AUDITIONS SET FOR KUMU KAHUA’S PRODUCTION OF Smother by Sara Ward directed by Harry Wong III

AUDITIONS SET FOR KUMU KAHUA’S PRODUCTION OF

Smother

by Sara Ward

directed by Harry Wong III

Sunday June 15th at 6pm
Monday June 16th at 6pm
at Kumu Kahua Theatre 
46 Merchant Street Honolulu, HI 96813

WHERE: Kumu Kahua Theatre, 46 Merchant Street

WHEN: Sunday June 15th at 6pm and Monday June 16th at 6pm

Performances will be from August 28 - September 28, 2025. 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:

Marcia is a fiercely devoted but meddlesome mother who goes to extreme lengths to control her daughter’s love life, determined to steer her away from bad relationships and into the arms of the “perfect” partner. Julia, a sweet but independent young woman with a history of poor choices in men, struggles to establish boundaries as Marcia hatches a series of increasingly outrageous schemes to “fix'“ Julia’s love life—culminating in a boyfriend’s disastrous allergy attack. As tensions rise and their bond fractures, Marcia is forced to confront her own fears and learn to let go, to avoid losing her daughter entirely.

CAST:

Marcia: Mother of Julia, Loves her daughter with a desperation that drives her to do horrible things but at her heart she is a good woman who is doing it all for love

Julia: Marcia’s daughter, A sweet girl with terrible taste in men , 23 years old

Kris: Marciaʻs wife, Juliaʻs stepmom

Kaipo: Handsome Boy Next Door, Down to earth and kind

Alicia: Receptionist at Marcia’s doctor’s office, lesbian

Dr. Tanaka: Marcia’s therapist

Travis: Julia’s Haole boyfriend, Rude and disdainful

2 ensemble: Waitress, Waiter, Patient in waiting room, Dr. Wong, Dr. Bradford, audience at concert

 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.

Harry Wong III

HARRY WONG III has directed over 100 plays in his career, 52 of those plays were

directed at KKT in his capacity as Artistic Director. Harry was the co-founder of HSF

and a founding Board Member of the Lizard Loft. Awards he has received include the

2015 Ho‘okele Award recipient; second recipient in the non-profit art industry. Given

to sustain quality service in the non-profit sector. 2010 recipient Outstanding Alumni

of HCC, 1999 recipient of the SFCA Individual Artist Fellowship Grant for Theatre

Directing; first non-playwright to be honored, 1996 Princess Grace Award for Theatre

Directing Recipient; recommended by HTY for outstanding work in directing, 1996

Lincoln Center Theatre Director's Lab participant; result of a national search of

young directors, 1995-1996 Allan Lee Hughes Fellow at Arena Stage Washington

DC; result of a national search of postgraduate people of color entering the regional

theatre scene and the 1991 & 1993 Masako Sakamoto Scholarship for Acting; given

to Hawai‘i High School graduates studying acting or playwriting.

SARA WARD

is a multi-hyphenate theatre practitioner. Her contributions in theatre range from playwriting, props design and spot op to box office management. She has received four Po‘okela awards for her prop work, from the Hawai‘i State Theatre Council. In 2019 Sara Was awarded the Pierre Bowman Award which is given each year to a person “through whose efforts the life of theater in Hawai’i has been uplifted”

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.