Kumu Kahua Theatre Reveals New 55th Season 

Keeping it local since 1971, Kumu Kahua Theatre is kicking off its 55th Season of plays by and for the people of Hawaiʻi with a focus on strong female characters. The 2025-2026 lineup, curated by Kumu Kahua’s Artistic Director Harry Wong III, features five plays set to make their world premiere at the historic downtown Honolulu theatre. The new season launches on August 28, 2025 with the mother-daughter dramedy Smother, written by Sara Ward. A dynamic range of productions continues with Outlandish written by Eric Anderson, following British reporter Isabella Bird’s time in 1870’s Hawaiʻi; Blu’s Hanging by Lois Ann Yamanaka, adapted for the stage by R. Zamora Linmark, centered around a survivor of Hansen’s Disease and his daughter; Two Nails, One Love by Lee A. Tonouchi, based on the novel by Alden M. Hayashi, a mother-son road trip of discovery; and Diane Aoki’s multigenerational Memory Beads.

“I’m so happy that Harry had these five scripts ready to go in one wonderful female-forward season,” shares Kumu Kahua Theatre Managing Director, Donna Blanchard.  “The first known scripted play is Aeschylus’ The Persians, written in the wake of the Greco-Persian Wars. In the 2,500 years since, the vast majority of plays staged have been written by men and dominated by great roles for male actors, including those produced by Kumu Kahua. I hope this season inspires our local playwrights to magnify the feminine voice for at least the next 2,500 years—and encourages more women to proudly take center stage!”

Tickets are on sale now at www.kumukahua.org and at the Kumu Kahua Theatre box office for the full 55th Season of plays:

Smother 

by Sara Ward 

August 28 - September 28, 2025

Marcia is a fiercely devoted but meddlesome mother who goes to extreme lengths to control her daughter’s love life, determined to steer her away from bad relationships and into the arms of the “perfect” partner. Julia, a sweet but independent young woman with a history of poor choices in men, struggles to establish boundaries as Marcia hatches a series of increasingly outrageous schemes to “fix” Julia’s love life–culminating in a boyfriend’s disastrous allergy attack. As tensions rise and their bond fractures, Marcia is forced to confront her own fears to avoid losing her daughter entirely.

Outlandish 

by Eric Anderson

November 6 - December 7, 2025

In 1873, Victorian travel-writer Isabella Bird visits Hilo, Hawaiʻi. She throws herself into the local community with enthusiasm and occasional blunders. At the same time, the new King of Hawaiʻi, Lunalilo, coincidentally stops in Hilo on his inaugural tour through the Islands. Miss Bird and Lunalilo meet at a party given in his honor by the local sheriff and his wife. These two unusual people get to know each other in ways that challenge and surprise them both. This is a play about changes occurring on a Hilo länai, but with reverberations that may echo throughout Hawaiʻi and the whole 19th century world—as well as within the warm confines of the human heart.

Lois-AnnYamanaka’s Blu’s Hanging

adapted for the stage by R. Zamora Linmark 

March 26 - April 26, 2026

A Hansen’s Disease survivor begins to lose grip on reality as he mourns the death of his wife while struggling to provide for his three children in an environment of economic dearth, educational lack, and sexual predation. The eldest child, Ivah, is offered a lifeline when a compassionate teacher helps her apply to a private boarding school. Learning that she has been accepted, Ivah must decide whether staying, or leaving, will best allow her to care for her father and siblings.

Two Nails, One Love 

by Lee A. Tonouchi, based on the novel by Alden M. Hayashi

January 22 - February 22, 2026

Ethan Taniguchi is a recently single gay man living in New York City when his estranged mother from Hawaiʻi pays an unexpected visit, forcing him to confront their complicated relationship. “Anxious Ethan” is the Pidgin-speaking voice of self-doubt that haunts Ethan as he and his mother unravel painful family history: her incarceration during World War II and subsequent deportation to Japan as part of a little-known hostage exchange, in which the United States traded its own citizens for whiter Americans held abroad. Will Ethan finally be able to understand the woman who is his mother, and will she be able to understand him in return?

Memory Beads 

by Diane Aoki

May 28 - June 28, 2026

Joni knows that Alzheimer’s Disease runs in her family and she fears it will take hold of her mother, and herself. To counteract this, she collects “memory beads”: her family’s immigration story from Okinawa, anecdotes her mother shares about growing up in Hilo, histories unearthed in a family genealogy, and narratives of her own journey toward self-acceptance and empowerment. Collectively, we see that the relationships between mothers and daughters through five generations are the cords that tie these “memory beads” together.