A romantic young man and former leader of the Jets, he has found a new lifestyle now. Tony finds himself violently torn between his friendships and love. Falls in love with Maria
-courtesy of Music Theater International
The role of Tony will be played by junior Daylan-Blake Kalaʻi.
Here are some of the talented cast members who will be on stage for West Side Story, November 19-21 at the William Charles Lunalilo Center (click on the character name to learn more):
The Jets
Their Girls
The Sharks
Their Girls
The Adults
It has been a couple of weeks since I returned from Edinburgh, Scotland to participate in the “Familiarization Tour” for the American High School Theater Festival. The “FAM Tour” is a great opportunity for potential participants to experience the festival and see the performance venues and activities that the students will participate in as part of AHSTF.
AHSTF is an independent theater festival embedded in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the worldʻs largest international arts festival. AHSTF selects high schools from the U.S. and Canada to participate in the Fringe. They provide housing, educational activities, meals, and performance venues and technical support for participating high schools, and also provide consulting and assistance with fundraising and logistics.
I arrived a day late for the tour because my flight from Hilo to LA was cancelled, so the entire group was already out touring. I left my bags in the dorm and ventured into Edinburgh on my own.
Edinburgh is a lovely city not much bigger than Hilo proper, but centuries older. No big skyscrapers to block the skyline that looks out onto the North Sea, much like Hilo looks out onto the Pacific. Lots of beautiful stone churches, old halls, cobbled streets in the old part of town where most of the festival is held.
There are a LOT of performance venues! I saw signs advertising “Venue #433”! The streets are filled with families and visitors from all over the world. I heard many different languages spoken, but the tone was always shock and amazement at what was going on around us: performers and performances everywhere. People juggling balls, pins, flaming torches; a choir in beautiful African costume singing a cappella, street magicians, performance artists posing as statues, a woman dressed as Marie Antoinette with a portable guillotine that she used to “behead” willing volunteers. After the hooded head rolled, audiences cheered when the volunteer emerged from the guillotine unharmed.
I spoke with many people who were handing out flyers to promote their shows. One guy wrote a musical with his girlfriend – a one-woman show about depression. I was intrigued and paid my 5 pounds for a ticket. The performance was stunning and deeply moving, a harrowingly accurate portrait of someone struggling with emotions out of control, but ultimately hopeful. The lone, brave woman engaged all of us in the audience. We felt everything she was feeling. We rooted for her and wanted her to be happy. Glitter and confetti flew everywhere. We sang along with her and cheered her on her courageous journey.
Over the course of four days, I watched American high schools, a high school from England, a college a cappella choir, a puppet show version of Beowulf, some great improvised comedy, an improvised musical, and many wonderful performances in venues of every size.
The overall vibe of the festival is family-friendly and wildly creative in the best possible sense. Everyone is there to share and give, and the feeling is infectious.
Good food! Scots know how to eat, obviously. Lots of food options, and not any more expensive than Hilo. Many food courts and food “festivals” to choose from as well as local restaurants offering a variety of international cuisine.
The weather is unpredictable as far as temperature goes. Highs in the 70s, lows in the 40s. Fortunately I am one-fourth Scottish, so part of me doesnʻt mind the cold. The Hawaiian side had some issues, though.
Got to meet the other teachers who will be coming next year, many of whom are coming for the second or third time. When the issue of fundraising came up, they all had one message: if you focus on the students, and believe that this is the best thing for them, a life-changing experience that will better them as students and human beings, then the money will come. I believe!
Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi High School has been invited to participate the 2016 American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF). Twenty students and five chaperones will have the opportunity to join an elite troupe of high school artists and perform as part of the AHSTF program at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the worldʻs largest performing arts festival held annually in Scotland. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe involves 42,000 performers from all over the world and attracts about 1 million visitors each year to performances throughout the month of August.
Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi High School was first nominated to apply for the festival by two local theatre professionals this past fall. The nominations were based on the high standard of excellence demonstrated by Kamehameha’s theatrical performances, ranging from well-known musicals to original works such as Hawaiian-language operas. The AHSTF Board of Advisors selected Kamehameha Hawaiʻi’s program for their commitment to theatre education, promotion of culture, level of administrative support and community involvement. Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi will be the first non-Oʻahu school to attend the AHSTF.
Since its first Hōʻike presentation in 2004, Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi High School has been taken small steps toward building its performing arts program. In 2006, the school initiated its annual Fall Musical and will produce its twelfth musical this November (Into the Woods). In 2011, Kamehameha Hawaiʻi produced its first Hōʻike in the Hawaiian language. This feat was followed by entire operas in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi in 2012 and 2013. For the AHSTF, the school plans to perform its third opera, an adaptation of an earlier Hōike production based on the saga of Hina and Kapepeʻekauila.
The honor of attending the AHSTF is a great leap forward for the school. Enterprises of this pitch and moment come with a large price tag and fundraising efforts have been ongoing since the start of the school year. With funds raised from our performances and the generous contributions of corporate and private donors, the trip will happen as planned. A heartfelt Mahalo nui to all those who contributed to this effort.
Read about Mr. Mahelonaʻs experience at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and American High School Theater Festival.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe developed as an offshoot of the Edinburgh International Festival, a cultural extravaganza held each year during the month of August since 1947.
The International Festival showcases the best of the performing arts of Scotland, Europe, and the world. Performers who were not invited to participate in the International Festival formed their own “fringe” performance festival, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was born, growing to become the largest performing arts festival in the world.
This yearʻs Fringe (which will conclude this week), offered over 4,000 shows in over 400 venues spread throughout the scenic Old Town in Edinburgh. Beginning at 7 am, and running past midnight, each hour, over 400 performances can be seen in every available space in the city, including restaurants, stores, garages, private residences, meeting rooms, buses, and taxis! Performers not housed in a venue can be seen in the streets singing, dancing, and entrancing the curious crowds of local and international visitors.
The Fringe is a welcoming, creative environment that showcases and celebrates a diversity of talents and cultures from around the world. Fringe performances come in all sizes: large-scale musicals and dance works to intimate one-person shows and stand-up comedy. The vibe of the Fringe leans towards the intimate, personal, creative and engaging. The majority of shows play in smaller venues where the audience is just a few feet away from the performers, allowing the audience to be completely immersed in the show.
The city of Edinburgh (locals pronounce it “Edin-barrah”) is roughly the geographical size of Hilo, but with a bigger population of about a million. In the center of the city, atop a small hill sits Edinburgh Castle surrounded below by centuries-old stone churches and buildings. For the summer months, an 8,000 seat stadium is built on the hill facing the castle. Each night from March to September, visitors can experience the “Edinburgh Military Tattoo”, an international music/dance pageant/light & fireworks show that can only be compared with the opening of the Olympic games.
The Fringe has many sub-festivals, or independent events organized by performing arts groups that host their own performers. One of the most popular of these is the American High School Theater Festival.
“The lei of the new beginnings of the new realm.”
Hāweoʻula is the red sunlight you see in the morning at dawn. The Hawaiian people were initially afraid of the red sunlight coming from the east because it resembled blood. As they got closer to this mysterious light they soon realized that the light was a beautiful harbinger for the beginning of the new day.
Makana Waikiki and Kuʻuhiapo Jeong, two of the students who will be traveling to Edinburgh in August 2016, chose this as the theme for our trip.
Symbolically, this trip represents the start of something new for our school, the students, and the Hawaiian culture. It will be a “first” in many aspects: the first time the school has travelled off island to share a Hōʻike presentation, the first Hawaiian language presentation at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the first hula presentation at the festival, the first Kamehameha campus to be represented at the festival. For many of our students it will be their first trip to Europe.
As we look to the many tasks necessary to prepare for the journey, it is not difficult to feel overwhelmed and fearful. But as our kūpuna watched the foreboding red sky gradually lighten into day, we look to this experience as the dawn of a new chapter of life and learning.
The logo (both versions) depicts Hina, the wife of Hakalanileo of Hilo, watching from the cliffs of Hāʻupu on Molokaʻi where she has been abducted by the chief Kapepeʻekauila. Below, the canoes of her sons, Nīheu and Kana and their warriors arrive to rescue her and battle against Kapepeʻekauila in a conflict that will bring the end of an ancient communal culture and solidify the kapu system as the dominant social order.
Read on to find out more about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the American High School Theater Festival, and the original Hawaiian opera the school will take to the festival.