Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 12, 1 December 1990 — Kahoʻolawe drama plays on Maui [ARTICLE]

Kahoʻolawe drama plays on Maui

Leahi, Na Waiho'olu'u ke anuenue, and Unele Les Kuloloio's Na Hoku O Maui will headline a benefit on Sunday. Dec. 9 starting at 5:30 p.m. in the lao Theater in Wailuku, Maui. Robert Kekaula, Channel 4 sportscaster, will host the event. The music groups are three of the newest, most popular in Hawaii.

The benefit is being held to raise funds to produce Maui Community Theater's production of "Stillborn (a modern !egend of Kaho'olawe)." The drama, whieh will play Jan. 3 - 6 at the Iao Theater in Wailuku, is based on a number of landings on Kaho'olawe by Hawaiian activist starting in 1976. The play is a fictitious account that used the oeeupahon as a springboard to speak out on various Hawaiian issues. The events of "Stillborn" are seen through the eyes and soul of a reporter arrested while covering the occupation. He is inspired to reveal his feelings while lookingacross to

Maui from Kaho'olawe. Two men (Kai and Makani) and two women (Haumea and Hina Hina) eventually end upon the island defending it by themselves. On the island, they face a number of trials: a bombing, personality conflicts, the loss at sea of two fellow dissidents, a confrontation with the U.S. Navy and their arrest.

As at the start, the reporter brings the audience back full circle to the reality of the state of Kaho'olawe today. Flashbacks to the over-throw of the Monarchy and World War II help give an insight into Kaho'olawe's role in the islands. Wayne Moniz, a native of Maui with a master's degree in theater from UCLA, wrote the play with the inspiration of Unele Harry Mitchell and a number of Hawaiian mentors. Many loeal Hawaiian men, women, and children will protray the 25 roles in the production.