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The play’s the thing
Students benefit from a performing
arts program with modest beginnings
For 13 years a slice of Broadway has been brought to the Leeward side via musical and dramatic shows performed by the Nanakuli High and Intermediate School Performing Arts Program.
Hitting the stageThe Performing Arts Program presents its first dramatic production of the year, "Voices and Influence," two plays dealing with teenage issues, drug and alcohol abuse and how it affects people around the abuser.When: Friday and Saturday and Nov. 5 and 6; all performances start at 7:30 p.m. Where: Nanakuli High and Intermediate School multi-purpose cafeteria Tickets: $5 presale for adults, $6 at the door; $3 for students with valid school ID Call: 668-5823, ext. 351
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"Our philosophy from the beginning was that we would take anyone regardless of experience and talent level and give everyone a chance to be onstage as well as participate in the stagecraft and technical side of theater," said adviser Robin Kitsu.
Many students in the Performing Arts Program have learned various skills that have helped them on and offstage.
"Since I have to analyze and understand the character I play onstage, I just use these same techniques when I read and analyze stories in English," said third-year performing arts student Kathern Kupa.
The beginning was rough for the program. It was known as the Nanakuli High and Intermediate Drama Club and consisted of just 11 students. Their performances were held on an outdoor stage, and students had to deal with occasional blackouts of the portable lighting system, rainy weather and the lack of dressing rooms.
This program has come a long way since then. Students now receive class credit, and performances have been held since 1996 in the school's multi-purpose cafeteria, equipped with a stage, stage lighting and dressing rooms.
The cafeteria provided the program with space to stage Broadway musicals like "Godspell" and "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."
Many of the dramatic plays are issue-oriented and deal with drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy and other social issues affecting teens and adults. The group has performed some of these plays to live audiences at state and national conferences.
The Performing Arts Program has also been involved with educational video projects dealing with issues like abuse, teen pregnancy and diabetes. These videos have been used as learning tools in classrooms in Hawaii and nationwide.
About 'Hawaii's Schools'Each week, Hawaii's teenage reporters and photographers tell us about their school. This week's school is Nanakuli High and Intermediate School.
Ka Leo 'O Nanakuli Editor: Nikita Mendonca Faculty adviser: Robin Kitsu Next week: Baldwin High School Golden Hawk FactsAddress: 89-980 Nanakuli Ave., Waianae 96792Phone number: 668-5823 Principal: Levi Chang Colors: Black and gold Mascot: Golden Hawk Enrollment: 1,347 Teachers: 105 Established: 1967 Motto: "Kulia i ka nu 'u" ("We seek the highest")
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"The program helped me stay motivated in school and helped me graduate," said Talitiga Ulufale, a Waianae graduate and current program assistant. "It helped me with my communication skills and how to work with others. I learned that it does not matter what school you come from -- we can all get along and relate with each other."
However, despite its past success, the program still faces many challenges.
"Every year, we face many challenges such as attracting enough male participation, transportation to Nanakuli High School for students that attend other schools, and the fact that this is a different kind of program," Kitsu said. "Students may not be sure whether this is something they really want to participate in, and so we lose students during the year."
The Performing Arts Program is currently working on its first dramatic production of the year, "Voices and Influence," which focuses on teen issues.
Also in the works is the annual holiday musical revue tour in December, in which students perform musical numbers from the past, present, Broadway and the holidays at different locations such as Ala Moana and Pearlridge shopping centers.
Finally, the group will perform Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" in early March.
"Being one of the first groups to bring this classic Broadway musical to Hawaii is very challenging and exciting," said Kitsu. "But working with the other areas of the Learning Center -- the visual arts, music and multimedia programs -- makes the process of bringing Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' to life onstage in Nanakuli even more rewarding."
Internships assist students
with career choices
Whether attending high school or college, all students face the challenge of deciding what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Although some have a clear goal in mind, others find themselves scrambling to settle on a career before graduating.
In an effort to ease the career-search blues, Nanakuli High and Intermediate School provides its students with an opportunity to narrow down their career choices through the School-to-Work program.
At the intermediate level, students take surveys to determine what their interests are, go on career field trips and hear from guest speakers who represent different career fields.
At the high school level, students can spend a few days with a mentor and observe what that person does in a specific career field.
Students can also participate in an internship of their choice. Interns spend several weeks at a workplace where they actually participate in the duties of the job.
"I've had some basic ones from clerical positions to maybe working in the hospital," said Derek Kiyuna, School-to-Work coordinator. According to Kiyuna, students have also requested to shadow veterinarians, college professors and broadcast stations.
"The requests were out of the norm, but fortunately we were able to meet their needs," Kiyuna said.
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For seniors Nikita Mendonca and Tiarae Gututala, their need was met when they became KITV4 News' first high school interns last summer.
During their two weeks at KITV, they worked with news reporter Caroline Sluyter, who took them out on stories concerning fires, suspicious figures and the possible mistrial of Shane Mark.
"We also learned about the challenges in interviewing people with other competing news stations and how the stations actually get along quite well and try to support each other," said Gututala.
"We were also given a one-on-one lesson on how to interview random people going about their own business. We had many people who either ignored us and walked away or politely refused. However, we did get a few people who were willing to be interviewed."
Other assignments that the students worked on included duplicating and filing tapes, and assisting with sound and camera work on the set.
This internship helped the students realize that they want to go into this particular career field. Still, other students who have participated in internships have the opposite experience and find that their original career interest is not what they thought it would be.
"The immediate benefit of doing an internship or shadowing experience and not liking the career field is that the student would know not to take classes in the career area," Kiyuna said. "They'd be wasting their time and their money."
You asked...
Lorianne Kamai
Seventh grade
"When boys sweat and bypass me, they stink."Ty Kauweloa
Freshman
"Girls talk too much and ask too many questions."Chanell McWayne
Senior
"When boys use and abuse."Hilda Taulava
Freshman
"Boys irritate me when they act stupid, sloppy and immature."Vincent Mao
Sophomore
"I get irritated when girls gossip all the time."Isaac Iuta
Sophomore
"I get irritated when girls act stuck up."Lepeka Apana
Sophomore
"Most guys act silly, dumb and immature."Alex Distajo
Senior
"Time management -- girls take a long time to do everything and anything."Paula Teo
Freshman
"When guys think they're all that when they're not. They act silly most of the time, and most of them don't know how to treat a girl right."Kekoa Oliveros
Junior
"(Girls') silliness irritates me a lot."
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