Theatre for cultural transformation and social justice is rising in the awareness of the world of academia. There are new professorates in Theatre for Social Justice, and the discussion in the theatre classroom is centered on more than just Hollywood or Broadway, but about the world stage. Perhaps with our current US President, the world is awakening to the need to confront social injustice, bias, and the tendency of governments to “turn a blind-eye” toward real problems, while distracted by their own created fake politics—that they then condemn or condone. While politics plague our world, its people face unaddressed oppressions and what appears to be an impending doom. Ok, perhaps a bit too dramatic, but there is a new wave of theatre coming to address the woes of our world… I’m glad to be part of that movement.

In that spirit, I’m excited to announce a new production of l’Histoire du Soldat by Stravinsky is 100 years old this year and originally performed in French with eight ensemble musicians, four actors, and one dancer. It tells the story of post-war soldier who sells out to the devil for wealth and power. In Moʻolelo o ke Koa, I translated and adapted the original French script into English, which in turn was translated into Hawaiian (ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi). In my adaptation, the story strongly addresses the issues of colonialism and materialism, which are topics at the core of social conflict in the Hawaiian Islands. The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and Chamber Music Hawaii are sponsoring the concerts to take place in January 2019 at local theatres.

The difficulties and cultural losses that have taken place in nations around the world due to ‘colonialism’ and ‘materialism’ are a very real concern and growing issue being addressed in Oceania and the wider world. First nations are starting to reclaim their traditions, and in some cases their lands. Of course, such a movement comes with a lot of political problems, and contradictory, even embattled ideals. After the First World War (also thought to be the War to end all wars…. Oops… that didn’t happen), Stravinsky wrote about a common soldier’s traumatic reentry into common life, a condition of many that later will be associated with PTSD. We all know that war brings many horrors, and wars are fought over ideologies, cultures and borders and its victims are the common people and their place in the world. In my version Stravinsky we are looking at Hawaii in the early 1900’s before the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, when the Hawaiians were first beginning to wrestle with colonizers and the temptation of materialism … enter the devil…