Who You Again?
Written by Ryan Okinaka
Directed by Erin Healani Chung
An Oʻahu family struggles to care for their matriarch as dementia slowly steals her memories away. Her grandson's method of existing within -- and adding to -- the imaginative world she inhabits creates a special bond. He helps her cope with changing realities, and she gives him the gift of self-acceptance.
Dance Nation
by Clare Barron
directed by Erin Healani Chung
Everyone is nice.
Everyone is vulnerable.
And everyone is trying their hardest.
Somewhere in America, an army of pre-teen competitive dancers plots to take over the world. And if their new routine is good enough, they’ll claw their way to the top at Nationals in Tampa Bay. A Pulitzer Prize-nominated play about ambition, growing up, and how to find our souls in the heat of it all.
Stop Kiss
by Diana Son
directed by Robin Ziroli Clarey
When Callie meets Sara, an unexpected friendship blossoms into a powerful and life-changing love. In Stop Kiss, their relationship unfolds with tenderness, humor, and vulnerability — until a brutal hate crime following their first kiss changes both of their lives forever. Told through a moving non-linear narrative, the play explores love, identity, trauma, and the enduring impact of violence, intolerance and love.
Sisters Matsumoto
Stockton, California 1945. Three Japanese-American sisters return to their farm after years in an internment camp, but the once prosperous family finds it’s not easy to pick up the pieces of their former lives. As the details of their deceased father’s final arrangements emerge, the sisters must work together to keep their dreams alive.
By Philip Kan Gotanda
Directed by Jennie Kaneshiro
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
An American classic by Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is set in the sweltering Mississippi Delta where Brick and his wife Maggie are celebrating the birthday of Brick’s father, Big Daddy. But Big Daddy is disturbed and disappointed by the tempestuous relationship between his prized son Brick, an aging football hero who is desperately trying to escape reality, and the beautiful and feisty Maggie. As the hot summer evening unfolds, the veneer of Southern gentility slips away, and long-hidden truths emerge in this powerful, not to be missed, Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece.
COAHTF is the second of six monthly staged readings in the Play Reading Series, the Mālama Arts initiative to support excitement and offer opportunity for plays in Hilo. Each month, MA will select a play for local actors to read for a live audience. Staged readings are exciting yet low-pressure opportunities to present actors and audiences with new material. With generous support from the County of Hawai’i and in collaboration with Hilo Community Players, Mālama Arts is pleased to offer the Play Reading Series free of cost.
Uncle’s Regularly Scheduled Garage Party is Cancelled Tonight
Every week, there’s a party at Uncle’s house. Except this week the party is cancelled, but everybody shows up anyway. Why was the party cancelled? Where’s Aunty? Who even are these people anyway?
Find out at the staged reading of the play “Uncle’s Regularly Scheduled Garage Party Is Cancelled Tonight” by Hawai’i playwright and journalist Lee Cataluna. Stick around after the reading for a talkback with the playwright herself!
What is the Play Reading Series?
The PRS is a monthly offering of a staged reading of a play. From American classics to cutting edge new works to local kine mea, we’re excited about discovering and sharing plays with our community!
What makes a staged reading different than a read-through or table read?
Basically, a staged reading is a rehearsed read-through of a script, performed for a live audience. The actors have some input from a director and are able to give a little practice and thought to their performance before going up in front of an audience. Mālama Arts aims to have one rehearsal before each staged-reading to help actors and director enrich their connection to the material.
Putting on an entire production uses a huge amount of resources and there are just so many great plays out there! As a growing production company, we believe readings are an accessible way for us to offer more theatre opportunities for audiences and artists. Stages readings are low pressure opportunities for actors to practice their craft in between full productions, day jobs and busy lives. They’re also a cheap (free!) and easy way for audiences to SEE MORE THEATRE!