COURTESY IOLANI DRAMATIC PLAYERS Jakara Mato, left, and Emmanuel Zibakalam star in "South Pacific."

‘Nellie’ star has got
to be carefully taught

"WOULD YOU marry a man who has sex with animals?"

That's the question director Glenn Cannon posed to actress Jakara Mato to help her understand the racial prejudices of Nellie Forbush, the character she's playing this weekend in the Iolani Dramatic Players' production of "South Pacific."

The Iolani Dramatic Players present "South Pacific" Where: Hawaii Theatre When: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday Tickets: $10 Call: 528-0506 or 943-2244

Nellie, a na•ve young nurse born and raised in the deep American south, falls in love with the mysterious Emile de Becque, while serving with American forces in Melanesia during World War II. She isn't troubled by the difference in their ages, but drops him after she learns that he fathered two children by a local woman.

Mato, who's garnered a growing rŽsumŽ of roles both on stage and television, didn't understand why her character does that until Cannon framed the issue in terms of his provocative question.

"Playing someone like her was a struggle for me because I grew up in Hawaii, and I am hapa; I've never felt racism. I've taken minority classes, so I've studied about it, but I don't know what it's like to feel racism towards someone else, so when I had to explore that for the last scene in Act I, where (Nellie is) struggling between choosing Emile and her racist beliefs, I was having trouble finding the emotions," Mato said.

"Mr. Cannon really helped me out on that. He said you could think of it almost as if Emile was in love with, or married to, a monkey or an animal, that whites during this time from that deep in the (American) South really didn't regard blacks ... as human (but) like animals."

Although trying to comprehend racism was a struggle, Mato understands the attraction for an older man.

"I think that's why she was attracted to him, because he's French and he's very romantic ... He's so sure of himself and he's very confident, and he's sure in his beliefs and he's very intelligent. I think that's attractive to any woman."

COURTESY OF NICOLE TESSIER Nina Buck plays a patient in "The Captive" and Robert Wyllie, left, Ryan Burbank and Thomas Smith play her guards.

MATO HAS never seen a stage production of the classic musical, but has seen the 1958 movie version and also a public TV special containing footage of Mary Martin's performance as Nellie in the original Broadway show. She also read part of "Tales of the South Pacific," the James Michener novel that the Broadway blockbuster was based on, and was surprised by the ways Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II changed some of the characters and their relationships in adapting Michener's book for the stage.

Getting the starring role in "South Pacific" is another big step forward for the Iolani junior. Mato received a Po'okela Award nomination for her portrayal of a terrified teenage stripper in the Army Community Theatre's 2003 production of "Gypsy," and got favorable reviews for her performance in Paliku Theatre's production of "Big River" last fall.

She also appeared in an episode of the short-lived TV series "Hawaii."

"It's been a huge balancing act between school and theater. I don't have any free time anymore, for anything besides homework and 'South Pacific,' so that's been my main focus. I find that the fuller my life is, and the busier I am, the happier I am.

"This is the first time that I have no one else to rely on to carry the show. I have to take that responsibility myself. It's very exciting."