Kamehameha Schools Hawaii High School has been invited to participate in the 2016 American High School Theatre Festival in Scotland. ADVERTISING Kamehameha Schools Hawaii High School has been invited to participate in the 2016 American High School Theatre Festival in
Kamehameha Schools Hawaii High School has been invited to participate in the 2016 American High School Theatre Festival in Scotland.
Students and chaperones will have the opportunity to join an elite troupe of high school artists and perform as part of the AHSTF program at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest performing arts festival held annually in Scotland. The two-week Edinburgh Festival Fringe involves tens of thousands of performers from all over the world and attracts about one million people each year.
For the festival, the school plans to perform its third opera, an adaptation of an earlier Hoike production based on the saga of Hina and Kapepeekauila. KS Hawaii hopes to send 20 students with chaperones to perform on the world stage in August 2016. The school is currently planning a series of fundraising efforts.
KS Hawaii was nominated to apply for the festival by two local theater professionals this past fall. The nominations were based on the high standard of excellence demonstrated by Kamehameha’s theatrical performances, ranging from well-known musicals to original works such as Hawaiian language operas.
The program was selected by the American High School Theatre Festival to participate in the Scotland event for its commitment to theater education, promotion of culture, level of administrative support and community involvement. KS Hawaii will be the first Hawaii Island school to attend the the festival. The last Hawaii school to participate in the festival was Nanakuli High and Intermediate School in 2011.
Since its first Hoike presentation in 2004, KS Hawaii has taken steps toward building its performing arts program. In 2006, the school initiated its annual Fall Musical and will produce its 11th musical this November. In 2011, the high school produced its first Hoike in the Hawaiian language. This was followed by entire operas in olelo Hawaii in 2013 and 2014.
Those interested in helping with fundraising activities, can contact theater kumu Eric Stack at 982-0713 or choral director Herb Mahelona at 982-0741.
