Honolulu Theatre For Youth Receives 2025 National Endowment For The Arts Grant

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced the Grant Recipients for 2025. Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY) will receive $50,000 for the development and creation of the original play, Joseph Kekuku and the Voice of the Steel Guitar slated to open in May 2025. The show will be the final offering in HTY's 70th birthday season which featured nine original productions.

The play is based on the real-life story of Joseph Kekuku'upenakana'iaupuni'okamehameha Apuakehau who used the stage name Joseph Kekuku. Joseph was born in Lāʻie on the island of Oʻahu and is acknowledged as the inventor of the steel guitar. In 1889, while attending Kamehameha School for Boys, he fabricated a steel bar in the school's machine shop, modified the strings on his guitar, and created a new sound that he would share with the world. The production is helmed by HTY Artistic Associate, Moses Goods, in collaboration with the Kealakai Center for Pacific Strings

“We are very grateful to the NEA for their support of this project and for championing overlooked voices and stories that expand our understanding of the world. Once you learn Joseph Kekuku's story you cannot help but hear the ripples of Hawaiʻi in every corner of modern music from rock and roll to country, from jazz to blues. We are so excited that this exceptional team is bringing this story to the HTY stage and can't wait to share it with Hawaiʻi and the world,” stated HTY Artistic Director, Eric Johnson.

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