STAR-BULLETIN / 1994 Rell Sunn helped found the women's pro surfing tour in the 1970s and was the top-ranked longboard champion in 1982, the year before she was diagnosed with cancer.

Queen of Makaha

Rell Sunn’s story told in
a new youth production

Bryan Hiroshi Wake was bringing the story of Eddie Aikau to the stage when he learned of the death of another beloved surfing legend.

It was during the staging of Wake's "Eddie Would Go" for Honolulu Theatre for Youth in 1998 that he heard Rell Sunn had lost her 15-year struggle with breast cancer.

Surf on stage Honolulu Theatre for Youth presents "Queen of Makaha (Rell Sunn)" and "Eddie Would Go": On stage: 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, Thursday through March 27 Place: Kumu Kahua Theatre, 46 Merchant St. Tickets: $16; $13 seniors and $10 students For ages: 9 and up Call: 536-4441

He soon decided that he needed to tell her story.

Wake, an Aiea High School graduate, had known little about Sunn, but the reactions of Sunn's friends touched him deeply. He remembers one large, tough-looking man in particular who was moved to tears over her death.

"You can see how much Rell was loved," Wake said by telephone from his home in Los Angeles.

"I feel it shouldn't just be my name on the play. It should have all the names of the people I talked to. They knew her."

Honolulu Theatre for Youth is presenting "Queen of Makaha (Rell Sunn)" for its 50th anniversary this year, as part of a double bill with "Eddie Would Go." Performances are Thursday through March 27 at Kumu Kahua Theatre.

Sunn was Leeward Oahu's first female lifeguard and was vital in developing the Women's Professional Surfing Association. She helped found the women's pro surfing tour in the 1970s and was the top-ranked longboard champion in 1982, the year before she was diagnosed with cancer. She died at age 47.

For all of her athletic accomplishments, Sunn might be better known for her temperament -- kind, humble, welcoming -- much of the reason that she so inspired Wake.

COURTESY HONOLULU THEATRE FOR YOUTH Nara Springer Cardenas, left, as Sunn and Ashley Larson as a friend who comforts her in the Honolulu Theatre for Youth production of "Queen of Makaha (Rell Sunn)."

Famed lifeguard Aikau was a crew member aboard the voyaging canoe Hokule'a. He died in 1978 in an attempt to paddle for help when the Hokule'a capsized off Lanai.

Wake finished "Queen of Makaha" eight years after "Eddie Would Go."

"I never thought it would take me eight years to write this," he said. "I hope the next one doesn't take as long. I'm a little upset with myself that it took me this long. Two years to write, six years to procrastinate."

Wake also reworked "Eddie Would Go" for a younger audience of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders (it was originally meant for a high school audience). Wake also felt he could improve the play.

"I thought ... I can do better than what I did," said Wake. "I wanted to give the actors a better springboard. ... But I could rewrite it two or three times again. Same thing with my story on Rell. They deserve it. It can always be better."

A few actors in "Eddie" would disagree.

"When I heard 'Eddie Would Go' was coming back, I thought I would have a fit if I couldn't be in it," said BullDog, who appeared in the original version. "It's really fun to be in it again."

BullDog's wife, Nara Springer Cardenas, will star as Sunn. "When everyone heard it was going to be back, it was the talk of the theater," Cardenas said.

BullDog and Cardenas are learning to surf for their roles.

Jeannie Chesser, a good friend of Sunn's, often takes Cardenas surfing, sharing stories about Sunn between surfing tips.

"Jeannie spoke of how Rell always had a nice word to say about everyone," Cardenas said. "If Rell was just meeting you, she would compliment you on your hair or your smile. Just the little things."

None of the actors in the 1998 production of "Eddie Would Go" knew how to surf at the time, but they gave it their best try.

"We had a couple of rehearsals at the beach," said BullDog of the cast's first attempts. "We would all go into the water."

STAR-BULLETIN / 1995 Flowers decorate a memorial to the late surfer Eddie Aikau, whose story is told in the Honolulu Theatre for Youth production "Eddie Would Go."

"I didn't know how to surf, either," said Wake, "but I thought this helps actors to understand the spiritual feeling of catching a wave. When we started, we could barely paddle out. We just kept crashing into each other. We looked like the Keystone Kops."

One actor caught on quickly. Hermengildo "Junior" Tesoro Jr., star of both the original and new versions of "Eddie," was standing on his board by the end of the first day.

"We looked around for him, and there he was, riding a wave," said Wake.

He describes the sport as "terrifying and exhilarating." "If I catch a 4-foot wave, I think it's an experience. And I'm just surfing in Waikiki, not Waimea! A 40-foot wave, that must be nirvana."

But it wasn't their surfing that drew Wake to Sunn and Aikau. He said he chose them as subjects because of the contributions the two made to Hawaii's community.

"It's about how they lived their lives," Wake said. "They lived their lives with aloha. Everybody felt Rell was their best friend. Eddie was different than Rell. He didn't befriend everyone, but people who needed it. But everyone thought of Rell as if she were their best friend."

HTY's first showings of "Queen of Makaha" were held in Waianae and Makaha earlier this month, with Wake flying in from for the premiere.

He hadn't seen the rehearsals. "I was nervous, if the people who knew her would like it. When I was writing it, I would ask her friends, 'Is this truthful? Is this something Rell would say? Is this what Rell would do?'"

Cardenas remembers the audience's reaction: "When we were finished, nobody moved. Everyone just sat there. One by one people starting getting up. There was just such a feeling of love. ... We don't hear stories about modern-day heroes like Eddie or Rell. These stories should be told. These were powerful, positive people."

Wake, who left Hawaii in May of 1998, now teaches at 95th Street Elementary School in South Central Los Angeles, two blocks from where the L.A. riots took place.

He hopes his plays will influence children like those he teaches. "I just hope the youth will see somebody that people can look up to. Why not Rell? Why not Eddie?"