AUDITIONS SET FOR KUMU KAHUA’S PRODUCTION OF Memory Beads by Diane Aoki

AUDITIONS SET FOR KUMU KAHUA’S PRODUCTION OF

Memory Beads by Diane Aoki

Tuesday February 24th at 6pm
Wednesday February 25th at 6pm
at Kumu Kahua Theatre 
46 Merchant Street Honolulu, HI 96813

WHERE: Kumu Kahua Theatre, 46 Merchant Street

WHEN: Tuesday February 24 at 6pm and Wednesday February 25 at 6pm

Performances will be from May 28 - June 28, 2026. Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:00 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm. There is the possibility of added performances.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Sides will be provided. Actors can prepare a monologue from the script if they desire to but it is not required.

Please note any conflicts on audition form.

Script Synopsis:

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.

Directors Liza Sanchez and Julia Gilman are looking for the following characters:

Celestial Maiden (young woman at first, ages to motherhood)

Okuma (young man farmer at first, ages to middle age)

Okinawan Mother/Ane  (female, various ages)

Satto (son, various ages)

Joni (Japanese-Okinawan, female 20s - 60s, will play various ages)

Haruko (Okinawan nisei, Joni’s mother, plays various ages)

Lianna (Joni’s daughter, “hapa” , a nurse in her 30s)

Kama (Okinawan, Haruko’s immigrant mother)

Masami’s spirit / Naagusuku / Tadashi (Male)

Kiyo/Koichi/Kazuo (Male)

 You can read the script by Clicking Here

Call the Kumu Kahua Theatre office 536-4222 or email officemanager@kumukahua.org if you need more information.

Liza Sanchez

 has been doing Community Theatre in Honolulu since 2000. Her credits include working on productions at Hawaii Pacific University, Manoa Valley Theatre, Army Community Theatre, Diamond Head Theatre and most recently Kumu Kahua Theatre. Her experience ranges from Stage Manager, Assistant Director, Light/ sound operator and Props Designer. Recently completing Harry Wong III’s Directing class at Kumu Kahua Theatre, she is excited to co-direct with Julia Gilman.

Julia Gilman

(she/her/any) is a multidisciplinary artist from west O’ahu. Previous duties at Kumu Kahua Theatre have included Assistant Director (Kimo The Waiter), Production Assistant/Light Operator (Lovey Lee), and Playreading Coordinator (Memory Beads). Julia extends gratitude for your interest in auditioning and looks forward to making community-informed art together. 

Diane Aoki is a Hawaiʻi-based playwright and educator, yonsei born in Kona, raised on Guam, lived for a time in Los Angeles, and currently lives in Honolulu after many years teaching and union leading in Kona. Her first play was produced at East West Players in L.A., and her musical play Pulani, was produced on Guam three times, the last at Festpac 2016. Her work has also been produced at Honolulu Theatre for Youth. She serves on the Board of Directors for PlayBuilders Theater Hawaii, and volunteers for Hanafuda Hawaii, and the Japan America Society of Hawaii. Diane’s work reflects an attempt to explore questions that bug her, in the hopes that by writing she’ll have a fuller grasp (ideally a resolution) of these buggers - stuff like identity, cultural preservation, war, empowerment, values, politics, and of course, memory. 

Kumu Kahua productions are supported in part by The Kim Coco Fund for Justice of the Iwamoto Family Foundation, Timothy and Eddie, the NME Fund of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, the Island Insurance Foundation, The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, through appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawaiʻi, The AAPI Community Fund, The Richard Aadland Fund, The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, Spectrum/Charter Communications, ABC Stores, the Gloria Kosasa Gainsley Fund, Hawaiʻi Public Radio, H. Hawaii Media, Simply Storage, HUB Coworking, Vacations Hawaiʻi, Zippy’s Restaurants, Highway Inn, Generations Magazine, CVS/Longs Drugs, HMSA, Hawaiian Electric, MonkeyPod, and other foundations, businesses, and loyal patrons.