WE, THE INVISIBLES by Kailua Onstage Arts
we, the invisbles
Paul and Vi Loo Theatre
August 2-11
Fri, Sat at 7:30pm, Sun at 4:00pm
Kailua Onstage Arts finishes its inaugural season on a high note with the Hawaii premiere of we, the invisibles by Hawaii born Susan Soon He Stanton. Selected for the 2017 Kilroys List, which recognizes the best under-produced plays by women, this funny, ferocious, and fast-paced play explores a kaleidoscope of topics – MeToo, gender politics, the 1%, immigration, cultural identity, victimhood – through the eyes of a luxury hotel worker.
The character Susan is a playwright working a survival job at a luxury hotel. Stirred by a controversial case in which a West African maid’s accusation against a powerful man is dismissed, she starts interviewing her fellow employees who have come to America from all over the world. She feels compelled to give voice to other hotel workers rarely heard stories but as her investigation deepens, this documentary project becomes an unexpectedly personal journey. Funny, poignant, and brutally honest, we, the invisibles, explores the complicated relationship between the movers and shakers and the people who change their sheets.
A dizzying array of nearly 100 different characters are brought to life with chameleon quickness by an ensemble of nine of Oahu’s best actors: Therese Olival, Allison Francis, Garrett Hols, Jason Lee Hoy, Danielle Zalopany, Stacey Pulmano, Noah Faumuina, Pedro Haro, and Monica Bennett. All have been pushed to new heights by the demands of the play. Keaveney reports, “The cast has thrown themselves into the challenge of learning an array of new accents, while juggling a dozen or more characters each, some of whom have to be painted with broad strokes and others who require a delicate to tease out their complex emotional lives.?
Playwright Susan Soon He Stanton is an internationally produced playwright, screenwriter, and TV writer from Aiea, Hawai‘i and now living in New York and London. She has written on both seasons of the BAFTA winning series Succession on HBO, as well as upcoming shows on Showtime, Amazon, AMC, and Netflix. She says of this Hawaii production, “this play is my most personal and autobiographical play yet, and especially since Hawaii is such a cultural melting pot, and much of local culture is about how many difficult cultures of arriving immigrants knitted together, it's an important story to share with people here.”
When:
August 2nd-11th
Friday and Saturdays at 7:30pm
Sundays at 4pm
Where:
HPU Windward Campus
Paul and Vi Loo Theatre
45-045 Kamehameha Highway
Kaneohe, HI 96744
Tickets:
$30 General
$25 Senior
$20 Student and Military