Massie / Kahahawai at Paliku Theatre

Windward Community College presents Massie / Kahahawai directed by Taurie Kinoshita and performed by Windward CC Theatre 260 students onstage at Palik? Theatre October 20 through October 28—recounting the infamous Thalia Massie case in pre-statehood Hawai‘i. Based on court records, newspaper articles, and witness testimony, Massie / Kahahawai is an unsettling play dealing with race relations in still segregated, early 1930s Honolulu.
Background
In 1931, Thalia Massie, the privileged wife of a Naval officer, accused five locals of raping her. Although witnesses saw her being followed by a white man, two Hawaiians and three other locals were arrested. Although she was legally blind, Thalia eventually remembered a license plate number. And even though the five defendants had been in a documented traffic accident at the time of the alleged incident, they were arrested, put on trial, defamed publicly and had their names and private addresses printed in Honolulu newspapers.
After the ensuing mistrial, one of the defendants, Joseph Kahahawai, was kidnapped and shot in the heart. The four murderers were convicted of manslaughter and ultimately were set free--spending not a single day in jail.
Massie / Kahahawai is the story of race, poverty, a justice system which favors the wealthy—and the unsung heroes who risked everything to do the right thing. The discriminatory events surrounding the Massie case influenced the new state of Hawai‘i and indelibly changed Hawai‘i politics.