This play, Duke Kahanamoku vs The Surfnappers, was commissioned by Honolulu Theatre for Youth, which was in a consortium of youth theatres, the purpose of which was to commission plays for their theatres from American playwrights of note. HTY’s playwright was Eric Overmyer, whose play, “In Perpetuity Throughout The Universe,” I had directed three years before at The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. We had become friends from before that when I was in a reading of another play of his, “Native Speech.” Partly because of this, HTY had matched us together for this commissioning project.
Duke Kahanamoku, the famous Olympic swimmer from Hawaii, was also at one time the Sheriff of Honolulu, a ceremonial honor, and this, I suspect, is what prompted Eric to write this funny fantasy about Duke as a real sheriff foiling the surfnappers, which, in this world’s Hawaii, is serious business.
Getting to work on this play with Eric and with HTY was the result of the work I’d done with each of them before, and really showed me how work connections can happen in the most farfetched ways. You can work with Honolulu Theatre For Youth one time, and work with Eric Overmyer years later in Washington, D.C., and sometime after that they get together somehow and ask you to direct a play that he’s written for them, and you say yes, thank you.
This actually happens. But it wouldn’t happen if you weren’t ready. And, you know, it doesn’t get any better than that.
http://www.ronnakahara.com
Ron is a New York City based actor/director originally from Hawaii.
He studied at the University of Hawaii with Glenn Cannon from NY, Terry Knapp from The Royal Shakespeare Co. and with noted voice teacher Kristen Linklater. While there he also studied Kyogen theater with Japan National Treasure Nomura Mansaku and performed in Kabuki.
Selected acting:
NY–Man In Snow (LaMama,) Ping Pong (The Public Theatre,) Ching Chong Chinaman, Rashomon (Pan Asian Repertory Theatre,) Earth and Sky (Second Stage,) The Three Sisters (Pan Asian,) Romeo And Juliet (NYSF/Public Theatre,) As You Like It (NYSF/Public Theatre,) Danton’s Death (LaMama E.T.C.,) The School for Wives (NATCO,) Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pan Asian) REGIONAL– Wild Swans (debut), (Young Vic, London, and A.R.T., Boston,) Snow Falling on Cedars, The Merchant of Venice (Hartford Stage Co.,) Comedy of Errors (The Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.,) The Screens (The Guthrie Theatre,) Othello (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta,) The Empress of China (Cincinnati Playhouse,) Cyrano (ACT, San Francisco,) Taming of the Shrew (ACT,) Diary of a Scoundrel (Hawaii Public Theatre) FILM–Isn't It Romantic, The Wolf of Wall Street, Sleepwalk With Me, I Think I Love My Wife, College Road Trip. TV- can be seen currently recurring as Hirochi in Netflix's Daredevil Season 2; Madam Secretary, Elementary, NYC 22, The Good Wife, Fringe, 3 LBS., Whoopi, Cosby Mysteries, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, One Life to Live, As the World Turns, All My Children, Pearl, The Miniseries, Hawaii 5-O (the original).
As a director, Ron has worked at theatres and Universities around the country. He was one of the first 6 recipients of the NEA-TCG Director Fellowship Award in 1987.