On the Scene

JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
POLYNESIA PACIFIC PAGEANT AT PAC BEACH 1. Mr. Polynesia Pacific 2010 Micah Tiedemann, fourth from left, relaxed with emcee Kale Chang, left, judge "Mento Mele" Apana of 98.5 FM, Miss Polynesia Pacific 2010 Taliilani Letuli-Goeas and emcee Liana Green-Wright after the winners of the Mr. &?Miss Polynesia Pacific 2011 Pageant were announced Sept. 17 at the Pacific Beach Hotel. Tiedemann's farewell appearance as the 2010 male titleholder was a show-stopping taualuga dance, "Le Afa I Tulagi," that brought several of the judges and much of the audience up on stage to join in the dancing or throw money. A friend needed a shopping bag to hold all the cash when he was finished.

JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
‘BUG' A WINNER AT UH-MANOA 5. Director Brett T. Botbyl, second from left, conferred with University of Hawaii-Manoa faculty members Markus Wessendorf, left, and Paul T. Mitri, and professor emeritus Dennis Carroll after his production of "Bug" opened Sept. 14 in the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre. Botbyl directed the edgy drama in partial fulfillment of his Master of Fine Arts degree. Judging by opening night, he earned his M.F.A.

JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
‘THINGS HAWAIIAN' ON BETHEL STREET 3. Marc Turner, left, was the host, Ioane Burns and Kehau Tamure provided acoustic Hawaiian music and Michael Furuya was one of the featured guests at the private reception for "Things Hawaiian," an exhibition of works by six Hawaii resident artists Tuesday evening at the Bethel Street Gallery. Furuya's meticulously executed paintings of Hawaii birds got a lot of attention; two were sold during the party.

JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
INDIGO'S A STAGE FOR AWS 4. Rachel Funk Heller, left, and her husband, Ron Heller, talked with cast member Tracy Hanayo Okubo after the opening-night performance of the All the World's a Stage Theatre Company production of "Miss Julie," Sept. 15 in the Opium Den at Indigo. The group — AWS for short — is committed to doing theater in nontraditional locations. The Hellers have appeared in shows presented by The Actors Group.

JOHN BERGER / JBERGER@STARADVERTISER.COM
2. Executive producer Ralph Malani, center, congratulated newly crowned Miss Polynesia Pacific 2011 Summer Malamaisaua Kawailana Manuma and Mr. Polynesia Pacific 2011 Robert Ahsen Minoaka Keokolo Lopeti Wahilani Mokiao moments after the judges' decision was announced.