WHO/WHAT: Playwright and Hawai‘i journalist Gary T. Kubota’s national touring play, “The Legend of Ko‘olau,” comes to Honolulu for a one-time-only performance. The historically based one-man play focuses on Kaluaiko’olau, a legendary Hawaiian cowboy on Kaua‘i, who fought the militia that had overthrown the Hawaiian monarchy and wanted to exile Kaluaiko’olau and his son to the remote lepers colony at Kalaupapa on Moloka‘i.
In his review, Berkeley poet/radio commentator Jack Foley, who attended the Northern California premiere, noted that Kaluaiko’olau’s resistance to political and moral forces are eroding not only for himself, but for the entire Hawaiian people.
“The play documents his struggle to maintain his sense of dignity and his armed refusal to be treated in the inhumane way that lepers were treated. With his wife and young son, he becomes an emblem of resistance — a ‘legend.’ But to put it that way is leave out the many humanizing touches playwright Kubota has given the man — his multiple conflicting allegiances, his anger, his humor, his guilt about a murder he felt compelled to commit, his conflicts about religion, his deep love for his wife and son.”
WHEN/WHERE: Saturday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Honolulu Museum Of Arts’ Doris Duke Theatre.
COST: Tickets range from $20-$35. To purchase tickets, visit legendofkoolau.com or call the Honolulu Museum of Arts’ Doris Duke Theatre at (808) 532-6097.
