Lee Cataluna

Maui, the Polynesian demi-god and trickster, is alive and well in contemporary Maui, but unable to find much use for his powers in the modern world. His sons vie for his attention, but find him always just out of reach. The mothers of his sons come to realize that they are actually the superheroes in their children's lives. The characters hold on to what remains of their culture on an island overbuilt with strip-malls and fast food restaurants. It is also a story about a very complicated family situation and people who struggle to find their own definition of aloha.

When his wife becomes gravely ill, a young man is encouraged to go on with his life. He does. But then, to everyone’s surprise, so does she. A dark comedy about survival instincts, letting go and that popular catchphrase, “the new normal”.

There is a tendency to romanticize sickness. Novels for teens and indy films paint a picture of true love passing the test of “in sickness and in health”. Yet it doesn’t always happen that way. Often, when a person faces a grave illness, relationships fray and everyone at some point walks through the valley of the shadow of death alone.

There is something terribly funny about human foibles in the face of struggles. We rage against the dying of the light in fairly ridiculous ways. The struggle to live is noble, valiant, even beautiful, but also self-important and funny.

This is a play written to showcase the actors' craft and for audiences that have lived through the beauty and absurdity of life and love. It is based on a true story.

A play-in-scenes about a diverse, extended Hawaii family dealing with a host of issues from infidelity to drug addiction plus troubles that aren’t as common. Reeling from the hilarious to the tragic, these characters find a messy, complicated, yet enduring love for one other. The play is about the things that get handed down in a family and the way these things-- both tangible and intangible-- break, get patched up, break again, and manage to endure. This is represented in the play by a set of vintage dishes in the Flowers of Hawaii pattern.

What happens when you wish upon a star? What do the stars do with those wishes? This short play for families and classrooms was commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse during the pandemic. It is a hopeful, imaginative story about taking care of each other and wishing the best for the world.

This is a regular meeting to apologize for bad stuff you've done... but the catch is, you don't need to apologize to the person you've hurt. It's all the relief of unburdening with none of the burden of actual contrition, and it all quickly goes wrong.

The story of Hawaii's only train robbery and the innocent man who willingly took the blame for the crime.