CHICKEN SKIN is the first play I ever wrote. And all thanks go to Jane Campbell, the late, great, long-time Managing Director of The Honolulu Theatre For Youth. We had become friends when I had worked in several HTY show with Wally Chappell, before I had left to find my fortune on the mainland.
She called me one day and asked me if I would like to come back and direct a show for them. I said sure, and she said the title of the show was “Chicken Skin,” which is the pidgin English dialect equivalent for goose bumps. I said great and she said, “You have to write the script.” Uh-oh.
Well, I agreed, and I did my research, but couldn’t find much in the way of actual ghost stories, mostly stories of Hawaiian gods and goddesses and the underworld, so I began to think about the stories and experiences from my childhood in Hawaii. Along with those stories and others from some Hawaiian friends in NY, I made a script. It wasn’t what they expected but Jane and Kathleen collins, HTY’s Artistic Director, were kind, and so generous, and said it was fine. Jane told me CHICKEN SKIN became a big seller for them and had a great run. This led to my being asked again to direct couple more times at HTY. A relationship. Directing in Hawaii. A tough job, but someone’s got to do it, right?
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.
