Hawaiʻi's University Theatre
The flagship performing arts venue of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the creative home of the Department of Theatre & Dance.
Where Education, Culture, and Community Meet
For more than six decades, Kennedy Theatre has served as the creative home of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Department of Theatre & Dance and one of Hawaiʻi's leading centers for performance, artistic innovation, and cultural exchange. As the University's flagship performing arts venue, Kennedy Theatre brings together students, faculty, guest artists, and audiences through productions that celebrate local stories, global traditions, and contemporary voices.
Every production reflects the department's commitment to artistic excellence, education, and community engagement. From Hawaiian and Asian theatre to contemporary dance, Theatre for Young Audiences, world premieres, and new works, Kennedy Theatre brings scholarship, creativity, and live performance together in ways that inspire, challenge, and connect audiences.
A Theatre with a Purpose
Kennedy Theatre is more than a performance venue—it is a professional teaching theatre where students learn by doing. Throughout the academic year, classrooms, rehearsal studios, production shops, and performance spaces work together as an integrated learning environment, giving students hands-on experience in every aspect of theatre and dance.
At the same time, Kennedy Theatre serves the broader Hawaiʻi community by welcoming thousands of patrons each year to performances, festivals, guest artists, educational programs, and special events. It stands as a place where the University and the community come together to celebrate creativity, cultural understanding, and the enduring power of live performance.
Our Legacy
A Tradition of Excellence
Since opening its doors in 1963, Kennedy Theatre has welcomed generations of students, artists, scholars, and audiences while helping shape the cultural life of Hawaiʻi. Designed by internationally renowned architect I. M. Pei, the theatre was among Honolulu's first modern performance venues and quickly became a landmark for artistic innovation and education.
Originally known as the East-West Theatre, the building was renamed in honor of President John F. Kennedy shortly after his assassination, becoming one of the first buildings in the nation to bear his name. Today, it continues to embody his belief in the importance of education, cultural exchange, and the arts.
Learning Through Performance
From its earliest days, Kennedy Theatre was envisioned as a place where education and performance would exist side by side. Students learn through the complete production process—rehearsing, designing, building, performing, managing, and presenting work before live audiences in a professional theatre environment.
For generations of Theatre & Dance students, stepping onto the Kennedy Theatre stage has marked an important milestone in their artistic journey and prepared them for careers across the performing arts, education, and cultural leadership.
Celebrating Diverse Voices
Kennedy Theatre is internationally recognized for the remarkable diversity of its artistic programming. Productions span classical and contemporary theatre, dance, Theatre for Young Audiences, Hawaiian Theatre, Asian Theatre, world premieres, and original student work, reflecting both Hawaiʻi's unique cultural landscape and the department's global perspective.
This commitment to presenting Indigenous, local, Asian, Pacific, and international performance traditions has made Kennedy Theatre a nationally respected center for artistic innovation, cultural exchange, and performance scholarship.
Looking Forward
Today, Kennedy Theatre continues to serve as a vibrant center for learning, artistic excellence, and community engagement. Together with the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre, it provides spaces where students develop their craft, faculty and guest artists create new work, and audiences gather to experience performances that educate, inspire, and connect.
More than sixty years after opening its doors, Kennedy Theatre remains true to its founding vision: a place where education and performance are inseparable, where tradition and innovation coexist, and where the performing arts continue to enrich the University of Hawaiʻi and the broader community.
