This was my first time working on a Cherylene Lee play. “Arthur & Leila” is a two-hander about two older siblings who have come to a crucial point in their long family relationship. A terrific play, simple but deep.
This was also my first time working with a playwright like Cherylene. She was so smart about her play, very detailed, protective about her play, but not closed off, and a fine, careful, writer. She made me really work, with a playwright, for the first time.
She surprised me with a lot of no’s to my suggestions but showed me why, which showed me the clarity of her thinking and the subtlety of her writing. She made me consider everything I thought of more carefully before talking with her about it. And she made me see her play the way she saw it. This is not to say that I didn’t do this with other playwrights I worked with, but she showed me that maybe I didn’t know as much as I might think I did, and that there might be other ways than the way I thought was the right way. But I think this was because the quality of her work was such that it could bear up under more scrutiny than a lot of the plays I worked on. And this play didn’t have much fat on it, lean and tight, made the way she wanted it. And that’s the way it played, I’m happy to say.
Working with Cherylene on this play, our first of several collaborations, showed me that I still had a ways to go as a director, but at the same time showed me I could do good work with someone as accomplished as she was. Mahalo, Cherylene.
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.