Hawaii Shakespeare Festival to Launch 21st Season With ROMEO AND JULIET & More

The Hawaii Shakespeare Festival will launch its twenty-first season, themed Civil Brawls, in a new venue-KOA Theater-with two related plays, Both Your Houses and Romeo and Juliet, sharing a cast and running in rep from August 12 to August 28. Their third production, The Taming of the Shrew, performs under the stars at Hawaiian Mission Houses and runs August 19 through August 27.

The season kicks off with Both Your Houses, by Emmy Award-winning local writer Susan Soon He Stanton. Both Your Houses takes place "backstage" in a series of hurried and hushed conversations among cast and crew during a performance of Romeo and Juliet. The new Juliet has heard troubling rumors about Theatre Right Now's founding Artistic Director, Hunter Tanzer, and is asking uncomfortable questions. Will Theatre Right Now survive? Should it survive? Both Your Houses is directed by Tony Pisculli and stars Ben Walsh as Joe/Romeo, Elexis Draine as Ode Fosu/Juliet with Lillian Jones and Nicholas B. Gianforti as TRN staff members Patrice and Monty. The show opens Friday, August 12 and runs in rep and shares a cast with Romeo and Juliet at the new KOA Theater on Beretania.

Jordan Cho directs a modern take on Romeo and Juliet where the central characters aren't mere hapless, infatuated teenagers but passionate, committed lovers that defy, but are ultimately doomed by, a society that won't make space for them. Cho previously directed The Tempest for HSF in 2019 and was recently named the Festival's Associate Artistic Director. Romeo and Juliet stars Emily Wright as Romeo and Elexis Draine as Juliet with Alex Monti Fox as Friar Laurence and Stephanie Keiko Kong as Mercutio. Romeo and Juliet opens Saturday, August 13 and runs in rep and shares a cast with Both Your Houses.

The season concludes with Shakespeare's raucous but problematic comedy, The Taming of the Shew. In recent years, public sentiment has transformed Taming from one of Shakespeare's most loved plays (for its physical comedy and sexual banter) to one of his most loathed (for its abusive primary relationship). Director Taurie Kinoshita dissects the gender stereotypes in Taming, setting it in a 1950s America, straightjacketed by traditional sexual mores and gender roles, then gender swaps several characters. What follows remains one of Shakespeare's great comic romances, viewed through a subversive lens. Starring Noah Nakachi and Manuel A. Moreno as the warring Petruchio and Katarina with Jake Cillian Wolf and Chivalry Butler as Lucentio and Bianca. The Taming of the Shrew opens August 19 on the beautiful outdoor stage at Hawaiian Mission Houses.

For advance tickets and more information, please visit HawaiiShakes.org.

Reference: Hawaii Shakespeare Festival 2022 Show Schedule (Hawaii Standard Time)

Both Your Houses-KOA Theater

Fri, August 12, 7:30pm

Sun, August 14, 2:30pm

Thu, August 18, 7:30pm

Sat, August 20, 7:30pm

Fri, August 26, 7:30pm

Sun, August 28, 2:30pm

Romeo and Juliet-KOA Theater

Sat, August 13, 7:30pm

Wed, August 17, 7:30pm

Fri, August 19, 7:30pm

Sun, August 21, 2:30pm

Thu, Aug 25, 7:30pm

Sat, Aug 27, 7:30pm

The Taming of the Shrew-Hawaiian Mission Houses

Fri, Aug 19, 7:30pm

Sat, Aug 20, 7:30pm

Thu, Aug 25, 7:30pm

Fri, Aug 26, 7:30pm

Sat, Aug 27, 7:30pm

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