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Ākea Kahikina

Hana keaka (Hawaiian theatre) practitioner and scholar. BFA Musical Theatre, University of Miami. MFA Hawaiian Theatre, MA ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Aloha mai! I am a hana keaka (Hawaiian theatre) practitioner from Oneʻula, Honouliuli, ʻEwa, Oʻahu. My latest play Hoʻoilina was recently nominated by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival: Region 8 to be featured in its annual festival. My current endeavor is writing, directing, and producing Ko Tūtū Hale, a digital series for young audiences that features Kanaka Maoli elders and puppets to teach and continue the Hawaiian language and our ancestral knowledge.

As a theatre practitioner and scholar, my interests lie in telling and uplifting Kanaka Maoli stories of liminal spaces where race, culture, gender, and perspectives intersect, especially stories that center māhū, queerness, issues with masculinity, and the feeling of not being Hawaiian enough. In whichever path my ancestors leads me, I move as a staunch supporter and protector of Hawaiʻi, its people, culture, resources, and essence of aloha. In both studying ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and storytelling, I intend to heal and galvanize my people by sharing the stories of their past and present, creating a solid foundation for future generations to nourish their ambitions and inspire others to innovate and create positive change.

The promotional image for a production of Battle of Kuamoʻo
Striving for the Summit
Essay

Striving for the Summit

The Mountain Hawaiian Theatre Artists Must Climb

7 March 2019

Ākea Kahikina traces the geneology of hana keaka (Hawaiian theatre), and muses on the future of the theatrical form.