"In the Beginning Was the Last Word"
Early in the summer of 2024, several Keakalehua playwrights attended the CAATA (Consortium for Asian American Theaters and Artists) conference at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus, and the Oceanic Pop Culture Association Conference (heavily featuring the works of John Kneubuhl) on the Chaminade University campus. While gathered for these events, members of the hui talked about a past event held by Honolulu Theatre for Youth, that involved plays that were short enough to fit on a postcard. The idea emerged to do something similar for our third Renshi playwriting project. The guidelines were:
Each participant would write a one-page script, about anything. The first word of dialogue must match the final word of dialogue from the previous script. Turnaround time was 2 days. Scripts would be due by 11:59pm HST (Hawaiʻi Standard Time) on the second day, and should be written in standard play format, using Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, with one inch margins around the page. Twenty playwrights signed up to participate, and the project launched on June 26th. Ian Lactaoan volunteered to shepherd the playwrights through the process, collecting each script, and notifying the next playwright of their starting word when it was their turn. He was the final playwright, and endeavored to have his final word of dialogue match the first word of dialogue from the FIRST script of the collection.
The project was completed in early August, and read aloud in the hui on September 4th. The full script containing all twenty short plays is posted here on our website, and a project is underway to print the plays as a set of postcards.
Contents:
He Said / She Said by Tom Cooper
Auto Correct by Vanessa Bowie Rankin
Chef’s Kiss by Diane Aoki
Aphrodisiacs by Sara Ward
Hallway by Jackie Pualani Johnson
Charge by Daniel Akiyama
Cake Bake by Dwight Martin
Croon by Rex McGregor
Karma by Kealiʻi Beck
Law of Karma by Marion Lyman-Mersereau
Namaste by Justina ʻŌlalimākiaikalauaki Mattos
Postcard Play by Randal McEndree
Stay by Steve Smith
Wakita OK Memorial by Nick Higginbotham
Mama Unda Da Mango by Jamie Parker
One Perfect Fucking Day by Tony Pisculli
Renshi Play by Deenie Tagudin Kam
Waimea Lullabye by Wil Kahele
The 3 Witches by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl
Don’t Look Back by Ian Lactaoen
READ THE FULL SCRIPT HERE:
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