Michael Donato enjoys the process of creating art in a variety of forms.
When he learned that The Actors’ Group in Iwilei was holding auditions for a play that focused on a successful but flawed cartoonist as the central character, Donato thought the role would be a good fit.
“I’m always attracted to stories that are about the making of something,” said Donato, or “Donut,” as he’s known in the local theater world. “I love superheroes as much as any other nerd, but I was very interested in the process: A book writer who I identify with in terms of dealing with his own traumas and finding ways to work through that in order to finish his art.”
The cartoonist Adam is the creator of the popular superhero Mynx and her supervillain adversary Savage. With 98 issues of “Mynx & Savage” in print, he is two issues away from celebrating the series’ 100th issue. However, Adam is notoriously difficult to work with, and he is having problems making his production deadlines.
“I don’t do my own comic books,” said Donato, who is also an author, playwright, photographer and graphic designer. “But I’ve been in his situation before and it resonated with me.”
Adam’s editor deals with his time-management problems by assigning him a new inker/colorist to help keep his work on schedule. The colorist, Ket, a woman working in a predominantly male industry, is delighted to have the career-boosting opportunity of partnering with Adam on his milestone issues despite his personal reputation.
Oahu audiences can see Donato as Adam, and Romyn Sabatchi as Ket, when the Hawaii premiere production of Rebecca Gorman O’Neill’s “Mynx & Savage” opens Friday at The Actors’ Group’s Brad Powell Theatre.
Hawaii theater veteran Betty Burdick directs the show. She said she found the play interesting because it addresses psychological ideas and challenges the supporting actors, played by Juvy Lucina (Mynx) and Maseeh Ganjali (Savage).
“They’re basically playing four different characters,” Burdick explained. “They’re playing Mynx and Savage, who are the superheroes, and then they’re playing their mild standard (1950s) alter egos — Mynx is Hope Evans, an archaeologist, and Savage is Carter Wight, a zoologist.”
Hope and Carter are colleagues. Neither knows that the other has a secret identity and superpowers — let alone that they are enemies.
Lucina and Ganjali have additional roles as 9-year-olds — Jill (Lucina) and Kyle (Ganjali) — whose fascination with superheroes is the foundation of the “Mynx & Savage” origin story that Adam has been working on but isn’t ready to share.
Burdick sees another layer of the story in “the feminist aspect” of a woman working in a man’s world, especially with a character she describes as “a cranky boots.”
Speaking cautiously to avoid any spoilers, Donato described the story as one of growth, partnership and healing for the characters Adam and Ket.
“The woman colorist that comes and helps him, she has her own needs, but she associates with the work he’s done,” he said. “She’s getting to live out her dream by getting to work on a product, a property, that she’s been wanting to work on.”
Ket also helps Adam get his personal life together and get his work schedule back on track.
“I think it’s very much a healing story,” Donato said. “It’s a very human and a very relatable story with superheroes to enjoy. I think it’s gonna be fun.”
—
“Mynx & Savage”
>> Where: The Actors’ Group, Brad Powell Theatre, Dole Cannery, 650 Iwilei Road
>> When: 7:30 p.m. Friday; continues at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 3
>> Cost: $30, $25 seniors, $20 students and military
>> Info: taghawaii.net or 808-722-6941
