Some kids in Hawaii know of sugar plantations only as the place their grandparents or great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents came from. For many adults, “plantation days” refer to that time before World War II.
With Hawaii’s last plantation — Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. on Maui — set to cease operations by the end of the year, there couldn’t be a better time to reflect on the industry’s imprint on local families and our way of life.
Honolulu Theatre for Youth is commemorating this 150-year legacy with “A Plantation Celebration,” in which short stories by Honolulu Star-Advertiser columnist Lee Cataluna, Alvin Chan, Moses Goods, Juliet Kono, Gary Pak, Darrell Lum and Bryan Wake are brought to life by a talented cast of five. The production runs Saturdays through Dec. 17 in Tenney Theatre.
“The last plantation is closing its doors and … this is the moment when it moves from being (a personal) experience to being stories,” said HTY artistic director Eric Johnson.
“There was sort of this sweet spot in the plantations’ history that we think about as ‘plantation times,’ but first there was a transition moving into the plantation era in the mid-1800s, and then up until this year there have been plantation workers and families.
“I think it’s important to remember that it’s such a long history and that it continues to our current today.”
Expect a bumper crop of nostalgia.
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“A PLANTATION CELEBRATION”
>> Run dates: 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10 and 17; sensory-friendly/American Sign Language performance 11 a.m. Dec. 17
>> Where: Tenney Theatre, St. Andrew’s Cathedral
>> Admission: $10 (age 3-18), $15 (seniors) and $20 (adults); all seats general admission
>> Length of play: 55 minutes
>> Intermission: No
>> Age recommendation: 5 and older
>> What it’s about: The experiences of plantation workers and their families from the mid-1800s to the closing of the last plantation in Hawaii.
>> Morals and messages: Community, diversity and a sense of ohana are good things.
>> Artistic director Eric Johnson says: “This time of year, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, is a time of reflection and family and sharing together, and we certainly hope that families will bring that dialogue into the theater experience. There’s so much cultural stuff that comes out of the way that Hawaii was created because of the plantation era, and if we don’t preserve these stories, we’re going to lose a piece of our identity.”
>> For more info: 839-9885 or htyweb.org
