The latest production by WCC’s theatre program features ghosts, poetic text and startling visual images and deals with tragic subject matter. Directed by WCC theatre lecturer Taurie Kinoshita and performed by THEA 260 students, Burning/Memory runs March 8 to 17 at Palikū Theatre.
The three cross-cultural, one-act plays take dramatic theories of Noh theater and translate them for a contemporary western audience.
The three plays are Cane Fields Burning written by Kemuel DeMoville and Memory of a Dream and Remembering the Fall by Taurie Kinoshita.
Cane Fields Burning is about a young man who replicates the abusive actions of his father. The play uses a chorus of actors to depict the repeating cycle of domestic violence.
In Memory of a Dream, adapted from the Noh play Matsukaze, an itinerant priest meets a ghost. The ghost is Matsukaze, a woman trapped between worlds forever longing for her lost love.
The play uses poetry from well-known western poets to achieve a poetic-referencing technique used in Noh theater.
Remembering the Fall is very loosely inspired by the play Atsumori and based on the life of James Foley. It deals with the death of war correspondents.
The production is performed by WCC theatre students Raymond Zach Thompson, Daphnei Hussein, Juvyln Lucina, Noah Schuetz, Shantel Au, Caleb Cordova, Micah Souza, Cassidy Keiko Patmont, John R. Barajas Jr., Stuart Featheran Jr., Manuel A. Moreno and Chivalry Butler.
Due to adult situations and themes, the play is recommended for ages 14 and older.
The show runs Thursday, March 7 at 4 p.m., Friday and Saturday, March 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 10 at 4 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.palikutheatre.com, or call (808) 235-7315 for more information.
To learn more about theatre classes at WCC, contact assistant professor Nicolas Logue at 236-9138, logue@hawaii.edu or go online at windward.hawaii.edu/theatre.
by Ka ‘Ohana, News Staff