ON STAGE
COURTESY PALIKU THEATRE
The Paliku Theatre on the grounds of Windward Community College has staged many a fine musical over the years. Above, a performance from "Forever Plaid."
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Paliku aiming for center stage
They built it, then they provided no money to operate it -- let alone money for advertising to let the public know it was there. Tom Holowach has been dealing with that problem ever since he became manager of the Paliku Theatre at Windward Community College five years ago.
'Spotlight on the Arts'
On stage: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday
Place: Paliku Theatre, Windward Community College
Tickets: $50
Call: 235-7310
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"They gave us lights and they gave us seats, but I didn't have any furniture, I didn't have any tools, I didn't have a single nail or screw, and there was no money in the budget to pay anybody," he says of the bad old days when it looked like the beautiful new venue might not open.
Fortunately, enough money was found within the WCC budget to hire Holowach as a part-timer, initially working 19 hours a week, to get the facility up and running. Five years and several Po'okela Awards later, Holowach is celebrating the theater's anniversary with a "Spotlight on the Arts" fundraiser that will help cover the costs of his next production.
Theater legend Ron Bright is returning to direct a cast made up primarily of former students in a salute to Broadway show-stoppers that Holowach describes as "cutting to the chase, getting to the cream of the crop." The cast includes John Bryan, Jodi Leong, Tricial Marciel, Jade Stice and Tony Young, and the set list stretches from "Old Man River" and "Bali Ha'i" to "And I Am Telling You" and "Seasons of Love."
Demand for tickets the last time Bright and his ohana did a revue for Paliku was so great that a second show was added. This time, Holowach and Bright decided from the outset on three shows. Holowach says sales are brisk, and that a sell-out will help maintain the momentum in the months to come.
COURTESY PALIKU THEATRE
Singing "The New World" are, from left, Michael Bright, Nataysha Echevarria, Jade Stice and Kris De La Cruz.
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The college budget includes no line item for the theater, he says. "It's been a continual challenge to try and find ways to make money so that we can actually create a budget. ... It's like starting a small business with no capital and making little bit of money and reinvesting it and hoping that you make all the right choices so that the business will continue to thrive. Every show we do is sort of zero-base budgeted."
Few groups can afford to produce shows that don't draw well enough to cover costs, but Holowach says frankly that he has to be especially cautious. Paliku can't afford to present a full schedule each year, and therefore doesn't have the support that would come from season subscribers.
It isn't enough to present good shows, he says. They have to be shows that people recognize.
" 'Big River' was a huge disappointment (financially) because even though it was a good show and got good reviews, apparently people weren't really familiar with it, and so we only got about 60 percent of the audience that we had for the previous two shows."
He got the same result when he presented a sophisticated English comedy, "Noises Off," rather than a mainstream Broadway musical.
"That's when we started to look at choosing the things that we do based on their familiarity, as well as whether they're a good show or not."
COURTESY PALIKU THEATRE
Michael Bright's winning portrayal of Curly in "Oklahoma."
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Since then, Holowach says, he's found what appears to be a safe formula: Do a well-known Broadway musical in the fall, something specifically for children in the spring and a smaller benefit show of some kind to help cover the costs of keeping the doors open.
Holowach has also been raising money with a membership program, a long-range project that will eventually lead to renaming the theater lobby in honor of Windward theater supporter Camille Almy and a "Name-a-Seat" campaign.
This year's big musical, "Pajama Game," will open in August rather than October to avoid going head-to-head with the national touring production of "Disney's the Lion King," which opens in September. Holowach acknowledges that "Pajama Game" is a bit of a risk. "We're getting away from the Rodgers & Hammerstein mold, (but) we're hoping that because it was just on Broadway and got the Tony for the revival with Harry Connick, that that will create a little buzz."
Holowach adds that the theater contributes to the college.
"One of the advantages of doing shows there and having it exist is that people will come to shows at the theater who wouldn't ordinarily even set foot on a college campus ... and they walk around and think, 'Maybe my kids could go to school here.' It definitely has given (WCC) a lot more visibility and allowed people to understand that there's a really nice college here."
COURTESY PALIKU THEATRE
Sonya Mendez whooping it up as Bloody Mary in "South Pacific."
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