COURTESY OF KUMU KAHUA THEATRE Toni, played by Linda Au, and her father, Harry-O, played by Harrison Kawate, share quality time together shooting pigs. Toni is the middle child and the only one who helps her taxidermist father in his shop. Yet she always seems to disappoint him and her mother.

Lois-Ann Yamanaka's novel
about a dysfunctional ohana
is presented on stage

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Review by John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com

How much psychological abuse can a young woman be expected to endure? Make a wild estimate, multiply it by 100, and you're looking at the life of Antoinette "Toni" Yagyuu, hapless narrator and protagonist of Kumu Kahua's adaptation of Lois-Ann Yamanaka's 1999 novel, "Heads by Harry."

"Heads by Harry," presented by Kumu Kahua at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, through April 13. Tickets $16 Friday through Sunday ($13 for seniors and groups of 10 or more buying at one time; $10 students); $13 Thursday ($11 for seniors; $5 students and the unemployed). Call 536-4441.

"Heads" is the second Yamanaka novel adapted for the stage by Kumu Kahua President Keith K. Kashiwada and board member John H.Y. Wat. Their script is a far more substantial work than "You Somebody" or "Super Secret Squad," but the production, which Kashiwada also directs, moves at a glacial pace in following Toni's painful progress from schoolgirl to motherhood on the Big Island.

Toni, the middle child of three, is the one who accompanies her hunter-taxidermist father, Harry O. Yagyuu, into the field and helps in his shop. Yet, she always seems to disappoint him. She doesn't live up to her mother's expectations, either, and is continually outmaneuvered by her obnoxious, flamboyantly gay older brother and manipulative, equally obnoxious younger sister.

The pattern starts early and continues as Toni moves toward adulthood. She has a crush on the handsome neighbor, but he barely knows she's alive; she ends up going to the prom with his older brother who is a perfect gentlemen but "old enough to be your uncle." Toni's brother and sister denigrate her every chance they get. When she finally meets a guy who treats her decently, she scuttles the relationship with her insecurities.

And so it goes. Every time it looks like things are changing for better, she gets blindsided by another disaster.

TONI IS REPRESENTED simultaneously by Linda Au, who portrays her in real time, and narrator Novelynn Rubsamen, whose comments are made from a much older perspective, revealing the deeper impact of emotional trauma. The concept works well and Au gives a winning performance.

However, watching an innocent character get beaten down again and again becomes predictable and mind-numbing as the wreckage is examined in such detail, it feels like nothing in Yamanaka's novel has been excluded.

"Heads by Harry's" dark humor involves rapid exchanges of obscenities, racial slurs and sitcom-style insults. There are many references to local landmarks, brand names and Honolulu nightclubs popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

The opening night crowd went ape over mentions of two-tone eye makeup, Angel Flights and the snobbery of Honolulu folks who describe Pearl City girls as "fake townies."

"HEADS" ALSO benefits from Kashiwada's casting choices. Moses Goods III dominates several scenes with his perfect portrayal of brutish but intelligent Wyatt Santos; Goods wears the character of a foul-mouthed, violence-prone "local boy" perfectly. Julius Ledda makes a memorable stage debut as Wyatt's handsome and sexually promiscuous brother, Maverick, and Devon Matthew Tatsuno Nekoba adds a third fine performance in Act 1 as Butchie Santos, the oldest and toughest of the three.

Ryan I. Sueoka and Ginger M. Gohier pump up the dark comic vibe with convincing performances as Toni's siblings. Jodie Taira and Nancy Usui add acidic humor in a scene in which two mothers brag about their children's accomplishments, and Kori-Jo Kochi provides another strong performance with a brief but entertaining portrayal of Maverick's drunken prom date.

Harrison K. Kawate makes a memorable debut as Toni's quiet but complex father, while Norman M. Munoz gives a low-key supporting performance as the Santos boys' father.

Joel B.S. Matsunaga (Billy Harper) created one of the funniest moments on opening night when a prop malfunctioned. He paused just long enough to make the point that something unexpected had happened, ad-libbed, "Junk, this thing," got a laugh and moved on.

There are obscenity-based laughs aplenty here, but this tale of a dysfunctional ohana drags, and when any character shows signs of emotional growth, it seems more the result of a miracle than logical character development.

Perhaps, as in playwright Margaret Jones' excellent look at love and suicide, "The Season of Yellow Ginger," which Kumu Kahua premiered in 2000, that's the point.

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