 2006. Sundays 2pm: August 27; September 3, 10, 17, 24, 2006.

Sakamoto's Aloha Las Vegas, which precedes the action of Mahalo Las Vegas and deals with Wally's decision to sell his house in Honolulu and make the move to Vegas, will receive special Kumu Kahua Theatre Benefit performances Friday evenings and special added Saturday matinees. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to see both plays in repertory.
Friday 8pm: August 25; September 1, 8, 22, 2006. Saturday 2pm: August 26; September 2, 9, 16, 23, 2006.

In Who the Fil-Am I? written & directed by Troy Apostol, three twenty-something Filipino-Americans from Hawai‘i take a trip to the Philippines. Personalities clash and tempers flare as the priorities of the trip are heatedly debated and the three struggle to come to grips with their ancestry and their multi-ethnic, multicultural identities.
Thursday, Friday & Saturday 8pm: November 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 24, 25, 30, December 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 2006. Sundays 2pm: November 12, 19, 26, December 3, 10, 2006.

Living Pidgin is a showcase collection of short plays by Lee Tonouchi, the author of Da Kine Dictionary and the short-story collection Da Word. Each of these short plays displays Tonouchi’s facility with Pidgin, his unique sense of humor, and his love of life in the islands. Come see why he’s called “Da Pidgin Guerilla.”
Thursday, Friday & Saturday 8pm: January 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27; February 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 2006. Sundays 2pm: January 14, 21, 28; February 11, 2006.

Kamau by Alani Apio was first produced by Kumu Kahua in 1994, Kamau was described by Honolulu Advertiser theatre reviewer Joseph Rozmiarek as "a moving and powerful piece on the nature of personal and cultural compromise." No pat answers are offered in Kamau (which means "to persevere"), as playwright Apio explores the complex interrelationships, moral ambiguities and harsh realities of life in contemporary Hawai‘i.
Thursday, Friday & Saturday 8pm: March 15, 16, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31; April 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 2007. Sundays 2pm: March 18, 25; April 1, 15, 2007.

In Anthony Michael Oliver in his play Teacher, Teacher, introduces us to Sharon Kido, an unmarried forty-year-old college English teacher, offers to school one of her students, Gavin, in how to speak, dress and even walk like a proper gentleman. When the local-style Pygmalion process begins, the teacher-student relationship is maintained. But, as the weeks go by, the situation changes.
Thursday, Friday & Saturday 8pm: May 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31; June 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 2007. Sundays 2pm: May 20, 27; June 3, 10, 17, 2007.

Kumu Kahua's 100-seat playhouse puts you at the heart of the drama. With well over 100 plays to its credit, KKT’s reputation attracts some of Hawaii's most talented actors, directors, playwrights, designers and theater artists and technicians. For more information about individual shows, or becoming a Season Subscriber, call 536-4222, or write to kumukahuatheatre@hawaiiantel.net.

Kumu Kahua productions are being supported by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts celebrating more than thirty years of culture and the arts in Hawai‘i (with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts); the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, Mufi Hannemann, Mayor; The Hawai‘i Community Foundation; and Foundations, Businesses and Patrons.