Kumu Kahua Theatre

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Kumu Kahua Theatre is a community theatre located in the city of Honolulu on the island of O'ahu in the state of Hawai'i. Kumu Kahua Theatre is best known for producing plays by local Hawaiʻi-based playwrights, especially plays featuring themes and stories of the people of Hawaiʻi. (Their motto, as seen on their T-shirts and Web site, is "Plays about life in Hawaiʻi. Plays by Hawai'i's playwrights. Plays for Hawaiʻi's people.") Therefore actors are usually featured utilizing their natural local dialect or respective ethnic accent, and many plays have incorporated or are solely written in Hawai'i Creole English. Their productions are also known for involving local actors, designers, directors, and theater technicians. Appropriately the Hawaiian language words kumu kahua translate to "original stage." People familiar with the theatre often call it affectionately by its nickname of Kumu.

Kumu Kahua Theatre was founded in 1971 by Dennis Carroll, a theatre professor of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa [1], with the goal of producing locally-written experimental works. The experimental nature of the theatre gradually disappeared in later years. In 1982, the group was granted not-for-profit status, and in 1994, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature awarded the group its current 100-seat playhouse located in downtown Honolulu at 46 Merchant Street. Dennis Carroll served as its artistic director for many years. Kumu Kahua's current artistic director is Harry Wong III.

Kumu Kahua Theatre has a significant and unique niche in the local theatre scene due to its very clear and specific mission ("Plays about life in Hawaiʻi. Plays by Hawai'i's playwrights. Plays for Hawaiʻi's people.") It has definitely made an impact, helping to foster and nurture a true theatre of Hawaiʻi. In fact due to Kumu Kahua's artistic and box-office success, recently other theatres in Honolulu have begun to produce plays and musicals set in Hawaiʻi or written by playwrights based in Hawai'i. Other noteworthy community (and academic) theaters found on O'ahu include the following: Diamond Head Theatre [2], Manoa Valley Theatre [3], The Actors' Group (TAG) [4], Army Community Theatre [5], Hawaii Pacific University Theatre [6], and the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa [7], which features two venues, the 600-seat John F. Kennedy Theatre (their mainstage) [8] and the 150-seat Earle Ernst Lab Theatre (their black box theatre which features both a Prime Time and Late Night season). (To see a more complete, yet not entirely complete, list of theatre in the state of Hawai'i, go to Hawaii Community Theatre Web Index.)

Kumu Kahua Theatre also offers classes in acting and writing, as well as sponsoring an annual playwrighting contest in conjunction with the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa theatre department. The playwrighting contest categories are as follows:

Hawai'i Prize: This award is open to Hawai'i residents and nonresidents, and the play must be set in Hawai'i or involve some aspect of the Hawai'i experience.
Pacific/Rim Prize: This award is open to Hawai'i residents and nonresidents, and the play must be set in or involve the Pacific Islands, the Pacific Rim or the Pacific/Asian-American experience.
Resident Prize: This award is open only to residents of Hawai'i at the time of submission, and the topic of the play is unrestricted.