This play, Duke Kahanamoku vs The Surfnappers, was commissioned by Honolulu Theatre for Youth, which was in a consortium of youth theatres, the purpose of which was to commission plays for their theatres from American playwrights of note.  HTY’s playwright was Eric Overmyer, whose play, “In Perpetuity Throughout The Universe,” I had directed three years before at The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C.  We had become friends from before that when I was in a reading of another play of his, “Native Speech.”  Partly because of this, HTY had matched us together for this commissioning project. 

 Duke Kahanamoku, the famous Olympic swimmer from Hawaii, was also at one time the Sheriff of Honolulu, a ceremonial honor, and this, I suspect, is what prompted Eric to write this funny fantasy about Duke as a real sheriff foiling the surfnappers, which, in this world’s Hawaii, is serious business. 

 Getting to work on this play with Eric and with HTY was the result of the work I’d done with each of them before, and really showed me how work connections can happen in the most farfetched ways.  You can work with Honolulu Theatre For Youth one time, and work with Eric Overmyer years later in Washington, D.C., and sometime after that they get together somehow and ask you to direct a play that he’s written for them, and you say yes, thank you. 

 This actually happens.  But it wouldn’t happen if you weren’t ready.  And, you know, it doesn’t get any better than that.