This production of “Aloha Las Vegas” by Ed Sakamoto was notable for me for several reasons.  First, I think it is Ed’s best play, funny and timely, with characters who are true to what I think of as “local people,” a terrific story, and a great ending.  Second, I had a terrifc cast made up entirely of actors from Hawaii, one of whom was me, which is the third, and probably most important, notable reason.  Here’s why. 

 I had acted under my own direction before this show but that was a sudden, last-minute thing, an actor dropping out right before previews.  For “Aloha Las Vegas” I had decided to cast myself from the beginning.  I just thought that I was the best actor for the role.  And fortunately I worked well with myself, and with the other actors.  The rehearsal was a breeze for me as an actor, and also as a director, I was surprised to find.  

I hadn’t really known, or heard of, others who had done this kind of double duty, in my circle, at least, and I wondered before I started rehearsals if I had made a mistake, if I was going to have a problem with the acting, or the directing, or both, but, happily, none of that came to be.  I think that I had such fun with my character in the play that it affected my directing.  In a funny way it was as if the play directed itself, with a little help from me, from time to time.  The actors picked up on that and they were all loose with their characters, and it was so much fun, and by that I mean the work was so good, all the way.   The run was more of the same, one of the best times I’ve had directing a play, and acting in a play. 

 As fun and easy as it sounds, I think that that was a unique situation, a coming-together of many elements, and not something that can be easily repeated.  I’ve never done it again, acting/directing.  Once-in-a-lifetime.  But I’m glad I had that once.