ON THE ROAD

A Note from the Road: I LAND On Tour

I joined up with the I LAND tour for part of its Hawaii 2 weeks—Keo, Kristabelle, Dave (the production stage manager and production manager), and I all met up in Kahului, Maui. They had just concluded a week residency in Houston, hosted by the wonderful presenter, Sixto Wagan at DiverseWorks. The ensemble was very energized by their Houston experience as we headed to Hana, where I LAND officially began its Hawaii tour with a community outreach warm-up performance in the beautiful, rustic Helene Hall, next to the ocean. A capacity crowd of mostly local people—lots of kids, tutus, kapunas, teens, etc.—filled the hall after eating plate lunch dinners by the sea. We had been asked by the presenters to make a cleaned-up, 45-minute version for schools and community settings like this (remove the sex, drugs, violence, swear words), so on the breathtaking, winding road to Hana, we started getting the "I LAND Light" version of the show together. While it was hard to jettison certain scenes like "Kill Haole Day," what was left held together cohesively and Keo picked it up flawlessly with Dave and Kristabelle rolling with the changes like the pros they are. The community hall had only four lights on two trees, which were left on Keo throughout. From stage, Keo could only hear the audience—it was like performing in the highlights of two cars bearing down on him. In the un-air conditioned hall, he performed bikram theater on stage—I think he must have lost five pounds sweating.

To me, this was the litmus test of I LAND I have wondered about. As we made the play, I had wanted it to be something that could tell its story anywhere, without any props, or tech—in that essential 'empty space' of Peter Brooks or of the South African township-inspired theater of Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon. And we had both wanted it to be most understood and embraced by its core Hawaii audiences, especially young people. While I know Keo surely missed the technical support and beautiful design elements of a formal theater, for me it was theater at its essence—raw, nothing hidden, completely embraced, transcendent. The faces of the little boys who thronged the front rows were rapt (when they weren't cheering or laughing) and it was great afterwards to see them imitating both the hip hop and hula moves.

The next morning we were asked to repeat the outreach version for the upper class students of the Hana public high school. We arrived to discover a performer's nightmare—a huge basketball gym, noisy teens, no acoustics, construction going on outside, etc. We dumped our original plan and went to plan B—a lec/dem of the dance highlights of the show, which was received with complete enthusiasm. In the Q&A, a young girl asked, "Do you know what 'hana hou' means?" which summed up the audience response. Hana hou—is the equivalent of "bravo," literally, "one more time." The teachers said they had never seen such a great response to an assembly. The students thronged around Keo after the show; one commented, "We can relate to you." One only can imagine the seeds he is planting and what will grow.

Next we went on to the show in Honolulu at Leeward, which was a wonderful homecoming. Keo's father (pictured, at left, above) and family were present, as were many of his halau brothers, which made the evening especially poignant. The audience was with Keo every minute, from his opening chant to the standing ovations. After his curtain call, a group of Hawaiian Studies students chanted their appreciation back to him—it was very moving. Everyone was talking about who they wish they had brought and who else should have seen the play—which bodes well for the rest of the tour. The Leeward presenters were very gracious and to our surprise, Wayland Quintero, formerly of Slant and La Mama ETC in NYC (and Kristabelle's cousin's husband), was the assistant theater manager. He had seen the original 40-minute showing of I LAND way back at H.T. Chen's Mulberry Theater in NYC—it was great to have someone in the audience who had seen its full journey back to Hawaii.

I stayed with the show through another wonderful performance in Hilo at the UH Theater. Keo and I were graciously hosted by Noe Noe Wong-Wilson; we stayed on her beautiful farm high above the Hana Bay. She hosted a dinner for us with kumu Pualani Kanahele Kanaka'ole, who came to the show. I sat beside Aunty Pua during the performance and felt a rush of anxiety, similar to how I felt before Keo and I showed Keo's kumu, Robert Cazimero, our first draft, two summers ago when we worked together in Umbria, Italy. It was a tremendous relief to hear her laughing, clapping, and at the end turn to me with her beautiful smile and blessing that the show was "maika'i." It made me remember Robert's first responses and our train ride to Rome, talking through every moment of the evolving script. Keo and I both have felt the depth of our responsibility with this piece as we pushed to explore and complete the story. I feel deep gratitude for Robert's support and trust in this process and truly blessed by the encouragement and response we have received.

Sadly, I had to leave the group before their next leg, another set of community performances on Moloka'i and back to Maui for a show at the Maui Arts Center. Keo and Kristabelle said that Moloka'i was incredible, from the moment they arrived at the airport and were greeted by students of kumu Manuwai Peters. They, like so many others on the tour, left us with the question, "When are you coming back?" I have a feeling that the tour was a warm-up to I LAND landing in Hawaii again.

It's hard to believe that I was in Hawaii for over a week, yet only swam in the ocean once, since every day we were busy traveling, rehearsing, in tech, etc. But I was immersed in the aloha of all the people we saw and met—this will stay with me a very long time. "Mahalo nui loa" to them and to all who made this tour possible: Rachel and Asia Society and Ma-Yi Theater staff, Ivan at Pentacle, our NY hula ohana for getting the word out, the various presenters involved and especially Rob at UH Hilo, Joe and Wayland at Leeward, Colleen at MAC, Noe Noe and family, and finally, Andrew and my family in NYC, and my family in Hawaii, especially Joe and Aloma, Mariko, and my Maui mom and dad, Kay and Lorraine.

—Roberta Uno, Director and Co-Creator, I LAND

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