“Stew Rice,” a popular play by the late Edward Sakamoto, will be revived in a special play reading, streaming at 7 p.m. Saturday (July 17) on YouTube and Kumu Kahua’s Facebook page. There is no admission/viewing fee.
The local comedy, with its original 1995 season cast, will reunite Karen Kaulana, Amy Nishihara, Sharon Aoki, Michael “Sun” Lee, Jason Scott Lee and Marcus Oshiro.
View it at https://www.youtube.com/c/KumuKahuaTheatre
The event will be co-hosted by KHON’s Brook Lee (the 1997 Miss Hawai’i, Miss USA and Miss Universe) and Wil Kahele, a Hawaii actor, writer and director. There also will be tributes to Sakamoto and director Jim Nakamoto.
Details: http://bit.ly/SupportStewRice and http://bit.ly/StewRiceSponsorship.
Obamas delivering ‘Blackout’ on Netflix
The Obamas are coming to Netflix, in their inimitable way — supporting a project dubbed “Blackout,” which is being monitored as both a TV series and a likely film adaptation.
President Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground company will partner with Temple Hill, the group that produced the Kevin Hart “Fatherhood” film, to develop six different love stories, each created by a different writer, dealing with blackout in New York during a hot summer night. The format will be to stage and shape reactions of 12 teens with six shots of love, the theory being that blackouts provoke a myriad of tales, with both personal and potentially universal implications.
The blackout notion coincidentally rings a bell, with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s summer musical, “In the Heights,” now on the big screen and also streaming via HBO Max, which includes a blackout issue. It’s an unintended but familiar model of how an inconvenient lack of power might trigger curious responses. New York, obviously, is a bedrock of unexpected experiences.
The six writers tapped to author the stories are Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk and Nicola Yoon, all with previous cinematic credits.
The Obamas inked a producing deal with Netflix in 2018 and have other projects in development. Perhaps they may consider to someday focus on a Hawaii-based product, like what happens when a huge tidal wave threatens a beachfront complex in a community with no easy way to avoid rising waters? Hmmmm…
Two Honolulans in off-Broadway comedy
Former Honolulans Jason Tam (“A Chorus Line,” “Be More Chill,” “Jesus Christ Superstar”) and Ann Harada (“Avenue Q,” “Les Miserables,” “Cinderella”) are among the performers in “Fairycakes,” an off-Broadway show opening at the Greenwich House Theater beginning Oct. 14.
The comedy is by Douglas Carter Beane, who also will direct, through its Jan. 2 2022 run. The cast also features Mo Rocco, Jackie Hoffman, Julie Halston, Brooks Ashmanskas, Kuhoo Verma and Jamen Nanthajkumar. …
And that’s “Show Biz.” …