1/1
Swipe or click to see more
KAT WADE / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Maleko McDonnell, left and Stu Hirayama congratulated each other after they were named two of the five honorees in the featured male in a play category.
Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.
Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.
Excellence in local theater was honored Monday as the Hawaii State Theatre Council announced the recipients of the 2014 Po’okela Awards at its annual Stars Night Out dinner and show at the Ko’olau Golf Club in Kaneohe.
Diamond Head Theatre captured 26 awards in 12 of the 23 award categories, while The Actors’ Group collected 17 trophies, followed by Manoa Valley Theatre with 14. Under the Po’okela rules, there are two to six honorees in each category.
Tom Holowach’s fall staging of "Les Miserables" at Paliku Theatre received the most awards of any single show with 13. They included awards for overall musical, leading male (Kip Wilborn) and female (Shawna Masuda) in a musical, featured male (Scott Moura) and featured female (Jana Alcain and Zenia Moura) in a musical.
DHT’s season-closing production of "Spamalot" received eight "Pokies," including leading male in a musical (Laurence Paxton) and nonresident guest artist for director-choreographer Andrew Sakaguchi.
Kumu Kahua and the University of Hawaii at Manoa received 12 awards each. Kumu Kahua’s tally included overall play honors for "Flowers of Hawaii" and "Moa A Mo’i." UH-Manoa’s imaginative Main Stage production of "The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip" took honors in five categories including overall musical.
For a complete list of honorees and photos from the ceremony, visit honolulupulse.com.
