The Chair of VCU’s drama department was David Leong, a certified Fight Master and Broadway fight choreographer, whom I had met when he worked with Pan Asian directing and choreographing a Fights In Shakespeare workshop, and he asked me to direct this Mary Zimmerman play, which is based on Ovid’s poem of the same name. Zimmerman’s play takes place around and in a pool of water. At VCU I was able to get them to build an almost full-sized swimming pool-sized pool, but shallow, about 2-3 feet deep all around. I had it built that big because I wanted to have the actors be able to dive, shallowly, of course, but dive into the pool, and swim, float, fight, row, and make love in it as well.
It was a great idea of Zimmerman’s to have that pool of water in her play. So theatrical, and so much fun, for the actors, of course, because how often will you have the opportunity to dive into a pool onstage, but also for the audience, to see all that onstage, and, for our audience, particularly the ones in the first few “Caution, May Get Wet” rows, to be part of the onstage action. Surprisingly popular seats, those.
And it was so exciting for me as a director to stage the show and try to make as much as possible of this unique opportunity. The stories chosen by Zimmerman that made up the play made it almost easy to fully use the pool, as water figured in much of the play, or the stories somehow fit being staged in and around water. A beautiful and beautifully made play.
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.