Kumu Kahua Theatre and Bamboo Ridge Press Reveal the Winner of the May 2024 Go Try PlayWrite Contest
Learn more about the winner here!
By: Stephi Wild Jun. 25, 2024
The May Go Try PlayWrite winner is Stephanie Matsuda for her piece Hapa.
Stephanie Mitsuko Matsuba is a Haitian-Japanese playwright, actress, documentary filmmaker, tech entrepreneur, and mental health speaker. Graduating with a BA in Theatre from USC, she has written a slate of plays all focused on mental health and identity in Black and Asian communities. Stephanie has worked as an actress on a variety of film and television productions, most recently acting in the Netflix feature ‘The Perfect Find’ and on CBS for NCIS: Hawaii. As a filmmaker, she has contributed to the production of a slate of documentary films and immersive projects including work on the Oscar nominated documentary short LIFEBOAT. Stephanie premiered a one woman stage play titled HYPOMANIC a piece she wrote based on her personal experiences living with a mental illness. HYPOMANIC is currently running at select theaters in Los Angeles. Stephanie continues creating art that explores her personal experiences and management of her mental illness as a way to provide permission, if needed, for others to feel empowered to learn more about the management of their own mental health.
May 2024 prompt:
Black people in Hawai‘i comprise approximately 3% of the total resident population, but even with such small numbers, people of African descent have been a part of Hawaiʻi since the early 1800s, arriving before many of the ethnic communities we often think of as a regular part of the social fabric of the islands. Despite this history, Local Black people are often assumed to be part of the military, sometimes assumed to be transient and disconnected from ‘āina, their own ancestors, and disconnected from authentic cultures.
For this special prompt, created in collaboration with the Pōpolo Project, we focus on this specific community in Hawaiʻi. We’re calling Black people born, raised, who live in,or have lived in Hawaiʻi, to write a ten (10) page maximum scene or a six (6) page maximum monologue about what it feels like, looks like, is like to be Black in Hawaiʻi.Draw on any experience you have had in Hawaiʻi—growing up here, going to school here, dating, working, relating, finding your way.
Each month Kumu Kahua Theatre co-sponsors this playwriting contest with Bamboo RidgePress in their combined effort to nurture local playwrights and authors. Each month a different judge is pulled from amongst the theatre practitioners in the Hawaii theatre community. All plays submitted are read by Kumu Kahua Theatre Artistic Director, Harry Wong III.
Contest Rules: Each entrant must write a 5-page monologue and/or a 10-page scene based on monthly requirements. Each month a new prompt will be chosen by Kumu Kahua Theatre’s Artistic Director. The prompt will be given on or by the 1st of the month and the due date will always be the last day of the month. All entries must be written in traditional play format; instructions on this format can be found here: https://www.dramatistsguild.com/script-formats courtesy of the Dramatists Guild.
There will be one winner each month. Scripts will be submitted to the judges anonymously. So please do not put your name on the cover of your script. Winners will receive $100.00 and a subscription to Bamboo Ridge Press.
June Prompt:
A revealing prompt. Write a 1 to 6 page monologue of an influencer or a politician or a newscaster where they say a Freudian Slip that reveals something about themselves or the product, issues, or person they’re selling. Like saying “crappy” instead of “happy,” or saying “cousin” instead of “constituent,” etc. They can catch themselves or not.
Kumu Kahua productions are supported in part by the NME Fund of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, the Island Insurance Foundation, The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawaiʻi, The AAPI Community Fund, The Richard Aadland Fund, The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, Spectrum/Charter Communications, ABC Stores, the Gloria Kosasa Gainsley Fund, Hawaiʻi Public Radio, H. Hawaii Media, Simply Storage, The Kim Coco Fund for Justice of the Iwamoto Family Foundation, Vacations Hawaiʻi, Zippy’s Restaurants, Highway Inn, Generations Magazine, CVS/Longs Drugs, HMSA, Hawaiian Electric, MonkeyPod, Ron and Rachel Heller, Leonard and Charlotte Chow, and other foundations, businesses, and loyal patrons.
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