[ MAUKA MAKAI ]
STAR-BULLETIN / 1999
Jo Pruden, left, played Fanny Church; Dave Donnelly was her husband, Gardner; and Maureen Borromeo was their daughter, Margaret, in Manoa Valley Theatre's "Painting Churches."
Dave was one
of local theater’s
best friends
Aloha to the many, many friends of Manoa Valley Theatre and Dave Donnelly:
Over the past 14 years, Manoa Valley Theatre's annual fund-raising theme party has carved out a niche for itself as one of the most fun social events of Oahu's charitable season. Often themed to a current play production, MVT's party has provided great entertainment and revelry for 400-plus guests while raising funds in support of its theatrical productions. The 2004 fund-raiser on April 10 is themed to the theater's spring musical production of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana."
Each year, MVT selects a prominent community member to be its honoree at the party and receive the annual Manoa Valley Theatre Award, which recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to the cultural life of Hawaii, including support of theater arts.
About this tribute
Today's Mauka-Makai includes a special memorial section paying tribute to a colleague and a friend, Star-Bulletin columnist Dave Donnelly.On these pages you'll find reminisces written by those who journeyed with Dave through the many years and many adventures of his career.
Aloha, Dave
Manoa Valley Theatre is pleased to announce that its honoree and award recipient for 2004 is one of Hawaii's favorite sons, the late, great Dave Donnelly.
Dave is a perfect choice. His artistic ventures in Hawaii theater, which included directing and performing on the MVT stage, have entertained thousands. His enthusiastic and opinionated interests in theater frequently surfaced in his longtime Honolulu Star-Bulletin "Hawaii" column, and his radio broadcasts entertained several generations of Hawaii residents.
Donnelly's participation in MVT productions goes back to the 1970s. More recently, audiences will remember his performances in "Pass the Butler" (1988) and "The 1940s Radio Hour" (1999), his direction of "A -- My Name is Alice" (1988) and his authorship and performance as the judge in "The Trial of Jeff Portnoy" (1996), an MVT fund-raiser held on the occasion of Portnoy's retirement as president of the MVT board of directors after 16 years.
Portnoy, a member of MVT's theme fund-raiser steering committee, said of Donnelly: "The man walked the walk -- he came to almost every show in town and then would write up the highlights for his newspaper column readers. He's been a tireless supporter of MVT and every other theater in town. The choice of Dave as our 2004 honoree was a simple decision to make."
Dave was first approached by MVT at a breakfast meeting at the Pacific Club last fall. Board members and co-fund-raiser committee chairs, Janis Akuna and Guy Merola, joined by ex-MVT board member and longtime Donnelly friend Don Robbs, formally invited Dave to be MVT's honoree. "He was very pleased and immediately but humbly agreed," reported Akuna.
By coincidence, at a concurrent but separate breakfast meeting being held across the room and attended by board members Scott Higashi, Joey Caldarone and Blenn Fujimoto, ticket sales plans for the fund-raising event were under discussion. Within moments of Donnelly's acceptance of guest of honor designee, the Pacific Club room was buzzing over news of the upcoming party. And there sat a very tickled Dave Donnelly, presiding over the "court" of his well-wishers and enthusiasts.
Dave loved the idea that the party would be themed to "Copacabana" and tied into MVT's spring production. He knew that the event would be musical, theatrical and a great deal of fun for everybody. "Once the showman, always the showman!" Merola chuckled.
Donnelly was also pleased that the honor would acknowledge the many layers of his career in local entertainment and journalism. He noted he was particularly proud to have held his job at the Star-Bulletin, writing the "Hawaii" column, for 35 years. He mused that it was possibly the longest-held job in any one capacity in the history of local journalism.
Janis Akuna remembers him on that day to have been "as excited as a little boy" about the party, expecting that he'd get to celebrate with all his old friends and at the same time give back to the theater community.
Following one of the great traditions of theatrical arts -- "the show must go on" in the week following Donnelly's unexpected death, MVT's board of directors voted unanimously to move forward with its plans to honor and acknowledge him.
"We are pleased and honored to name Dave Donnelly as our 2004 Manoa Valley Theatre Award recipient and to pay tribute to him at our 'Party for Dave at the Copa' fund-raising theme party this year," board president Sharon Billingsley said.
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The Dave Donnelly
scholarship fundDuring 35 years of writing his column, Dave Donnelly made frequent mention of theatrical happenings around town, on Broadway and in San Francisco and London, where he traveled regularly.
So it's fitting that the Star-Bulletin invites its readers, and every person whose name Dave ever bold-faced in print, to join the newspaper in paying tribute to Dave in a manner he would have liked: by helping aspiring students realize their dreams and learn more about theater.
With that in mind, a scholarship has been established in Dave's memory at the University of Hawaii theater department. Donations may be sent to the University of Hawaii Foundation, noted as "Dave Donnelly Memorial," at P.O. Box 11270, Honolulu, HI 96828.
At the Irish wake honoring Dave on Jan. 5, the Star-Bulletin presented a check for $1,000 to kick off the fund-raising effort.
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