A great week for theater

 
"LAMB" SATISFIES AT UH-MANOA: Cast members Frankie Kosh, left, James A. Santos and K.C. Odell joined their leading ladies, Uluwehi Mills, Danielle Vivarttas-Ahrnsbrak and Danielle Engen, after "Rejoice in the Lamb" played to a capacity crowd last Thursday in the UH-Manoa Ernst Lab Theatre. Mills and Vivarttas-Ahrnsbrak were powerful leads playing women named Agatha living a century apart but dealing with similar gender-related problems. Santos and Kosh provided strong support as their well-intentioned but destructive husbands. Odell and Engen provided much of the comic content as the in-laws of the contemporary couple.

 
Director Ashley DeMoville conferred with playwright Kemuel DeMoville after the performance. The two share credit for making "Lamb" a challenging and thought-provoking look at the themes of reincarnation, male/female relationships and cycles of abuse.

 
Julianna Leung (Church Woman 1), left, Stephanie Lincicone (Church Woman 2) and Erin H. Chung (Church Woman 3) re-enacted one of their beautifully choreographed performances from "Rejoice in the Lamb," representing the dangerous allure of radical religious faith.

 
Andrew Cottrell (Medical Man 3), left, Curtis Ogi (Medical Man 2) and William Riley (Medical Man 1) were uniformly menacing as a trio of 19th-century doctors but also gave solid comic performances as contemporary Christians.

 
NEW PLAYWRIGHTS DEBUT AT HTY: Artistic director Eric Johnson congratulated director Carson Grace Becker, left, and young playwrights Ruby and Teia O'Malley at the opening night party for Honolulu Theatre for Youth's production of "The Very Best of Christmas Talk Story" Friday at Tenney Theatre. The girls' story, "I Already Sang Rudolph," is the one new story in the show. "Talk Story" runs Saturdays through Dec. 22. Call 839-9885.