Honolulu Theatre For Youth Announces Premiere Of Season 4 Of THE HI WAY

Honolulu Theatre for Youth announces the premiere of Season 4 of its EMMY Award winning television show, THE HI WAY. The new season continues showcasing issues relevant to the diverse communities in Hawaiʻi. The first episode, titled "How Do You Know You Know?" focuses on where information comes from and the science of truth. The team partnered with The Hawaii State Department of Health Office of Public Health Preparedness on the episode which premieres on Tuesday, 9/28 on K5 at 5:00pm and will be rebroadcast throughout the week. Other episodes in the season will range from dealing with food waste and houseless-ness to learning about trees and money.

HTY Artistic Director, Eric Johnson, looks forward to continuing The HI Way journey. "We are delighted to include young people and families in conversations that are important to Hawaiʻi and our collective future. Working collaboratively to create local television that engages in conversations important to our community has become a powerful extension of our work as a place based theatre."

In the early days of the COVID 19 pandemic it became evident that Honolulu Theatre
for Youth would need to quickly pivot from professional live theatre production to another way of safely delivering content to our core audiences of students, teachers and families. HTY partnered with local media company, NMG Network, and Hawaii News Now (HNN) to create THE HI WAY a 30- minute television show developed for families.

To date, HTY has produced 21 episodes, and the show airs on Hawaii News Now stations which include KGMB, the local CBS affiliate; KHNL, the local NBC affiliate; and Telemundo affiliate, KFVE. The episodes are currently available for free on HTY's website, on Hawaii News Now digital platforms, and are distributed Statewide as an educational resource for local classrooms and communities to use for free.

THE HI WAY is a mix of original music, comedy, puppets and interviews with experts, cultural practitioners and people, young and old, from across Hawaiʻi. Each new episode revolves around a theme highlighting Hawaii's unique perspective on a universal subject. Part variety show, part sketch comedy, part musical, THE HI WAY is an educational, family-friendly program created by a diverse multi-lingual cast.

The show was nominated for 6 EMMY Awards in its first year on the air and won 3 EMMY Awards for episodes Pono, Racism, and Da Holidays. From March 2020 through today, THE HI WAY has reached well over four million views and episodes continue to run to even greater viewership. For more information on The HI Way, go online to www.htyweb.org.