2020 mayor’s race warming up

With less than a year to go until Hawaii’s next primary election, candidate buzz is getting louder.

Possible contenders to succeed termed-out Mayor Kirk Caldwell: former Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, former Congressman Charles Djou, City Councilman Ron Menor and businessman Keith Ame­miya. Councilwoman Kymberly Pine and former state Sen. John Carroll have already announced intentions.

Winning more than 50% of the Aug. 8 primary votes ends the race. Short of that mark, the top two advance to a special election. In either case, the 2020 election year will mark Hawaii’s first for mail-in-only ballots; look for more details to come from the Office of Elections.

Knapp took on pidgin Shakespeare

The late Terence Knapp, the actor, director and University of Hawaii professor who died Aug. 12, was native to London but grasped Hawaii culture well. He embraced the idea that Shakespeare could be translated into Hawaiian pidgin, such as the classic “Twelf’ Night or Wateva.”

Knapp would teach his students that Shakespeare, far from being snobbish fare, was written for commoners of the time. So pidgin worked. That will live on in the works of other local writers inspired by Knapp’s insight.