Kumu Kahua Theatre and Chicago's Nothing Without A Company Join Forces for 24-HOUR PLAYFEST Performance

Kumu Kahua Theatre, in collaboration Chicago's Nothing Without a Company will gather theatre writers, directors, and actors to create and present 6 new 10-minute plays, made in 24 hours and presented online in hour 25. The theme of the festival is "cannabis."

Beginning on Saturday, April 17th at 3 PM HST, 6 writers, 6 directors, 18 actors, 1 stage manager, and one digital engineer will gather with administrators of Honolulu's Kumu Kahua Theatre and Chicago's Nothing Without a Company via zoom to kick off the PlayFest, which will culminate in a live digital performance of 6 new plays.

In 2019, the founders of Nothing Without a Company administered a PlayFest with Kumu Kahua, while visiting Oahu. One of the founders of Nothing Without a Company - Hannah Ii-Epstein - is also a local playwright whose work has been produced by Kumu Kahua Theatre. The 2019 PlayFest was a critical and artistic success.

The PlayFest begins with a meet-and-greet among the artists to help inspire the writers. The playwrights then set about writing 10-minute plays centered on the theme "cannabis." The resulting scripts are later delivered to the directors, who take over the process with their actors.

In the 25th hour, the new shows will be performed live, digitally. The performance is free of charge; tickets can be reserved at bit.ly/2021playfest.

For further information, call the Kumu Kahua Theatre office at 536-4222, or email officemanager@kumukahua.org.

Kumu Kahua productions are supported in part by the Island Insurance Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020, McInerny Foundation (Bank of Hawaii, Trustee); The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai`i, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, ABC Stores, the Gloria Kosasa Gainsley Fund, The Halligan Charitable Trust, Hawai`i Public Radio, The Kim Coco Fund for Justice of the Iwamoto Family Foundation, Edric Sakamoto, John Mazur and other foundations, businesses, and loyal patrons.