THE HAWAII OKINAWA CENTER

FEATURES

THE ART OF STORYTELLING

Remember how enjoyable it was to sit at a family gathering and listen to stories from the “olden days”. Grandma and grandpa would share their immigrant experiences of growing up on a plantation complete with lunas, toiling under the hot sun, and even ghost stories. Well, grandma and grandpa may no longer be around and plantation life in old Hawaii is but a distant memory. But we can still experience and relive these stories and more at the First Annual Red Dirt Storytelling Festival on November 19th and 20th at the Hawaii Okinawa Center .

 

This first annual event is being sponsored by the Hawaii United Okinawa Association as a means of showcasing the rich cultural heritage of Hawaii ’s plantation life through storytelling, an art form that has kept life experiences and fascinating stories alive in many cultural communities for centuries. This festival will bring together some of Hawaii ’s best storytellers and internationally renown storytellers, to share tales in four public performances over the two-day festival.

 

Headlining the first “Red Dirt Storytelling Festival” — will be renowned storyteller and internationally acclaimed Celtic harpist, Patrick Ball. A California native, Patrick Ball is a captivating storyteller in the Celtic tradition. His special gift for weaving the Irish lore of his ancestral homeland with Celtic harp pieces won him the Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Association. Ball has recorded seven instrumental and three spoken word albums. He tours extensively in the United States and Canada . Of his performances, Variety, the bible of the entertainment industry, wrote: “Hauntingly beautiful ballads and lilting storytelling.” The St. Petersburg Times described his performances as “Richly theatrical . . . a gem of a show.”

 

The first public performance, “Tales Under a Tent,” featuring local backyard tales, will be held Friday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sharing stories will be Janice Terukina, Eric Mita and Walter Carvalho on slack key guitar. Admission to this event will be free.

At 8 p.m. , guest artist Patrick Ball will join Hawaii storytellers Karen Yamamoto Hackler, Woody Fern, Dann Seki, Nyla Ching Fujii and James McCarthy, sharing “Obake Tales” from Hawaii , the Pacific and around the world.

 

On Saturday, enjoy “Tales for the Entire Family” from Nyla Ching Fujii, James McCarthy, Karen Yamamoto Hackler and Jeff Babb from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Then, at 7 p.m. , Patrick Ball will open “Tales from Island Cultures,” a collection of funny, serious and heartwarming stories that reflect the spirit of island people and places. He will be joined by the other featured storytellers throughout the evening and then will return for a solo finale. Also sharing stories of growing up in a sugar plantation community will be long-time Waipahu resident and Nishihara Chojin Kai member Goro Arakawa.

 

Tickets are for $5 per performance for adults and $3 per performance for children 12 and under and are available at the Hawaii Okinawa Center . A weekend pass can be purchased for $13 for adults and $6 for children.

 

For more information on the Red Dirt Storytelling Festival, call 676-5400 or visit the HUOA web site at http://www.huoa.org .
The Performers
Patrick Ball Patrick Ball is considered one of the premier Celtic harpers and storytellers in the world today, and has recorded seven instrumental and three spoken word albums which have sold over one-half million copies collectively and earned national awards in both the music and spoken word categories .

Brenda Freitas-Obregon revels in sharing the love of books and reading with children of all ages, and their families. After several years as the Statewide Young Adult Coordinator, selecting materials and planning programs for teenagers, “Auntie” Brenda has returned to her first true passion of being a Children’s Librarian. And as all things come full circle, she’s back at her childhood community library, Kalihi-Palama Public Library. Brenda continues to be a lecturer, reader, and storyteller of folktales for audiences of babies to grandparents, at libraries, schools, camps, conferences, museums, and celebrations of all kinds .

Dann Seki is a stage and screen actor as well as a storyteller. He is a member of the Screen Actors guild (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Hawaii State Theatre Council (HSTC). From Aiea , Dann has been developing as a storyteller since 1994. He has performed at various libraries on Oahu ; at the Windward Community College Storytelling Festival, the Talking Island Festival, First Night Hawaii, the Older Americans Award Ceremony, on a statewide tour of “Pearl Harbor Remembered” and many other storytelling events.

James McCarthy is an actor, musician, storyteller, and educator who is able to combine these talents in equal measure and with consistently high reviews from students, teachers and presenters of all types. James’ storytelling performances combine traditional stories and songs with modern sensibility, making for performances which are exciting and thought provoking as well as full of lessons and laughter.

Joe Miller has been telling stories inside and outside of the classrooms for twenty years. He has performed as a mime, actor and juggler in schools and festivals throughout Hawaii . Whether the theme be “Myths and Fables with a Twist”, “Juggling and String Stories” or “My Big Fat Greek Stories”, Joe will certainly entertain all audiences.

Karen Yamamoto Hackler is a Hawaii-born storyteller who tours to libraries, schools and community centers, sharing stories throughout the State. In 1998 she was seen in a KHET-Channel 11 program as Tsuru Yamauchi, an Okinawan-American picture bride in her eighties in “Getting Somewheres”.

Her play “Song of the Rice, Song of Life”, commissioned by the Honolulu Theatre for Youth in 1994, was presented as staged readings in 1996 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. for the New Visions/New Voices program and at the San Jose Repertory Theatre’s first New America Playwright Festival.  The play premiered at the State Playhouse of California State University - Los Angeles in 1999.  The readings and play premiere featured the live music of taiko master Kenny Endo.
Jeff Stephen Babb and Nyla Ching-Fujii sing the songs, and tell the stories that celebrate America ’s great melting pot of traditions. From the ballad of Casey Jones to the African-American work songs that pre-date John Henry….from the cunning wisdom of Coyote and Raven, and the “rascality” of Brer Rabbit to the wiles of Maui - the trickster, “Gentleman” Jeff and “Aunty” Nyla introduce people of all ages to the cultural diversity that is America . Traditional and original folk music, ballads, blues, rock music, and nursery songs combine with traditional and literary stories from the roots of American culture.

Walter Carvalho first learned to play Kiho'alu (Slack Key) from his grandfathers and later his father. The old style of Kiho'alu that he plays holds a special meaning to him because of his family ties to ranch life in Hawai'i . Walter's formal career began in the late 1970's when he began playing Kiho'alu with Stephen Wong. In 1989 Walter began studying under Raymond Kane and in 1990 received a grant from the State Foundation on the Culture and the Arts. Walter continued his studies under the late Sonny Chillingworth and later on with Malaki Kanahele from the Island of Niihau .

Storyteller Woody Fern is the great-grandnephew of the first mayor of Honolulu , Joseph Fern. His maternal grandmother was one of the first Hawaiian Homes commissioners. It was this grandmother who would tell him tales of the Hawaiian monarchy.

In 1987 he began working with Kapi‘olani Community College's Ka‘ao o Honolulu (Stories of Honolulu) program. Because of his Hawaiian ancestry and knowledge of the ali‘i he was picked to lead a walking tour involving Hawaiian royalty. This experience started him on the road towards becoming a professional storyteller.