Rooted in Tradition. Alive in Performance.
He mole, he mo‘olelo, he ‘eu i ke kahua
E Komo Mai!
Welcome to the Department of Theatre & Dance at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa — a place where performance, scholarship, culture, and creativity meet.
Our department offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Theatre and Dance, with opportunities to study, train, create, and perform across a wide range of traditions from Hawaiʻi, the Pacific, Asia, Europe, and North America. Students join us from across Hawaiʻi and around the world to explore performance as both artistic practice and cultural inquiry.
Land Acknowledgement
He ʻĀina, He Kanaka, He Hawaiʻi Maoli
We acknowledge Hawaiʻi as an indigenous space where the descendants of the original people are today identified as Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian). We recognize that it was through coercion, force, and the breaking of formal treaties that this land was illegally seized. Her majesty Queen Liliʻuokalani temporarily yielded the Hawaiian Kingdom and these territories under duress and protest to the United States to avoid the bloodshed of her people. Let us further recognize and express gratitude for the generations of Aboriginal Hawaiians and their knowledge systems that have shaped and continue to shape Hawaiʻi in a sustainable way that allows us to learn here today.
The ʻāina (land) on which the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa sits is located in the ahupuaʻa (land division from mountain to sea) of Waikīkī, in the moku (district) of Kona, on the mokupuni (island) of Oʻahu, in the Pae ʻĀina o Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian archipelago). The particular ʻili ʻāina (land division) that Kennedy Theatre is situated on is at the triangulation of Kaualaʻa, Wailele and Waʻahila. Ma kai (seaward) of the theatre is Kapaʻakea and to the west is Puahia and Pilipili. Ma uka (inland) of our campus are the uplands of Kahoʻiwai, the water that is the source for our major stream of Kānewai. Acknowledging these traditional wahi pana (place names) honors the ʻāina and the historic relationship that Kānaka Maoli have with this place.
Rooted in Hawaiʻi. Connected to the World.
What makes our department distinct is our deep commitment to Hawaiʻi, Asia, and the Pacific. Our programs center the relationship between theory and practice, encouraging students to become thoughtful artists, scholars, designers, performers, choreographers, educators, and cultural leaders.
Students may study ballet, contemporary dance, hip-hop, queer dance, screendance, hula, Tahitian, Okinawan dance, and other Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific forms. In theatre, our offerings include Hawaiian theatre and Indigenous performance, Asian theatre traditions such as Kabuki, Jingju, and Wayang, Theatre for Young Audiences, design, directing, playwriting, performance studies, and more.
A Community of Belonging
We are committed to fostering an academic and artistic environment where students, faculty, staff, artists, and audiences feel welcomed, respected, valued, and empowered. We believe creativity flourishes when diverse perspectives, experiences, and voices are embraced and celebrated.
Our support for Native Hawaiian, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other historically marginalized communities is central to our mission. Through our teaching, creative work, research, and community engagement, we strive to cultivate a culture of belonging grounded in equity, respect, cultural responsibility, and meaningful human connection.
A Native Hawaiian Place of Learning
We acknowledge Hawaiʻi as an Indigenous space and recognize Kānaka Maoli as the descendants of the original people of these islands. We honor the knowledge systems, cultural practices, and continued presence of Native Hawaiians, and we recognize the history of settler colonialism and the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Our department supports the University of Hawaiʻi’s commitment to becoming a Native Hawaiian place of learning. This commitment shapes how we teach, create, gather, and imagine the future of performance in Hawaiʻi.
Learning Through Performance
Coursework in our department is closely connected to production. Students create, rehearse, design, perform, manage, and study work presented at John F. Kennedy Theatre, a landmark campus venue designed by I.M. Pei and opened in 1963.
Kennedy Theatre includes a 619-seat mainstage and the 147-seat Earle Ernst Lab Theatre, offering students hands-on experience in a range of theatrical and dance settings. Our productions reflect the breadth of our degree programs while uplifting Hawaiian-Pacific, Asian, Indigenous, BIPOC, and global performance traditions.
FIND YOUR PLACE HERE!
Whether your path leads to performance, choreography, design, scholarship, teaching, directing, writing, production, or community-engaged practice, the Department of Theatre & Dance offers a place to explore who you are, what you value, and how your artistry can speak to the world.
LEARN MORE
Events
9/30
EPIC | PRIMETIME SERIES
10/23
THE WIZARD OF OZ | MAINSTAGE SERIES
11/18
THE STORY TELLER | PRIMETIME SERIES
12/03
el momento en que me desperté | LATE NIGHT SERIES
News
SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT
Finding Home in the Extraordinary Classic Stories. Local Soul. Ancestral Echoes. Across multiple productions and two stages, Kennedy Theatre’s 2026–2027 season journeys through classic stories, local perspectives, ancestral memory, bold new works, music, movement, and imagination—inviting audiences to discover wonder in the familiar and possibility in the unexpected. From a Yellow Brick Road built through upcycled imagination to early 1960s Honolulu. From transcultural dance-theatre to the enduring power of moʻolelo. From original choreography to a joyful new story of voice, belonging, and finding your place in the world. Six Productions. Two Stages. Countless Journeys Home.
EPIC | PRIMETIME SERIES
EPIC is a transcultural dance-theatre work directed and choreographed by Professor Pei-Ling Kao in collaboration with Taiwanese choreographer Sunny Nai-Hsuan Yang, artistic director of Les Petites Choses Production. Epic represents an exploration towards inclusivity in dance. The work embraces the diversity of dance genres and human bodies, celebrating movement as a shared human language created by—and belonging to—everyone.
Partner Events - Kennedy Theatre & Beyond
8/21
The Hobbit
