Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 1, 1 January 1992 — Playwright Apio urges respect for ʻaina [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Playwright Apio urges respect for ʻaina

by Christina Zarobe

For a culture to lose its language leaves its people mute, unable to talk about problems. Playwright Alani Apio believes Hawaiians have suffered this fate. "We are a land and language-based people and ultimately I'd like to see us all speaking Hawaiian again," says Apio, who lives in 'Ewa Beach on O'ahu. "I think land and language are the cornerstones of our culture." Combining his experience as an actor with love of the language, Apio has written a ehildren's play, "Na Keiki 'O Ka 'Aina" (The Children of the Land.) The Maui Academy for the Performing Arts Repertoire Company will be previewing and touring the play during January and March. The production will be performed on Maui, O'ahu, Hawai'i and Kaua'i. The play brings together the spiritual and scientific worlds while teaching the audience about the various species on the islands, their habitats and the danger of extinction, he explains. "The animals tell their own story, a very spiritual one, in the search for lokahi: the unity between man, nature and the spiritual world," writes Apio in the play program. His pride in his Hawaiian heritage is a strong force in a conversation with Apio. Yet during an interview with Ka Wai Ola O OHA a sense of urgency about the future of Hawaiians was an equally powerfuI message. "What I'm trying to do is get us back to leaming how to speak from our na'au (guts) and what our kupuna have taught us," he says. "I don't think the ultimate outcome is important to me. It is important to work toward it and what my 'ohana and kupuna have taught me." The play is 26-year-old Apio's first to be produced, although he has written others. Produced by The Maui Academy of Performing Arts Repertoire Company and co-produced by Waihe'e Oceanfront Hawaii, ine., the play is a reflection of what Apio describes as the child in him. "I really respond to children and my humor tends to be very childlike," he says with a ehuekle admitting to the hours he spent watching Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brother cartoons. His goal in writing the play was to "make a statement, not so mueh to change people's minds, but to inform them about what's going on." With a plot for the play in mind, Apio sat down in the summer of 1988 and in five davs had completed "Na Keiki 'O Ka 'Aina." One of three children, Apio grew up in 'Ewa and graduated Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawai'i-Manoa where he studied drama and theater. His professional work since has included theater, television, film, and radio. For many, he may be best known for his role as Prince Charming in the '80s television comedy, "Seestarella." While his play is best suited for children in grades 2 to 5, he says the production also is appropriate for adults. The youngsters, however, are the group Apio hopes to target with the play. "Our attitudes are-for the most part set. I think the most hope lies with setting the attitudes of the keiki today," he says. By educating youngsters about the Hawaiian culture and strengthening use of the language, they will grow up without the confusion surrounding their identity as a people, Apio says.

He points out that when his father was raised society cast a negative image on being Hawaiian and the language was termed "unacceptable." "I think that at the root of the problem we face as Hawaiians today is a laek of cultural and self-identity," he says. "We don't know who we are as Hawaiians or we have mixed views of who we are or a wrong idea of who we were." To aid teachers, Maui Academy of the Performing Arts has put together a packet to help students prepare for what they will see. Sketches of Native Hawaiian species, such as the Hawaiian stilt and the 'elepaio, are included with a short Hawaiian/English dictionary. The theme, Apio says, is simply, "He ali'i ka 'aina, he kaua ke kanaka — the land is chief and man is the servant." "It has been my experience that Western society, capitalism and industrialism has focused on

a human dominated, controlled, and manipulated world. I think we're seeing that that view will put us in the grave along with the rest of the world." Through Apio's eyes he sees Hawai'i as a "microcosm of the world. Regardless of what will happen I think it is important for us to protect, care for and love our land and our earth." In a more widespread effort to educate the public about the Hawaiian culture, Apio, who works as an office manager in Honolulu, eofounded the organization Ha Mana two years ago. The group's membership includes photographers, producers, writers, artists, actors and dancers. According to Apio, Ha Mana's mission statement is to "promote, preserve, and perpetuate accurate information about Hawaiians and their culture through media." "There's a real big problem with trying to be an Amenean and trying to be Hawaiian," he says. "And if you can't express the problem, it just sits there and eats at you." Apio says he continues to write and will soon complete two projects. One is a full-length feature film about a young boy's coming of age in Wai'anae and the other is an adult play about the introduction of foreigners in the islands and how it has changed Hawai'i. Yet this playwright's vision for the Hawaiian people is an optimistic one with residents taking small steps that may eventually save the Hawaiian Islands. Or, as he writes in the program for Na Keiki 'O Ka 'Aina, "The hope lies then in making little changes, learning to tread less heavily on the earth, and infusing na keiki with aloha 'aina — love for the land." Na Keiki 'O Ka 'Aina will be performed at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Atherton Halau, Bishop Museum on O'ahu. The play will tour schools Jan. 7-23 on Maui, Jan. 27-31 on O'ahu, March 9-12 on Hawai'i and March 1620 on Kaua'i. There will be public performances Jan. 27-31 on Maui. For details, eall 244-8762 on Maui.

Alani Opio

m āmm i» ^ Photo by Christina Zarobe