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Capable (Amy Johnson) is surrounded by gappers and their puppeteers (from left, Alex Reis, Kerriann Koizumi and Amber Lehua). Seated in front is musical director Richard Bragdon. (Photo by Chesley Cannon)

The University of Oʻahu at Mānoa’s Department of Theatre and Dance presents The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, April 11–20. This musical features rich and charming melodies.

The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip tells the story of a smart and hard-working girl, Capable (Amy Johnson, seen last fall in Kennedy Theatre’s The Wild Party), her recently widowed father (Johnny Reed, recently seen in Diamond Head Theatre’s Stepping Out) and her neighbors in the village of Frip. The show also features dozens of gappers—small orange sea creatures that love (and terrify) the villagers’ goats.

The children of Frip spend their days combing the gappers from the goats, and returning them to the sea. But one day, the gappers begin to converge only on Capable’s goats, and the young woman must decide whether to ask her neighbors for help, do all the work herself or give up on goats and her family’s livelihood altogether. The villagers’ choices, and the ways that they treat each other, weave together to tell a story of hard work, hard decisions, unneighborly behavior and forgiveness.

The production combines singing, puppetry, humor and some quick-changing double-cast actors.

For more on the production, download the Department of Theatre and Dance news release.

Ticket Information

Performances will take place on April 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m., and April 20 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are available at the Kennedy Theatre box office. The box office is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, with extended hours on performance dates. Tickets may also be purchased online, by phone at (808) 944-2697, and at participating outlets.

Prices are $20 general admission; $18 seniors / military / UH faculty and staff; $15 UHAA members; $13 college students; $10 children aged 2 through 17, and $5 UHMM/abbr> students with validated Spring 2014 UHM photo IDs. Ticket prices include all service fees. Discount rates are available for groups of 10 or more.

—A UH Mānoa news release.

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