A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa hana keaka (play) written and directed by a recent alumnus of the Department of Theatre and Dance as part of his MFA degree in Hawaiian Theatre captured six national awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). The national theatre program, which incorporates 18,000 students annually from colleges and universities across the country, awarded productions in higher education that promote long-term societal impacts through an artistic lens.
The UH Mānoa Hawaiian Theatre’s production, Hoʻoilina is written and directed by Ākea Kahikina who penned the comedic hana keaka mostly in Hawaiian. The play also features other languages such as Pidgin, English and ʻōlelo māhū (māhū creole). Set in pre-pandemic Hawaiʻi, Hoʻoilina explores real-time issues such as what it takes to be considered Hawaiian.
“It is truly an honor to be recognized on the American national level for theatre excellence,” Kahikina expressed. “The true award, however, is the participation, laughter, tears and leo kākoʻo (supportive voices) of our lāhui: our people, our nation. That is the validation we as hana keaka practitioners look for when putting out moʻolelo (stories) for our people.”
The production, which closed Kennedy Theatre’s 2021–22 mainstage season last April, netted awards for the play’s ensemble, original artwork and costume design.
Related: Comedic play to debut in Hawaiian, Pidgin and ʻōlelo māhū, March 2022
“This national recognition of our students’ creative scholarship confirms the po‘okela or level of excellence that is pursued and inherent in Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) theatre praxis,” said Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker, director and founder of the campus’ inaugural Hawaiian Theatre program. “When a hana keaka production is honored nationally, that award elevates the Hawaiian Theatre Program, the Department of Theatre and Dance and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.”
Awards
Hoʻoilina
- Kennedy Citizen Award
- Distinguished achievement for the company/ensemble
- Distinguished achievement for original artwork Kaʻiminaʻauao Cambern)
- Distinguished achievement for costume design (Kaneikoliakawahineikaʻiukapuomua Baker)
- Distinction for production of a new play
- Distinction for dramaturgy (Kaipulaumakaniolono Baker)
Nationally recognized
Last spring, KCACTF presented eight awards to UH Mānoa hana keaka, He Leo Aloha. The production performed exclusively in Hawaiian earned recognition for directing, individual performance, and lighting and music. The Hawaiian storytelling genre is flourishing rapidly. In 2022, for the first time in Kennedy Theatre history, Hawaiian language productions opened and closed out the theatre’s mainstage season.
- Related UH News story: UH Hawaiian language play scoops 8 national awards, May 5, 2022
UH aspires to be the world’s foremost Indigenous serving university. In 2014, the Hawaiian Theatre program was formally established at UH Mānoa by Baker. Lāʻieikawai, the inaugural hana keaka production she wrote and directed, played to sold out audiences on the Kennedy Theatre mainstage in 2014 before touring to Hawaiʻi Island, Molokaʻi, Kauaʻi and Aotearoa (New Zealand). In January 2020, Baker’s production ʻAuʻa ʻIa: Holding On, was showcased off-Broadway in New York City.
