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Frangipani Perfume cast members Doris Tulifau (Naiki), Kiana Rivera (Pomu), and Mane (Tivi)

The Leeward Theatre at Leeward Community College presents Frangipani Perfume, September 17, 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26 at 8 p.m. in the Laboratory Theatre.

Frangipani Perfume movingly explores the painful gap between myth, memory and banal reality for Pacific Island immigrant families. One minute the audience is floating in the clouds, wafted along on the scent of frangipani (plumeria), the next minute they hear a toilet flushing. Languorous movement to Offenbach’s stately Barcarolle is followed by a session of floor-mopping and the line, “I hate the smell of piss and Janola!” This startlingly original play from Makerita Urale, one of the leading Pacific Island playwrights, challenges the usual images of Pacific Islands women with energy, humor and biting satire.

Enormously entertaining, it is packed with powerful, fun, robust and vibrant characters. Frangipani Perfume brings fresh insight into the reality of Pacific Island women in New Zealand. Urale examines the tension between tradition and the reality of living in contemporary Western society.

About the cast, playwright and director

  • Kiana Rivera (playing the character of “Pomu”)

    Rivera is a current MFA candidate in directing at UH Mānoa. She was recently seen in Kumu Kahua’s My Name is Gary Cooper where she played T and Teuila. Rivera was born and raised in Hawaiʻi but is of Samoan/Filipino descent. “I identify with Pomu a lot with the exception of her obsession with physics. I’ve always been drawn to my Samoan ancestry, but it wasn’t very accessible to me. I’m just another product of Polynesian migration and cultural/familial dysfunction.”

  • Mane (playing the character of “Tivi”)

    Born in American Samoa, raised in Aiea, Mane is a veteran of the local theatre. She was last seen in Kumu Kahua’s Ola Na Iwi. Before that she was in Bacchae, Metamorphosis, Epic of Gilgamesh and Ulalena. Mane has also been a part of the Independent Film industry in Hawaiʻi. She and her two acting buddies, who were all a part of The Actor’s Group/Ensemble, created a film company called, Epiphany Films. They’ve written and produced short films that were shown in the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival. In her free time; she likes to transcribe mime shows, improve her skill of clapping on beats 2 and 4 and practice her non-regional diction.

  • Doris Tulifau (playing the character of “Naiki”)

    Tulifau is the founder of Pasifika Women Book Club that promotes the work of Pacific Islander writers. She is also member of Le fetuao Samoan language school in Hawaiʻi and is also a reporter for 4nesiansmedia promoting, Pacific Islander events around Hawaiʻi. Tulifau is currently a post grad student at UH Mānoa and is the owner of a women’s boutique in Wahiawā.

  • Makerita Urale (playwright)

    Urale is a Samoan-born, published writer and documentary film director with many years of experience working in professional theatre and the arts in New Zealand. Her landmark debut play Frangipani Perfume, published by Play Press, has toured internationally to Canada, Australia and the UK and is studied in schools and universities. As a filmmaker she has tackled issues such as culture, gangs, political protest and Maori land rights with her documentaries Children of the Revolution, Waiata Whawhai–Songs of Protest, Savage Symbols about Samoan tattooing, Mob Daughters and Gang Girl—Tarnz’s story. Makerita is the recipient of the 2010 Fulbright-Creative NZ writer’s residency at UH Mānoa, where she wrote a new play entitled Heathen. Makerita joined Creative New Zealand in December 2010 as a senior arts adviser–Pacific Arts.

  • Ashley DeMoville (Director)

    As an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, DeMoville directs both freelance and educational theatre. She has worked as an actor and director in Hawaiʻi, California and New Zealand and has directed award-winning pieces in both theatre and film. A specialist in actor training, DeMoville has taught a variety of acting techniques on island including introduction to Asian acting styles at UH Mānoa, TV/film acting at Kathy Muller Talent Agency and beginning acting in the UH Community Colleges. She has trained in the teaching of the Michael Chekhov Technique both with Joanna Merlin and with The Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. Currently DeMoville teaches courses in Theatre at Leeward Community College.

Ticket information

  • $15 general admission
  • $10 Leeward CC and UH System students and staff with valid UH ID

Tickets can be purchased at The Leeward Theatre box office, which opens at 7 p.m. The box office accepts cash only. For information about pre-sale and group tickets, contact Ashley DeMoville via email or at (808) 455-0691.

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