Wednesday, March 06, 2019
Carrying On Our Cultural Responsibility Through Theatre
HowlRound Theatre Commons: My ancestors are grounded in the districts of Puna, Kona, Hilo, and Hāmākua on the island of Hawaiʻi. I come from generations of people who are rooted in this land with stories that are longing to be told and need to be heard. I have often questioned myself in search of my place and responsibility to my family, my ancestors, and to future generations. I believe we all come to a point in our lives where we need to discover what our purpose is in this life. For me, it came by way of hana keaka Hawaiʻi, or Hawaiian theatre.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I think some of the strongest theatrical experiences I’ve had are with plays that are multilingual or tied to a culture different than my own. There is something so insightful and beautiful when one has the ability to experience theater in another language and get a glimpse into another world. Puakahiki Kaui Kaina has written this amazing article about her journey to understand how to respect her ancestors and have a career within the theater industry. Through her thesis project, where she was able to retell a mo’olelo, she was able to feel as though she was regaining tradition for her Hawaiian culture - which was so destroyed by the United States colonizing Hawaii in the 1860’s. Culture is an extremely important part of human identity. I really enjoyed this article as it was just beautiful to read about a person’s journey with theater and how theater is a platform for the Hawaiian people to reinforce their age old stories and traditions.
Post a Comment