Maʻawe Mua | Noiʻi
The Scholarship and Publication Ma‘awe held a strategic planning retreat for the research institute, two writing retreats, and a grant writing retreat. This ma‘awe also hosts guest Indigenous scholars, is organizing a conference, and will produce two publications of faculty and student research in the field of Hawaiian and Indigenous Performance.
Events Archive
Kaisara Panels for Hawaiian History Month
On September 21, 2023, the panel “Staging Shakespeare in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi” was featured as a part of the Center for Biographical Research’s ongoing Brown Bag Biography series. The new hana keaka Kaisara adapts William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar into the Hawaiian language, and with a frame story set in Honolulu in 1894. These layers of storytelling presented numerous challenges for the cast and artistic team, as well as many sources for inspiration. On this panel, the writer/director, set designer, costume designer, members of the cast, and the director of the Hawaiian Theatre Program each shared about their role in creating this production. Photos by Hezekiah Kapuaʻala.
Watch “Staging Shakespeare in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi” on YouTube through ʻŌiwi TV. View the informational flyer here.
The second panel, “Politicizing Shakespeare in Post-Overthrow Hawaiʻi,” took place on September 24, 2023. The new hana keaka Kaisara is built upon the layers of several eras of the past: the assassination of Julius Caesar in Ancient Rome, William Shakespeare’s depiction of this event in Renaissance England, and James N. K. Keola’s Hawaiian translation of scenes from Shakespeare’s play in 1896. For this panel, the playwright was joined by scholars of Shakespeare and Hawaiian history to discuss the historical context of Kaisara. Photos by Hezekiah Kapuaʻala.
Watch “Politicizing Shakespeare in Post-Overthrow Hawaiʻi” on YouTube. View the informational flyer here.
Indigenous Performance and Hana Keaka (Hawaiian Theatre)
The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented a conversation livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Indigenous Performance and Hana Keaka (Hawaiian Theatre) on July 10, 2023.
This conversation with Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker and Markus Wessendorf was about the history, curriculum, theatre productions, research, and current projects of the Hana Keaka (Hawaiian Theatre) program at the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM). The MFA in Hawaiian Theatre was established in the Fall of 2014 and has already received national and international recognition. A new PhD concentration in Hawaiian and Indigenous Performance at UHM starts this Fall. These two tracks are the only graduate programs in the United States with a specific focus on Indigenous performance. Moderated by Frank Hentschker.
Watch their conversation here.
American Theatrical Costumers Association
During the 2023 ATCA, American Theatrical Costumers Association, Summer Conference and Workshop, Associate Professor Maile Speetjens presented on the design process for Hana Keaka thesis production, He Leo Aloha, on a panel entitled “Sustainable Solutions,” and presented a lecture/discussion entitled “Reframing the Costume Design Process Using the 6 “R’s” of Indigenous Research.”
Kanaka on Screen: Who’s Telling Our Stories
On May 2, 2023, Kumu Hailiʻōpua Baker participated in a discussion titled “Kānaka On Screen: Who’s Telling Our Stories” as a part of the Lāhui Rising Series. The discussion, aimed at examining issues surrounding representation and appropriation of Hawaiians in film and television, was held at Kaʻiwakīloumoku at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, and also featured Donne Dawson, Ty Sanga, Heather Haunani Giugni, and Nāʻālehu Anthony, and was hosted by Lāiana Kanoa-Wong.
Mo'olelo Book Panels
On April 20 and 27, 2023, the Center for Biographical Research’s ongoing Brown Bag Biography Series featured two events for the recently published book Moʻolelo: The Foundation of Hawaiian Knowledge, the seventh volume in the Hawaiʻinuiākea Series. The first talk, held in English, was given by editors Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker and C. M. Kaliko Baker. The second talk was the first Brown Bag Biography event to be held entirely in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. Moderated by kaipulaumakaniolono, this panel featured Hawaiian scholars and book contributors R. Keawe Lopes, Jr., Larry Kauanoe Kimura, Kamalani Johnson, and Kahikina de Silva. These panels discussed the process of creating this book, the topics featured in each essay, and the importance of moʻolelo.
For more information about the book, including where to purchase, visit Moʻolelo: The Foundation of Hawaiian Knowledge through UH Press.
Watch Panel One, “Mo‘olelo, the Foundation of Hawaiian Knowledge: Retaining Our Heritage” on YouTube.
Watch Panel Two, “Moʻolelo: ke kīpaipai e kūkulu ai ka hale kanaka” on YouTube.
Lāhui Hawaiʻi Research Center Student Conference
ANNO graduate assistants presented a poster on the new Research Institute, the Hana Keaka MFA, and the new PhD in Hawaiian and Indigenous Performance. After the poster presenation, Kumu Hailiʻōpua moderated a panel discussion with all of the current and incoming Hana Keaka MFA students entitled “Kupu ā Lau ka Hana Keaka: Recent and Upcoming Productions in the Hawaiian Theatre Program.”
View their poster presentation here.
Choreographic Research Aotearoa
On Wednesday, March 22, 2023, Dr. Perillo delivered a keynote presentation for the Dance Studies Programme at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland, and the Choreographic Research Aotearoa, followed by a Q&A by Teuila Hughes, Tia Reihana, Alys Longley. Choreographic Research Aotearoa is a meeting ground and space dedicated to research and critical practice in dance and performance through guest talks, workshops, performances and a research salon.
View the informational flyer here.
“Damu, Color Concepts, and Chief in Fijian”
On March 9, 2023, Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence for the 2022-2023 Academic School Year, Dr. Apolonia Tamata, gave a talk called “Damu, Color Concepts, and Chief in Fijian” as part of the Center for Biographical Research’s ongoing Brown Bag Biography series. In her presentation, Dr. Tamata discussed “damu,” a color category reserved for chiefs and things chiefly, as well as “roka,” a word encompassing all colors that she believes came before terms for individual colors developed through the reduplication of words related by similar shades.
View the informational poster here.
ʻAʻapueo Panel at Kamehameha Schools Maui
On February 24, 2023, members of the ANNO team attended the premiere of a new hana keaka production at Kamehameha Schools Maui, ʻAʻapueo, written and directed by Ikaika Mendez (now an MFA student in the Hawaiian Theatre Program), and adapted from W. H. Uaua’s “Ka moolelo kaao o ka hoouka kaua o na Pueo, a lukuia na kanaka a me na‘lii o Maui,” which was published in the newspaper Ke Au Okoa in 1871. Before the performance, Kumu Hailiʻōpua Baker joined Kumu Pueo Pata and Kumu Hōkūao Pellegrino for a panel discussion on their roles in helping Mendez develop the play, advising him throughout the process of adapting the moʻolelo into dialogue, writing original songs to accompany the story, and also creating a frame story set in a present-day high school classroom.
View the show program here.
Lire en Polynésie
In November 2022, Kristiana Kahakauwila gave several talks at the Lire en Polynésie book festival in Tahiti. In addition to lecturing on the publication of the French translation of her first book, the story collection THIS IS PARADISE (translated into French as “39 Bonnes Raisons de Transformer des Obsèques Hawaiiennes en Beuverie”), she also spoke on two panels. In the first, alongside Vanuatu writer Myriam Malao, Mā’ohi poet Chantal Spitz, and Māori novelist Becky Manawatu, she discussed the female gaze on the relationship with “the other” in the Pacific. In the second she was joined in conversation with her French translator Mireille Vignol and Chantal Spitz to discuss the process of translating pidgin. As part of the week-long event, Kristiana also served in an outreach capacity with student groups, working with young people to create their own stories and art.
Strategic Planning Retreat
On November 11, 2022, the ANNO team and members gathered for their first Strategic Planning Retreat. This gathering allowed members to share about the current status of Hawaiian & Indigenous Performance within their respective disciplines and how ANNO can help support their efforts and projects. Members also shared ideas for student engagement, course curriculum, and community outreach in their areas that can be created through the new research institute.
