STAR-BULLETIN / 2002
Moses Goods as Junior, opposite Margaret Jones as Pua, in Kumu Kahua Theatre's production of the Sean T.C. O'Malley play, "To The Last Hawaiian Soldier," last year.
Moses has the goods
Moses Goods' acting credits cover a broad spectrum of what is possible for a stage actor to do in Hawaii. They range from Shakespeare's "As You Like It" to Taurie Kinoshita's contemporary interactive production, "Principles of Falling." Goods says he seeks out new experiences as an actor, and the next entry on his resumé is no exception. Goods starts tomorrow in "Christmas Talk Story 2003," the annual holiday season collaboration between Kumu Kahua and Honolulu Theatre for Youth.
So what makes this special for him? He's getting paid and it's a great feeling.
"Up until now, theater has been something I like doing," he said. "I put as much as I can into every show, but this time, we really want to do it right because (HTY) is paying us. I've been working at a bookstore for three years (and) I like it, but why not get paid for doing theater, which is what I love?"
'Christmas Talk Story 2003'
Presented by Honolulu Theatre for Youth and Kumu KahuaWhere: Tenney Theatre, Queen Emma Square, next to St. Andrew's Cathedral
When: 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 3:30 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 21
Tickets: $16 adults, $12 students, $8 children
Call: 839-9885
"Christmas Talk Story 2003" is being presented as a best-of anthology of monologues from previous years. Cast members Goods, Janice Terukina and HTY company actor BullDog will be supported by three musicians on stage, Albert "Maka" Makanani Jr., Gabriel "Kapili" Littlejohn and Luke Solotario.
Goods says that the show is also something new for him in other ways.
"It's more storytelling, with a bunch of monologues, and it's children's theater (I've done a little bit of children's theater, but not a whole lot), and there's singing. I've only done one musical so far and an opera workshop, so I'm not really a singer, but I can do it."
IT'S ACTUALLY been three years since Goods last did a show written for children, "No One Will Marry a Princess With a Tree Growing Out of Her Head" (he played the good wizard who helped remove the tree). Other University of Hawaii at Manoa theater roles he's done include the noble boatman in "The Summer Festival: A Mirror of Osaka," the title role in the Ernst Lab Theatre production of "Edmond" and Mephistopheles' masculine psyche in Dennis Carroll's tremendous staging of "Faust."
Goods went off-campus to act in Kumu Kahua's 2002 production of "To the Last Hawaiian Soldier," where he played the dual roles of Hawaiian patriot Robert Wilcox and a contemporary Hawaiian who plants a bomb in a hotel. Two more shows at Kumu Kahua -- "Heads By Harry" and "King Kalakaua's Poker Game" -- displayed his talents as a comic actor.
Goods also teamed up with three fellow actors to form the Two Chicks, One Pake and a Popolo Theatre Collective and presented Mamet's "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" as a Kumu Kahua Dark Night Theatre Series production last January.
He plans to test his skills in New York City have been delayed at least twice by acting opportunities here. He says it was "just a few days ago" that he was offered a third show at HTY that will follow "Christmas Talk Story" and an early spring revival of "New Kid."
Goods will also be appearing in "Two Trains Running," a co-production by The Actors Group and the Honolulu African American Repertory Theatre in January.
"I'm in no hurry (to leave), I just don't want to wait too long before I get too comfortable here, 'cause it can happen easily. Right now ... I plan to leave at the end of May."
Oh, and did we mention that Goods has done some film acting as well? He was seen recently as the "kava revolutionary" in "Kava Kultcha" at the Hawaii International Film Festival. He plans to do at least one more short film before he leaves.
"That was my first crack at film. I was surrounded by a great group of people, so it made it a fun experience. It's a different kind of acting, and if I had to choose, I'd choose stage acting. But seeing the end result with the actual film was a pretty good feeling. I think I'll give film a try, but stage is what I'll always come back to."
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