Show Biz: Event will celebrate life of theater icon Terence Knapp

A celebration of life, reflecting the prolific and groundbreaking achievements of professor-actor-director Terence Knapp, will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19 at Kennedy Theatre. Doors open at 5 p.m.; a post-program reception will follow on the theater’s upper level lanai.

Knapp, an icon of theater, has been dubbed “Hawaii’s Adopted World Class Actor” and is widely known for his one-man show “Damien.” He died Aug. 12 at age 87.

Assembling peers, former students and followers of the British-born wizard of the stage was a challenge, according to David C. Farmer, who was directed by Knapp in his salad days. As the honcho of the SAG-AFTRA union in Hawaii, which counted Knapp as a member, Farmer had been coordinating Knapp’s legal affairs since he also was his lawyer.

“Except for a few people (at Kennedy Theatre) who knew him, Terry’s death preceded the current group, so it was a struggle,” said Cecilia Fordham, a veteran actor, director and theatergoer who worked with Knapp as an MFA candidate (Knapp was on her committee), and accompanied the actor in selected tours of his much-heralded one-man “Damien” vehicle. “Damien,” written by Aldyth Morris, was the pinnacle of his theatrical career here and a performance for the population of leprosy patients on Molokai, where Damien was considered a saint, is legendary. The Kalaupapa visit “was unbelievably moving,” said Fordham, adding, “one person there thought he was Father Damien.”

A taped performance, directed by Nino Martin at Hawaii Public Television’s studio at the company’s then-Manoa site, also contributed to his fame.

Fordham heads a planning committee for Knapp’s celebration of life, rightfully so, since she was close to him over the decades. She had the luxury of acquiring Knapp’s dated but helpful address book.

“For the first time last January, he didn’t recognize me; he thought I was a Polish girl from World War II,” Fordham revealed. “We chatted; the war years came back. I was the only outsider he would talk to in the last week of his life.”

Though Knapp was perennially a chipper, outgoing sort who usually welcomed visitors for conversation, he became reclusive as his memory failed.

Knapp was 38 when he joined the University of ­Hawaii’s Department of Theatre (and now Dance, too) as a professor-director. Social media postings have helped inform and lure his former students for the celebration, from New York and as far as Thailand, and a handful of former Kennedy Theatre regulars is volunteering in shaping the tribute.

“He had a part in a lot of lives,” Fordham said of his academic and theatric reach. One of his pet projects was the 1974 adaption of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” redubbed “Twelf Nite or Wateva,” written by the late James Grant Benton, a member of the Booga Booga comedy troupe. Knapp helped infuse Elizabethan cadence with revisionist local-style pidgin, which became an unlikely feather in his cap.

R. Kevin Doyle, director of the Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts, will emcee and direct the 45-minute program, which will include a slideshow, with funding courtesy the Friends of Kennedy Theatre; Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak, an expert in Beijing theater, is doing the script. They are Knapp’s former campus colleagues.

Gerry Kawaoka, a sound and light tech guy, was a freshman and toured “Damien” with Knapp and Fordham; he’s joining the backstage crew for the memorial.

Paul Mitri, a theater professor and the director of the off-campus All the World’s a Stage theater group, succeeded Knapp at Kennedy Theatre two years after he retired from his academic career. They had informal chats whenever Knapp made post-retirement campus visits “but we never collaborated on projects,” said Mitri.

Markus Wessendorf, chairman of the UH theater and dance department, joined the faculty in 2001 but didn’t get to work closely with Knapp.

Fordham said the celebration will include a reception on the theater lanai to share remembrances and reflection.

For info, go to: manoa. hawaii.edu/ liveonstage/ knappmemories.

For student scholarship contributions in Terence Knapp’s memory via The Friends of Kennedy Theatre Endowment Fund, go to ­giving.uhfoundation.org, enter fund number 20553803.

NAMES AND PLACES

Here’s a recent Facebook post, from Joseph Morales to Mary Hicks: “Can you please do this production again in a few years and can I be in it?” High praise, and keen flattery, for “Children of Eden,” directed by Hicks, and playing for the last time today at Paliku Theatre. After all, Morales is criss-crossing America in “Hamilton,” portraying Alexander Hamilton. …

Sean Jones, a singer-actor from Hawaii (and son of the late musician Steve Jones), played Pedro, the mean-spirited muleteer in the musical, “Man of La Mancha,” at Stages! in St. Louis. His mom, LeeAnn Maruyama Jones, and Vicki Borges, widow of Jimmy Borges, took in a performance. Jones continues to build his portfolio since leaving Honolulu to follow his dreams.

OH, WHAT JOY!

Joy Abbott’s recent hourlong concert, before perhaps 150 Arcadia residents, was a resounding success. Heads were bopping, lips were in synch with her lyrics — a joyous affirmation of her Broadway and film music, made personal with her recollections and vignettes. For a moment, she was a rock star — with “Phantom of the Opera”-like anticipation unfurling in the lobby. Pianist Jim Howard provided accompaniment.

FUN-RAISER

Augie Tulba, aka Augie T, is seeking a Honolulu City Council seat (District 9, held by Ron Menor, whose term expires in 2020). He will stage his first fundraiser at 6 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Fil-Com Center in Waipahu, featuring comics Frank De Lima and Andy Bumatai, joined by Mike Tulba and Kevin Okimoto. Admission: $60 for single seats, $720 for tables for 12, or $1,000 for VIP tables for 10. Visit vote4augie.com or 386-8608.

And that’s “Show Biz.”

Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist. Reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com.