GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Michael Ng is Father Mantis in the the Leeward Community College theater production of "On Dragonfly Wings." Puppet designer Michael Furuya was hailed with an adjudicators' special award for his work.
It was "Titanic" by one over "Wit," and Diamond Head Theatre over Manoa Valley Theatre by that same margin as the Hawaii State Theatre Council announced the winners of the 19th Annual Po'okela Awards at the Koolau Golf Club last night.
Diamond Head Theatre's
The winners
"Titanic" outpaces Manoa Valley's
"Wit" in the Po'okela AwardsBy John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.comDHT's magnificent production of "Titanic" received eight awards, including those for best ensemble performance and best overall musical. No show of the past season brought together a larger or more talented cast in a story in which no one individual was the designated "star." No production offered a bigger and more ambitious blending of cast performances and technical expertise.
MVT's "Wit" received seven, including best overall play, for its success in exploring the meaning of life and death as framed by the sonnets of a 17th century poet. Betty Burdick, sole winner for "Featured Female in a Play," displayed a level of commitment not often seen in local theater in having her head shaved for her performance in the lead role. Wit
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Betty Burdick, left, took home the award for leading female role in a play for her part as Dr. Vivian Bearing, a professor dying of ovarian cancer in "Wit." Sharon Adair, right, plays professor E.M. Ashford. The production was named best overall play.
"Wit" also benefited from excellent work by the tech crew, including Joseph D. Dodd (set design), Ed James (lighting design), and Jason Taglianetti (sound design), who also received awards for their contributions.
Army Community Theatre received two awards for its staging of "Flower Drum Song." Lisa Matsumoto's 'Ohia Productions received two awards for "On Dragonfly Wings," a fuzzy musical parable based on the Alana Dung story, in which the changes that come with puberty are equated with death.
The "On Dragonfly Wings" script was one of only three that was eligible for consideration in the "Original Script" category. The win is certainly a nice promotional boost for 'Ohia, but comes with an asterisk since two other members of the Council, Kumu Kahua and Honolulu Theatre for Youth, currently refuse to have their productions considered for adjudication. That left most of the year's new scripts out of the running (HTY playwrights have won the "Original Script" category in the past). Titanic
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Cast members rehearse for "Titanic," a Diamond Head Theatre production. The production won eight Po'okela Awards, including one of the top awards for best overall musical.
The two groups' current policy also denies many talented actors and "techies" the opportunity to be acknowledged by Hawaii's organized theater community for their work.
Complaints that the Hawaii State Theatre Council, sponsors of the Po'okelas, aren't interested in the earnest work of local playwrights, and is not open to theater that addresses the heritage and experiences of Hawaii's people rather than Broadway fantasies, thus become self-perpetuating. Judge Bao
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hui-Mei Chang, left, played the Princess, and Ella Tereshchenko starred as the Dowager Empress in the University of Hawaii production of the Chinese opera "Judge Bao and the Case of Qin Xianglain," which won an adjudicators' special award.
The Po'okelas are routinely mocked by some observers each year for having multiple honorees -- as many as three in some categories in some years (a sizable group within the theater community likes having multiple winners). Single winners predominate this year.
DIAMOND HEAD THEATRE
Cory Vas, bottom right, shared the Featured Male in a Musical prize with "Titanic" castmate Douglas Scheer. Other members of the award-winning ensemble production were, clockwise from front center, Ryan Lympus, Julius Dae-Sung Ahn, John Tolentino, Daren Kimura and Jimi V. Wheeler.
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2002 Po'okela winners:
Leading Male in a Play
>> Joe Abraham, "Over the River and Through the Woods," MVT
>> Jim Tharp, "You Can't Take It With You," HPU
Leading Female in a Play
>> Betty Burdick, "Wit," MVT
Leading Male in a Musical
>> Laurence Paxton, "Jekyll & Hyde," DHT
>> Kevin Yamada, "Flower Drum Song," ACT
Leading Female in a Musical
>> Shari Lynn, "Mame," DHT
>> Stefanie Okuda, "Flower Drum Song," ACT
Featured Male in a Play
>> Brent Yoshikami, "Wit," MVT
Featured Female in a Play
>> Christine Berwin, "Eco-Circus," UH
>> Frankie Enos, "Rain," TAG
Featured Male in a Musical
>> Douglas Scheer, "Titanic," DHT
>> Cori Vas, "Titanic," DHT
Featured Female in a Musical
>> Katie Leiva, "Song of Singapore," MVT
Choreography
>> Andrew Sakaguchi and Ka'ohi Yojo, "On Dragonfly Wings," OHIA
Director of a Play
>> Roger Long "Wit," MVT
Director of a Musical
>> Karen Bumatai, "Song of Singapore," MVT
>> John Rampage, "Mame," DHT
Musical Director
>> Melina Lillios, "Titanic," DHT
Set Design
>> Joseph D. Dodd, "Wit" MVT
Costume Design
>> Sukey Dickinson, "Titanic" DHT
Lighting Design
>> Ed James, "Wit," MVT
Sound Design
>> Jason Taglianetti, "Wit," MVT
>> Kurt Yamasaki, "Titanic," DHT
Non-Resident Guest Artist
>> Jennifer Waldman (director/choreographer), "Titanic," DHT
Ensemble
>> "Titanic," DHT
Original Script
>> Lisa Matsumoto and Roslyn Catracchia, "On Dragonfly Wings," OHIA
Overall Musical
>> "Titanic," DHT
Overall Play
>> "Wit," MVT
Pierre Bowman Award
>> Vanita Rae Smith
Adjudicators' Special Awards:
>> University of Hawaii at Manoa Kennedy Theatre for its production of "Judge Bao and the Case of Qin Xianglian," and Michael Furuya, puppet designer for "On Dragonfly Wings"
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Betty Burdick as Dr. Vivian Bearing, a professor dying of ovarian cancer, talks to her class, played by, from left, Eric Field, left, Erich Steinwandt, Jaime Steinwandt, Stephanie Kuroda and Adria Roblee-Hertzmark.
ACT -- Army Community Theatre Key to theaters:
DHT -- Diamond Head Theatre
HPU -- Hawaii Pacific University
MVT -- Manoa Valley Theatre
OHIA -- Ohia Productions
TAG -- The Actors Group
UH -- University of Hawaii at Manoa
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