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MANA WAHINE

a new 24-hour play festival!
APRIL 12, 2026

Kumu Kahua Theatre, Chicago's Nothing Without a Company & Hawaiʻi's playwright collective Tree Moss Hawaiʻi are thrilled to co-produce six new 10 minute plays together for the first time! This fast-paced 24-Hour Play Festival will bring together 30 Hawaiʻi artists to create six original short plays in a single day, focusing on women-centric stories by bringing women to the front.

Cost: $24
(your purchase supports one artist for $1 per hour!)

LOIS-ANN YAMANAKA’S BLU’S HANGING

Adapted for the stage by R. Zamora Linmark
MARCH 26 – APRIL 26, 2026

A Hansen’s Disease survivor begins to lose his grip on reality as he mourns the death of his wife, while struggling to provide for his three children in an environment of economic dearth, educational lack, and sexual predation. The eldest child, Ivah, is offered a lifeline when a compassionate teacher helps her apply to a private boarding school. Learning that she has been accepted, Ivah must decide whether staying, or leaving, will best allow her to care for her father and siblings.

MEMORY BEADS

WRITTEN BY DIANE AOKI
MAY 28 – JUNE 28, 2026

Joni knows that Alzheimer’s Disease runs in her family and she fears it will take hold of her mother, and herself. To counteract this, she collects “memory beads” — her family’s immigration story from Okinawa, anecdotes her mother shares about growing up in Hilo, histories unearthed in a family genealogy, and narratives of her own journey toward self-acceptance and empowerment. Collectively, we see that the relationships between mothers and daughters through five generations are the cords that tie these “memory beads” together.