Those sneaky LADIES, are you and your husband drifting apart? Does he sleep the day away, neglecting all his chores, only to sneak out alone during the evening, and then back home just before daybreak?
caterpillars
Kumu Kahua's 'Kapua'
By Scott Vogel
explores the inner lives of
shape-shifting humans
Star-BulletinFree yourself from the web of denial and face the bitter truth about his nocturnal activities: Your husband is obviously morphing into a giant caterpillar and gorging himself on great quantities of sweet potato leaves.
And fathers, when your daughters repeatedly return from fishing trips with great smiles on their faces but no fish, don't be alarmed when they inform you they've fallen for two handsome young men.
Who are actually an eel and a sea cucumber.
Such are the lessons to be learned from "Ka'enuhe" and "Ka Puhi A Me Ka Loli," the two stories that comprise "Kupua," playwright Tammy Haili'opua Baker's excursion into the fantastic, sensually-charged world of Hawaiian shape- shifters, which is receiving its world premiere this week at Kumu Kahua Theatre. And it's these protean creatures -- obvious stand-ins for the many sides of human nature -- who wreak all the havoc.
On stage: "Kupua: Two Traditional Hawaiian Stories of Shape-Shifters" KUMU KAHUA
When: 8 p.m., Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m., Sundays through April 15
Place: Kumu Kahua Theatre, 46 Merchant St.
Cost: $12-$15; $10-$12 for seniors; $5-$10 for students
Call: 536-4441
"They're like demigods. They can take the form of animals and people," said Harry Wong III, Kumu Kahua's artistic director. But shape-shifters, who are fixtures of Hawaiian ka'ao, inhabit a universe larger than its moral lessons.
The caterpillar story, "Ka'enuhe," concerns the consequences of gluttony, of course, but also the creation of the world and, specifically, where caterpillars come from. In this ancient tale adapted by Baker, it's the man's mother-in-law who begins to unravel his larval secret.
"She has an idea that the man her daughter married isn't a man," she said, a sentiment no doubt echoed by mothers-in-law the world over. "He possesses some kind of quality that allows him to shape-shift. And this man is a son of Ku, one of the four major Hawaiian gods. Since his father is a god, he has a few other abilities."
He can, for starters, inhabit both the human and divine worlds, a supernatural gift that gives him power over everyone in his path. Except, that is, his wife and her mother, who have powers of their own.
"Eventually they catch and kill him," said Wong, with a laugh. Still, the murder is not without its upside, as Baker, who is a lecturer in the Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, noted.
"The pieces of his body turn into caterpillars, and this is where we get caterpillars from."
Needless to say, the play presents formidable staging challenges. In response, Baker and Wong have attempted a little shape-shifting of their own, using hula and chant to help evoke the transition from man to beast and vice versa. But not all the devices are from ancient tradition, as Wong, who is also the director of "Kupua," pointed out.
"Tammy sets these stories in the past but the text is in pidgin English, so it's a mixing of both past and present," he said. And what time-traveling plans does he have for the hula dancers?
"They will start break dancing."
Break dancing? Shape-shifting, it seems, is contagious. But will audiences get the bug? Packed houses would be nice, but for Baker and Wong, the ultimate goal is cultural education.
"We believe that our lives here in Hawaii and the stories of this place are as rich a source of theater and drama as any other place," said Wong. "But more kids here know Red Riding Hood than these stories."
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