Shanti Reinhardt

Set in the spring of 1977 and against the backdrop of the struggle between Native Hawaiian activists (P.K.O.) and the U.S. Military for Kaho’olawe, Lehua’s Blood takes us on a whirlwind journey from Kaua’i to deep in the Valley of the Kings, Waipi’o on Hawai’i Island. The Castillo ‘ohana battles against the changing of the tide and the suffocating torment of eldest son and Vietnam Vet Alika’s PTSD as it threatens to tear their world apart. This mo’olelo (story) reminds us that in a world where the fight at times seems constant, the only way to truly win is to release your hilahila (shame) and step out of Pō (darkness) and into Ao (light).

Yamaguchi Store is a play written entirely in Pidgin and set in Kaua’i. The play seamlessly braids together a family’s mo’olelo spanning 3 time periods: 1909, 1924 and 1973, as they try to ‘kala the hala’ that has been plaguing the family as it is passed down from generation to generation. Filled with quick-witted local humor that lovingly cuts to the bone, the play floats on an ocean of generational trauma and pain. Yamaguchi Store is as epic as it is intimate.

Five characters inhabit a beautiful urban oasis at 43rd Street and First Avenue, and though they have shared a building, a doorman and common spaces (and some for a very long time), they have lived in their own separate domains as well, unaware of the true depths of each others joys and sorrows.
Nicholas, a young man and only child of the couple who occupied the penthouse of this historic apartment building, died tragically in an airplane crash a year ago. The only place he has been able to find solace has been in the building’s vintage elevator.
Residents discovered his need and have purposefully left the elevator free for him between the hours of 3am and 4am.
When Starla, a vivacious free-spirited young African-American woman, moves into the building, she unwittingly takes over the elevator at this crucial hour, which leads to personal upheaval for Nicholas and the other residents.
Questions arise about whether the elevator has something to do with why, when and how people cross paths and are forced to deal with one another in an enclosed space.
Ultimately, Starla’s lack of boundaries comically leads to a breaking down of the barriers and walls that each person has built over time to deal with their own grief and loneliness. This dismantling of the metaphorical box helps to create a new kind of family.

KILL ‘EM WITH ALOHA; Or, Da Big Mouth Pidgin English Play is a coming of age story set in 1975, focusing intently on two teenagers who live on the island of Kaua’i. Manny and Janet, both come from working class local families and they navigate a clash of cultures when they befriend hippies who live in the notorious nudist colony, Taylor Camp, which squatted on disputed lands at the end of the road on the North Shore of the island.

Sex! Lies! Murder! Stupidity and violence collide as two desperate actors seeking fame and fortune take a darkly comic detour and find themselves the top suspects in the infamous “Mulholland Murders.”