Backstage

‘The Play’s the Thing’ – Romance, comedy and laughter are in store

If the upcoming ProArts production, "The Play's the Thing," sounds familiar to you, it's a Shakespeare quote from "Hamlet" - "the play's the thing to prove the conscience of the king." Hamlet uses a play of regicide to observe his uncle's reaction. If he flinches, Hamlet believes that will prove guilt. Like "Hamlet," "The Play's the Thing" includes a play within a play designed to serve the protagonist's purpose.Adapted twice, it was originally written by Ferenc Molnar, a Budapest-born playwright who immigrated to the United States in order to escape persecution of Hungarian Jews during ...

Chappelle stacks the MACC

Cataluna’s ‘flowers’ to bloom at MACC

About a year and a half ago, I interviewed Lee Cataluna, who had just released her latest book, "Three Years on Doreen's Sofa." At the time she was continuing her education in California, which led to a creative-writing assignment of 10-page scenes. Those scenes have now evolved into her latest play, "Flowers of Hawai'i," a series of playlets depicting relationships between several members of a Hawaiian family.Oahu journalist Ryan Senega describes Cataluna as "Hawaii's Nora Ephron." High praise, indeed, but with successes like "Doreen's Sofa," "Folks You Meet in Longs," as well as 10 ...

Life on the Fringe

One of the biggest catch-22s in entertainment is: How do you make it? Perhaps actress Lana Turner was actually discovered sitting at the soda counter of Schwab's Drug Store in Hollywood, but I doubt it. To get an agent, you have to be cast; to get in the union, you have to be cast; to be cast, you have to have an agent and preferably be in a union, too. It's not that different for writers: No one wants to buy a script from someone they've never heard of. Some producing tricks involve casting a big star to be in a green playwright's project, but most agents do not want their big star to ...

Maui Stage sizzles

While working as a volunteer usher twenty-some years ago in San Francisco, I met a woman named Millie Weitz. She was 89 at the time and had starred in the 1937 Broadway production of Harold Rome's "Pins and Needles." She shared many stories from the era and showed me a photo of her sitting on FDR's lap. Millie's youngest sister was recruited by the real-life Mama Rose of "Gypsy" fame (Rose Hovick) for "Rose Louise and her Hollywood Blondes," (bottles of peroxide were involved). A few years later, the Broadway tour of "Showboat," starring Kirby Ward, came to San Francisco's historical ...

‘Intergalactic’

The Maui Arts & Cultural Center last season introduced Maui to a new form of theater with "Intergalactic Nemesis Book One: Target Earth," a live-action graphic novel and 1930s radio show. There used to be an Oregon-based PBS show called "Matinee at the Bijou," and the best part was watching the old episodic serials that preceded the film. One of my favorites was the 1930s' "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century." The costumes and the special effects were ridiculous and the acting was terrible, yet I couldn't take my eyes off it. Although certainly inspired by that era of science fiction, ...