Award-winning Native Hawaiian playwright and actor Moses Goods will star Friday night in a one-man show that he wrote depicting the life of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku in a first for Duke’s OceanFest, which is now in its 18th year.
The festival, an annual tribute to Kahanamoku and ocean sports, began Saturday and runs through Sunday, the day after Kahanamoku’s birthday. Goods’ performance, which will feature him playing Kahanamoku and 11 other characters central to the legendary waterman’s life, takes place Friday at 7 p.m. at Kuhio Beach by the bronze Duke Kahanamoku statute. Admission to the performance is free thanks in part to major sponsors, including the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, Kona Brewing, Duke’s Waikiki, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Matson Navigation.
Kahanamoku, who was born Aug. 24, 1890, and died Jan. 22, 1968, was a Native Hawaiian who at one time was known as the world’s fastest swimmer. A born waterman, he won six Olympic medals, including three gold medals in swimming. He was also a champion canoe paddler and steersman and was known as the “Father of International Surfing,” a sport he spread throughout the world on his many goodwill tours.
Goods, who wrote “Duke” in 2015 as part of a collaboration with the Honolulu Theatre for Youth and the Bishop Museum, said Friday’s event will be the first time that the show has been performed under the stars and for free.
“I wanted to understand not Duke the icon or symbol, but Duke the person. It was an incredible journey for me,” Goods said.
Because Kahanamoku was famously humble, Goods said he uses 11 other characters to help tell the story since “Duke would have never talked about himself.”
“It’s an opportunity for me to add to what he did and the legacy that he left. To connect to all aspects of him as a waterman and a human. People see the statue down there and don’t really understand who he was or how he was embraced not only in Hawaii, but in the entire world,” Goods said. “This is my opportunity to make sure that his whole story is told as a Native Hawaiian. His family lived off of that land in Kalia (near where the Hilton Hawaiian Village is today), when streams were flowing. They fished and were sustained by that area.”
Goods said he uses characters to highlight Duke’s skills in the water as well as his famous aloha spirit. One character is one of the passengers he saved from a 1925 shipwreck in Corona del Mar, Calif.
“He took his surfboard and swam against horrible waves to help save 12 out of 17 people. He saved eight or nine of the people all by himself, and that incident is what led to lifeguards using surfboards, a practice that has saved millions of lives,” Goods said.
He also uses the character of Kahanamoku as a child to provide insight into how the 1893 overthrow of the kingdom of Hawaii affected him and his family, but not in a heavy-handed way because “Duke was not known to be a very political person.”
Other Duke’s OceanFest events will include surfing and water sports competitions, a beachfront luau and a lei draping of Kahanamoku’s statue.
Jim Fulton, co-chairman of Duke’s OceanFest, said a new event also was added this year that allows current and former Waikiki surfing instructors and lifeguards to compete in their own contest for bragging rights to be the “King of Queen’s Beach.” Fulton said the event, which takes place today from 8:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m., was added in the spirit of honoring Kahanamoku and the legendary Waikiki beachboys, who shared their aloha with locals and visitors alike.
For more information about Duke’s OceanFest, go online to www.dukesoceanfest.com or follow updates on Facebook. For more information, email info@dukesoceanfest.com.
DUKE’S OCEANFEST
Most events take place at Queen’s Surf on Kuhio Beach in Waikiki unless noted.
>> Information: info@dukesoceanfest.com
Tuesday
>> Duke’s Longboard Classic , 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
>> “King of Queen’s Beach,” lifeguards and surfing instructions compete, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
>> “Going to the Dogs, Surfur comPETition,” surfers and their pets compete, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wednesday
>> Duke’s Waikiki Amateur Longboard Classic: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
>> Pacific Tandem Surfing Contest: 10 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
Thursday
>> Duke’s Waikiki Amateur Longboard Surf Classic: 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
>> Pacific Tandem Contest: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Friday
>> One-man show “Duke,” by Moses Goods, near the Duke Kahanamoku statue, followed by Waikiki Movie Night on the Beach: 7 p.m. start, free admission
Saturday
>> Great Hawaiian Legends Luau: 6 to 9:30 p.m. (tickets available at Honolulu Box Office)
Sunday
>> Outrigger Resorts Adult Beach Volleyball Tournament: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Kapiolani-Queen’s Sand Volleyball Court
