‘Nikimalika’:
Sell your culture,
sell your soulPerformance: "Nikimalika"
By John Berger
Special to the Star-BulletinIMAGINE a cultural theme park where exotic people perform the dances and ceremonies of their distant lands.
Long before the Polynesian Cultural Center opened in Laie, a troupe of 1,000 Filipinos was put on display at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 for the edification of Americans curious about the exotic peoples of the new American Empire.
Playwright Chris Millado explores the experiences of one group of those Filipinos in "Nikimalika." His play continues its world premiere run at Kennedy Theatre through Sunday.
The Bontocs were mountain people. The men were hunters who wore loincloths and tattoos; the women wore colorful skirts and form-fitting beige tops. They sang, danced, told stories, and went head-hunting, for social and religious reasons.
Most Hawaii residents know no more about Bontoc culture now than Americans did then. Millado puts the audience in the place of the Americans of 1904 by using performances of Bontoc storytelling, music and dance for most of this two-hour, two-act play. The story of what happened to them in America often seems secondary, but Millado is effective and compelling when he addresses the subject.
Western culture turns Bontoc traditions upside down. The elders are eclipsed as dynamic Balikas (Albert Ueligitone) becomes the spokesman for the group. The Bontocs quickly learn the value of the coins people toss them. They begin charging for photographs and wearing Western clothing. The producer/promoter of the Bontoc display, one James Edwards (David C. Farmer), decides their rituals need to be more exciting. He bills them as cannibals and has them kill a dog a day despite the fact that dog is eaten only on special religious occasions.Dances done to summon the spirits of the dead for specific purposes now serve no purpose other than entertaining coin-tossing curiosity seekers. Similarities between the Bontocs' experience and more modern Dayglo Hawaiian and Polynesian shows are soon apparent, although Millado doesn't belabor the point.
Millado also shows subtle insight with his key American characters. Edwards views the Bontocs as primitives, but also possesses a sincere zest for scientific discovery. Sarah Metcalfe (Monika Lilleike) meets the Bontocs as display creatures but takes an interest in teaching them American culture. She becomes particularly interested in Balikas, although Millado doesn't add a cross-cultural love story to his tale.
Ueligitone, last seen in "Island Skin Songs" at Kumu Kahua, reaffirms his versatility and distinguishes himself here. Farmer has played a stereotypical insensitive Caucasian villain in at least one other local play; he gives one of his best performances to date in this more complicated role. Lilleike is effective as the off-putting Sarah and appropriately horrifying as an American freak-show act who poses as Bird Queen of the Philippines.
Dwayne Dumlao plays two American brothers in a scene that mentions the savage war waged by the United States to crush the Philippine Republic after the end of the Spanish-American War.
Most of the other roles are double-cast; Andrew M. Utech and James Keawe Bright stood out in key roles on Friday.
Joseph D. Dodd and David Minkoff have created a striking set and many interesting props. Master dance instructor Benny Sokkong, music director Verne de la Pena, and Ilocano language coach Precy Espiritu share credit for the performance segments that make this play a cultural experience as well as a statement about the use of culture for profit.
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