Dwayne Sakaguchi was a 14-year-old Kaimuki Middle School student when he played Angel, a flamboyant, HIV-positive transvestite, in the Saint Louis Center for the Arts’ production of “Rent: School Edition” in 2008. Director Kyle Kakuno said he had troubling getting students at the Catholic high school to audition for the musical, and so he cast the show with students from other schools.
When Sakaguchi danced on a table in a costume that included eye-catching platform boots, he stole the show. Nine years later Sakaguchi, 23, has a degree in communications from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, teaches dance at Punahou School and is in his second year as choreographer-in-residence at the Kaimuki High School Performing Arts Center.
JOHN BERGER: What you do enjoy most about choreographing shows like “In the Heights,” recently produced at the Kaimuki Performing Arts Center?
DWAYNE SAKAGUCHI: It’s quite exciting to be part of the production staff knowing that I’m an alumnus of the center as well. Helping kids grow as artists is the most rewarding part of the process.
JB: What do you want them to learn from doing musical theater?
DS: If you love what you do, you find a way to do it. You put your heart and your soul into it.
JB: The role of Angel is one of the most challenging in “Rent.” How did you pull it off at the age of 14?
DS: Angel was my first leading role — and only my second show ever — and it was extremely challenging. I wasn’t a trained dancer yet, so it was difficult for me to find balance, practice my staging, learn how to blast those really high notes in my song, how to walk in those boots and perform comfortably. I rehearsed for three months in those boots pretty much every single day.
JB: What are your strongest memories looking back?
DS: Our production was the first production of either version on the island — the “school edition” or the regular “adult” edition — so I was hoping we could set a standard that others could uphold. Personally, it was an experience I’ll never forget, and it just motivates me to keep going and doing bigger and better things.
JB: Where would you like to be 10 years from now?
DS: I want to go to New York. If the calling for me is to stay in New York for a while, that’s where I’ll be, but within 10 years I do want to be back here in Hawaii with a job in public relations serving the community.
“On the Scene” appears weekly in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday Magazine. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.
