If there's anything sadder than the death of a child, it's watching a child grieve the loss of a beloved family member. And those were just two of the agonies visited upon the Dung family, who endured both the death of their daughter Alana and the tearful confusion of her older brother, Spencer.
Alana Dung's story continues
to inspire and offer hopeBy Scott Vogel
svogel@starbulletin.comWho can forget the spring of 1996 when Alana, the Dung's almost 2-year-old girl, was first diagnosed with acute myeloid, type M-7 leukemia? Moved by her story, more than 30,000 Hawaii residents offered to become bone marrow donors, and the significant pool of candidates created continues to help other cancer-stricken children worldwide. In the end, a marrow transplant could not save Alana, who passed away in October 1997 at the tender age of three. But today, more than three years after her death, Alana's legacy lives on, and not only via the research foundation that bears her name.
"The Dungs had this little booklet of dragonfly stories that they were using to help explain death to Alana's brother," said Michael Furuya, speaking of the genesis of "Wailana the Waterbug," the 2000 Ka Palapala Po'okela Award-winning children's book he illustrated. "The book was originally done to be a fund-raiser for the foundation.
"The story is basically about a waterbug that gets sick and turns into a dragonfly, and it was basically paralleling Alana's experience. It's a heavy story, but it's for younger kids, so I wanted to make the illustrations very light and playful so the book doesn't depress any kids reading it."
Furuya brought the same aesthetic approach to "On Dragonfly Wings," his cousin Lisa Matsumoto's stage adaptation of "Wailana," which opens tonight at the Leeward Community College Theater. Accordingly, the audience will be treated to bright, fanciful puppets created by Furuya, a visual complement to an often sober storyline that should be a treat for audience members both young and old."Most of them are not actual characters in the play, just creatures who fill this world," he added, referring specifically to the portion of "Dragonfly" that occurs after the bug leaves its watery home. "We wanted to create a spectacle when (the waterbug) goes onto land, which is supposed to be like heaven, a grand place. And so we kept the spectacular vivid things on land."
Furuya, who graduated from San Francisco's Academy of Art with a degree in illustration, had dabbled in puppetry before ("just small things for myself throughout my life") but it's only in the past five years that he's worked in the form professionally.
Meanwhile, stage puppetry has undergone a renaissance of sorts, thanks to Julie Taymor's multiculturally inspired puppets for Disney's stage version of "The Lion King," which continues to play to packed houses more than three years after opening on Broadway. Taymor makes no attempt to disguise the actor manipulating the puppet, an experiment that couldn't be any further from the marionettes and hand puppets most of us are familiar with, and one that clearly inspired Furuya."In the case of the giant flying bird and giant walking bird, the puppets are strapped onto the back and they literally rest above the head," he said. "It's like 'Lion King' meets 'The Muppets,' using woven baskets that have been created to look like these birds. The idea was that I didn't want it to be completely literal because the costumes are not literal."
And neither is the story of Wailana, here renamed Wendy, the waterbug who meets the challenge of transitioning from pond-dweller to dragonfly with bravery, dignity and good cheer. And there's a further Broadway connection we haven't yet mentioned. Wendy will be played by Janel Parrish who, despite being only 12, has already appeared in "Les Miserables" on the Great White Way. There's something moving about the prospect of one child taking advantage of all of life's opportunities even as another never got to capitalize on hers. Then again, Alana Dung did more for her community than others 30 times her age, which is why, according to Furuya, the tale bears telling and retelling.
"It's basically got everything - funny moments, beautiful moments, sad moments. There's a love story in it. It really does kind of encompass all of life. It'll lead you through every emotion you can think of."
When: 8 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays, through Aug. 12 "On Dragonfly Wings"
Where: Leeward Community College Theater, 96-045 Ala Ike St.
Cost: $10 to $30
Call: 484-8800
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