'AINAKEA - Maui Hawaii, Maui OnStage Non Equity Auditions

PRODUCER

Maui OnStage
808-242-6969
boxoffice@mauionstage.com

DIRECTOR

Francis Taua

WRITTEN BY

James Nevius

COSTUME DESIGNERS

Sarah Loney Mark and Lily Campbell

ALL ROLES ARE OPEN

The director is seeking actors ages 18 and up of all ethnicities and gender identities.

Ainakea follows the Goodale family, descendants of early missionaries in Hawaii, as they return to their struggling sugar plantation after three years abroad. Young entrepreneur Lopaka tries to convince matriarch Amanda Goodale to lease the land to hotel developers to save the plantation, but she refuses. When Ainakea is auctioned off due to debt, Lopaka outbids the family and buys it himself, planning to clear the sugar cane and build beach resorts.

As Amanda and the others prepare to leave their ancestral home for good, the play explores themes of tradition versus progress, colonialism's impact on Native Hawaiians, class divides among plantation workers, and the irreversible changes reshaping Hawaii in the postwar period.

The play is an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's classic drama The Cherry Orchard, widely considered one of the great plays of the early 20th century. Nevius has updated the drama to the 1950s.

AUDITIONS

Saturday, July 11
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Auditions will be held at the Maui OnStage Education and Youth Center, located at Queen Ka'ahumanu Center, across from Ben Franklin.

Callbacks (By Invitation Only)

Sunday, July 12
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Callbacks will also be held at the Maui OnStage Education and Youth Center.

Please prepare two contrasting monologues, each up to 90 seconds in length.

Bring a headshot and résumé, if available, and plan to arrive 10 minutes early to check in.

Viewing Auditions

Director: Francis Taua
Author: James Nevius

VIDEO SUBMISSIONS

If you are unable to attend auditions in person, video submissions will be accepted.

Please submit:

• Two contrasting monologues (up to 90 seconds each)
• Headshot
• Résumé (if available)

Submit materials to:

stagemanagermaui@gmail.com

Deadline: Friday, August 7

Maui OnStage has adopted the Chicago Theatre Standards, which seek to foster an environment of communication, safety, respect, accountability, and the health, safety, and well-being of institutions and participants.

REHEARSALS

Table Read

Sunday, August 16
5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Design Presentation

Monday, August 17
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Regular Rehearsals

Monday–Friday
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Saturday afternoons

The production will rehearse four to five times per week depending on actor availability.

Tech Week

Monday, September 21 – Thursday, October 1
6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Required for all actors.

REHEARSAL LOCATIONS

• Maui OnStage at the Historic Iao Theater
  68 N. Market St., Wailuku, HI
• Maui OnStage Education and Youth Center
  Queen Ka'ahumanu Center, across from Ben Franklin

PERFORMANCE DATES

Friday, October 2 – Sunday, October 18

• Fridays: 7:30 p.m.
• Saturdays & Sundays: 3:00 p.m.

Performance Location

Maui OnStage at the Historic Iao Theater
68 N. Market St.
Wailuku, HI

CONFLICTS

Please verify your availability for all rehearsals and performances before auditioning.

Actors must submit all known conflicts prior to auditions. These conflicts will be considered during casting. Once the show is cast, no additional conflicts will be accepted.

The final rehearsal schedule will be determined based on cast availability. Please note that rehearsal hours are extended during tech week.

All roles will be understudied.

MAUI ONSTAGE UNDERSTUDY POLICY

A Note on Casting (and Hawaiian History)

The Hawaiian Islands were first settled by Polynesian voyagers by at least 1120 CE, or perhaps as early as the first century. For centuries, Native Hawaiians remained isolated from Western contact until the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778.

Soon afterward, Kamehameha, a chief on Hawai'i Island, unified the islands into the Kingdom of Hawaii with the aid of Western weaponry. Following King Kamehameha's death, missionaries from New England settled throughout the kingdom. Christianity flourished, and many missionary descendants became influential in government and invested heavily in sugar plantations.

To support the growing sugar industry, workers were recruited from China, Japan, the Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, and other countries. Plantation workers created a distinct hapa culture. Originally borrowed from the English word half, hapa has come to describe people of mixed heritage. Many Maui residents from diverse ethnic backgrounds identify as local or hapa.

Ethnicity is an important consideration in maintaining the authenticity of this production, as reflected in the character breakdown below.

REGARDING AGES

Ages refer to how the character should be perceived, not necessarily the actor's actual age.

CHARACTERS

12 actors: 7 men / 5 women

LOPAKA – A young entrepreneur raised in the Goodales' plantation camp. (Hapa or other local plantation ethnicity; not white.)

MARY – A house servant at the Goodales' home, Ainakea. (Japanese or hapa.)

JOHNNY – A bookkeeper for the sugar mill. He is in love with Mary. (Any ethnicity.)

KAWIKA – Around 80 years old, the oldest servant at Ainakea. (Native Hawaiian.)

ANNA – Amanda Goodale's 17-year-old daughter. The Goodales descend from one of Hawaii's earliest missionary families. (White.)

AMANDA – Owner of Ainakea plantation. (White.)

NOELANI – Amanda's hnai (adopted) daughter who has cared for the house during Amanda's absence. (Hawaiian or hapa.)

KLAUS – The German plantation manager. (White.)

CHARLOTTE – Amanda and Anna's maid who has accompanied them through Europe and America during the past three years. (Any ethnicity.)

LEONARD – Amanda's brother. (White.)

BENNY – Amanda's porter and footman who also traveled with the family abroad. (Any ethnicity.)

PETER – Former tutor to Amanda's late son Gregory. Recently returned from the Korean War. (Any ethnicity.)

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

James Nevius is an award-winning journalist, playwright, composer, and historian. He is the co-author of several nonfiction works, including Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City (Simon & Schuster) and Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers (Rowman & Littlefield).

His work has appeared in The Guardian, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, Vox Media's Curbed, Monocle, and numerous other publications.

His play Murder in the Nth Degree won the inaugural ProArts Playhouse Playwriting Competition and was named Best New Play (2022) by BroadwayWorld Hawaii. Other plays include Saint Mary Immaculate Virtual High School Reunion, Will Power, Mammoth Falls, and A Murder in West Egg.

Nevius studied English literature at NYU and participated in a writers' workshop with Jeffrey Stocker and Christopher Durang.

Maui OnStage is committed to providing a workplace free of sexual harassment and sustaining an anti-racist environment. The organization does not tolerate unlawful harassment based on race, color, gender expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status.