“Duanne Did Hollywood” was written after Valerie Charles, the creator of “Duanne” returned from an extended stay in Los Angeles. Things didn’t go as desired, I think, and it was after a severe earthquake that she left L.A.
“Duanne Did Hollywood” is the darkest of the Duanne plays. It would be easy to say that the darkening of the scripts and the character mirrored what was happening with the creator, but I don’t think that that’s true. I think that it was more of a natural evolution of a character who was innocent, in the best sense of that word, at her beginning, but as she lived her life, on the page, she saw more and more of what life is like, the disappointments, the hard times, the victories and the losses, the relationships, good and bad, and all the time, time moving on.
I’m sure the plays partly reflect what was happening with the writer, but the character was so complete, so true, from her inception, that an evolution of the kind we’re talking about seems natural somehow, and real, even onstage.
As far as I know, there are no more Duannes after “Hollywood,” and if so, maybe it’s fitting that way. A great, funny, girl.
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.
