Kumu Kahua Theatre

24 Hour Play Fest with a Cannabis Twist Nothing Without a Company & Kumu Kahua Theatre will be collaborating on a 24 hour play festival presenting 6 new 10-minute plays, made in 24 hours. The theme of the festival is cannabis just in time for 4/20! ... 6 writers, 6 directors, 18 actors, 1 stage manager, and 1 digital engineer will gather via zoom, save the date - Sunday April 18, 8pm Chi time & 3pm Hawaii Time Please Like and Subscribe and Follow us! Let us know in the comments where you are watching from!

Mahalo to all our playwrights, directors, actors, our stage manager, digital engineer, and especially the audience who joined us for this past weekend's 24-Hour PlayFest! It was amazing to see six incredible new plays created in just 24 hours. We're grateful and honored to have partnered with our friends at Nothing Without a Company to make this happenand we're looking forward to our next collaboration! If you missed the PlayFest, don't worry: You can still catch it online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHGbbCGMIF0. Tune in!

It's almost time to tune in for the live broadcast of the 24-Hour PlayFest! We're proud to feature an incredible lineup of talented performers, including Jamie Black, Annette Arinix, Christopher Sylvie, Thoren Nansen, Emily Dee aka Royal Tee, Alston Alika Albarado, LaRose Washington, Kris10 Misaki, Stewart Calhoun, Brandon Hagio, Symphony Sanders, Nahiku Passi, Kat Nakano, Mike Shaw, Kava Jones, Alisa Boland, Shawn Thompson, and Sharon Pasia! If you haven't reserved your tickets yet for this free live showcase of productionsall written, directed, rehearsed, and performed in a single day!visit bit.ly/2021playfest. See you at 3 pm HST!

Tomorrow at 1 pm! Join Creative Lab - Hawaii and Kumu Kahua for "Playwrights on Playwriting," a public panel that explores the creative and business side of writing for theatre. And save the date for Saturday, May 1: Creative Lab is celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a free panel featuring Kimee Balmilero, Chris K.T. Bright, Amy Hill, Chris Lee, Chris McKinney, Ty Sanga, Susan Soon He Stanton, and Lelea‘e "Buffy" Kahalepuna-Wong! These talente...d guests will discuss their different journeys as storytellers and the significance of representation in media. Both these online panels are FREE, but you have to register in advance! For Wednesday's panel, visit bit.ly/CLH2021PWIPP For the May 1 panel, visit bit.ly/CLH2021AAPI Hope to see you there!

The 24-Hour PlayFest has begun! Please welcome four of our directors: Anna Rose Ii-Epstein, Ellan Read, and Raymond Jacquet! Donna Blanchard will also be stepping in for Harry Wong III. Here's more info about our directors: Anna Rose Ii-Epstein (she/her/they/them) is founder and co-artistic director of Nothing Without a Company. Along with producing, directing and performing over 35+ theatre productions she is a licensed massage therapist, energy worker and two time award win...ning film director with the 48 hour film project CHICAGO. She is currently working on her first documentary about the IL cannabis industry called TRUE SOCIAL EQUITY IN CANNABIS. Ellan Read (also known as dust) is a non-binary playwright from the deep cracked mud of Texas. At Columbia College Chicago, while finishing their undergraduate degree in Playwriting, they met Hannah Ii-Epstein and began to work on Nothing Without a Company productions. They have also worked with Chicago Dramatists, especially in the formulating of new work through the Playwright's Aloud Program. They love writing and directing equally and are glad to take up the helm of director for this 24-hour fest! Raymond Jacquet is an actor and a director, originally from Haiti. Acting credits include but not limited to GIRL IN THE RED CORNER (Broken Nose), CORNERSTONE (Nothing Without A Company), and BOB, A LIFE IN FIVE ACTS (The Comrades). Raymond is a graduate of the University of Maryland-College Park, with an English Literature degree. He is also a graduate of the Act One Conservatory. Each performance is dedicated to the loving memory of his mother, Jacqueline. Donna Blanchard is the Managing Director of Kumu Kahua Theatre, Executive Team Member of the ‘Ohina Showcase, Labs, and Films; a Community Advisory Board Member of Hawai‘i Public Radio; and President of the Hawai‘i State Theatre Council. She's an accomplished nonprofit and for-profit business development professional with more than 20 years of experience and also a freelance writer, an award-winning actor, and director as well as author of the book, "Sometimes Adults Are Stupid: but You Shouldn't Use That Word."

It's a playwriter's week coming up! This Saturday, April 24, at 2 pm HST, catch Creative Lab's Short-Plays Reading Festival, a free live-streamed event featuring six short play readings written by fellows in Creative Lab's Weekend Ideation Program in Theatre. It's an incredible lineup of playwrights: Lee Cataluna, Sean-Joseph Choo, Sean Dunnington, Jessie Ren Marshall, Lin McEwan, and Ryan Okinaka! Then on Wednesday, April 28, at 1 pm HST, Kumu Kahua managing director Donna B...lanchard is moderating the public panel, "Playwrights on Playwriting," with guests Lloyd Suh (THE CHINESE LADY, CHARLES FRANCIS CHAN JR.'S EXOTIC ORIENTAL MURDER MYSTERY), Kit Yan (INTERSTATE, QUEER HEARTACHE), and Chay Yew (PORCELAIN, A LANGUAGE OF THEIR OWN). Both events are FREE, but you have to register in advance! For the Saturday play reading festival, visit bit.ly/CLH2021THESPR For the Wednesday panel, visit bit.ly/CLH2021PWIPP Please join us this week for these awesome Creative Labs events!

THIS AMAZING GROUP OF ARTISTS!!! Most of us just met, and in less than 24 hours, we will present six new plays written directed and performed by this talented g...roup! (Check in with us at about 11:00 a.m. HST, 4:00 p.m. CST to hear about our progress). What are you going to do for the next 22.5 hours? 'Cuz we are going to make some cool theatre, y'all! @kumukahuatheatre @NWACChicago #24HourPlayFest #cannabistwist #playwrightsofinstagram #playwriting #chicagotheatre #honolulutheatre #makeithappen #makeitwork

Celebrate 4/20 by watching our 24 Hour Play Fest with a Cannabis Twist!! (you can ff through the countdown) Kumu Kahua Theatre Nothing Without a Company... #24HourPlayFest #cannabistwist #playwrightsofinstagram #playwriting #chicagotheatre #honolulutheatre #makeithappen #makeitwork See more