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Posted by ALOHA SHORTS
Sunday, June 06, 2010 9:40 PM
Aloha Shorts co-producers Sammie Choy, Craig Howes, and Phyllis Look saw 66 people in the five-hour audition call for new readers on June 5th. This was the first open audition ever held for this locally produced radio program, and though notices appeared in the papers, were sent out to college theatre departments and acting schools, and though we made much to-do about the auditions at our tapings and in our email notices, still we had no idea what to expect.
Our hope, of course, was to discover “hidden” talent from our community. Our larger objective: to bring more diversity to our acting pool and listenership, as well as introduce new audiences to our sponsors Hawaii Public Radio and Bamboo Ridge.
We were blown away by the response! The morning started with a line out the door of HPR's Kaheka Street station. One actor was even waiting at the door when we arrived to set up at 8:30 a.m. and our final actor showed up just as we were closing at 3:30 pm! We heard many new voices, some who had no performing background but whose connection to the literary pieces brought a hush to the room. We’re looking forward to including them in our future line-ups. We were also surprised and honored to see several of Hawai'i’s veteran stage actors and three Bamboo Ridge writers who we've featured on previous Aloha Shorts programs (names withheld to protect the innocent).
The co-producers were ably assisted by HPR volunteer and state librarian Sheryl Lynch, as well as our associate producer Daniel Akiyama. They registered the auditionees with efficiency and aloha.
To all those who tried out, thank you for sharing your time and your love of reading aloud with us. If this was your first taste of local literature, we hope it's not your last.
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Posted by DARREL
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 6:18 AM
The BR booth at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival this past weekend always has the best prices of the year. If you missed it, you can still get the sale prices until June 30th. These are all brand new books (including my first book Sun) for $1 (how humbling). Bad for me, good for you! Better order soon because there are limited quantities being offered.
We're proud of Lisa Kanae (Islands Linked by Ocean) who received the Cades Emerging Writer Award on Saturday in the Mission Auditorium. She was welcomed by a chant and introduced by Lee Tonouchi. Check out the video clip of Lee's introduction and Lisa's poetic response.
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And if you want a glimpse of the No Choice but to Follow poets, Jean Yamasaki Toyama, Juliet Kono, Ann Inoshita, and Christy Passion, reading their November Obama poems at the Wine & Words event at KCC.
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Posted by DARREL
Friday, May 14, 2010 2:11 AM
Lisa Kanae will receive the Cades Award at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival at 3:45 pm on Sat, May 15th in the at the Mission Memorial Auditorium. She was interviewed by Noe Tanigawa on KIPO take a listen:
[url]http://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/tanigawa/kana0513.mp3[/url]
Also, recently returned from a successful reading at the Asian American Writers Workshop in New York, poet Wing Tek Lum read from his Nanjing poems and was interviewed by Andrew Hsiao, on his weekly Asia Pacific Forum radio show, on WBAI, 99.5 FM.
[url]http://www.asiapacificforum.org/downloads/audio/APF20100511_514_WingTekLum.mp3[/url]
Congratulations to both writers!
If you have questions or comments about their podcasts or their work, feel free to reply to this blog and we'll pass your message on.
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Posted by DARREL
Friday, May 07, 2010 3:52 AM
Okay after two readings, I'm convinced that these four poets are da BOMB! At Wine and Words they read the first 5 months of poems...then at UH Campus Center they read the last half.
Does this mean that they will read the middle at Native Books this Saturday at 2:30 pm? Even if the idea of going to a "poetry reading" sounds funny kine...the poems, the poets, the situation, the down-to-earth honesty of their writing comes through to all of us.
I'll post a little video in a few days, but nothing beats hearing them in person. BTW: the book/CD combo lasts longer than roses for your mother...or any "mother" in your life.
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Posted by DARREL
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 3:19 AM
I'm not a poet, so I don't really know what it's like to write poetry. Much less, poetry undah presshah. The new book No Choice but to Follow contains 48 poems written over the course of a year by Jean Yamasaki Toyama, Juliet Kono, Ann Inoshita, and Christy Passion. Each had one week to write a new poem using the last line of the previous poet's poem as their title or first line. All four are accomplished poets on their own, but they accepted the challege and stuck with it throughout 2008. What is really fascinating though is their commentary included in the book about how each poem got written, what they did when they got stuck, the emotional highs and lows, and why some of them are saying, "Never again!" And there's an added dividend, an audio CD to accompany the book. You can hear the poems read aloud by the authors and how the renshi are linked.
There are three readings coming up in the next few weeks. Don't miss them. The Wine and Words event at KCC kicks it off on April 28th. Limited seating. Details on the main page.
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