Star-Advertiser staff
James A. Nakamoto, best known to Hawaii community theater audiences as a director of locally written plays and for his decades as McKinley High School’s drama teacher, told his former students the remembrance he wanted was not a funeral, but a show they’d put on.
And now those alumni and others in his circle of friends are making plans for such a show, a tribute to Nakamoto, who died Oct. 9. He was 81.
Nakamoto’s family held private services in Honolulu. He is survived by his sister and brother-in-law — Alice and Roy Sato of Wailuku — their son Glenn Sato and Glenn’s wife, Cheryl, who were his caregivers.
Alice Sato said theater was his passion even when they were growing up and putting on shows for their family and friends. “We even had a newspaper dress-up contest, using newspapers to create costumes,” she said. “Our uncle was a carpenter and built a little storage shed out back, and we used that as a place to sell tickets.”
The show, described as a celebration, is set for March 29, tentatively on the McKinley stage, said Wayne Paakaula, who is heading the planning committee. It is being scripted as a variety show, with a musical revue, a formal presentation by the family to the school, and a video and slide presentation of memorabilia.
Nakamoto, best known on campus as “Mr. Nak,” retired from teaching in December 1989 after 27 years but frequently returned to direct shows. For a time he staged a show every four years featuring faculty and staff.
And when McKinley’s vintage theater reopened after extensive renovations in 1998, he called alumni of the McKinley Theatre Group back to help rededicate the building with a reunion show; some flew in from the mainland to do it. Among Nakamoto’s students who appeared in the show were Hawaii comic actor James Grant Benton, actor and singer William Hao and other theater veterans.
Nakamoto’s stage credits cover various Hawaii theater groups as well as Los Angeles’ East West Players, where he directed numerous Asian-themed plays. But he is probably best known for his work with Kumu Kahua, the company noted for spotlighting locally written scripts and those with Hawaii story lines.
He often paired with playwright Edward Sakamoto; their most recent team effort at Kumu Kahua was Sakamoto’s play “It’s All Relative,” in 2011.
