Auditions Set for Kumu Kahua's Production of THE QUEEN'S WILL by Sean T.C. O'Malley
AUDITIONS SET FOR KUMU KAHUA’S PRODUCTION OF
The Queen’s Will
WRITTEN BY SEAN T.C. O'MALLEY
Directed by REYN AFAGA
monday, june 15 At 6pm
TUESDAY, JUNE 16 at 6pm
at Kumu Kahua Theatre
46 Merchant Street Honolulu, HI 96813
Performances will be from August 20th to September 20th, 2026, Thursdays to Saturdays at 7:00 p.m., Sundays at 2:00 p.m. 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:
In the tumultuous early days of the Territory of Hawai‘i, Princess Theresa Owana Kaʻōhelelani Laʻanui Wilcox Belliveau fights for her freedom and her identity as she is accused of conspiracy to commit forgery of the last will and testament of Queen Liliʻuokalani. The Princess and her legal team struggle to expose the lies, contradictions, secrets, and bribes in the testimony of increasingly eccentric witnesses. Finally she must decide who she is and what she must do in the aftermath of this highly sensational 1918 trial. The Queen's Will is based on historical events which are little-known in the present day.
CAST
(PLEASE NOTE: All roles will be played by adults)
Princess Theresa Owana Kaʻōhelelani Laʻanui Wilcox Belliveau Kelly, Hawaiian in her 50s
Lorrin Andrews, in his 40s
Mary Kapuaikahikinaheala Jarrett, Hawaiian in her 20s
You can read the script by Clicking Here
Call the Kumu Kahua Theatre office at 808-536-4222 or email officemanager@kumukahua.org if you need more information.
Reyn Afaga (he/they) is a theatrical artist currently living in Kapahulu, trained primarily as an actor and director under Dr. Paul Cravath, Betty Burdick, and Harry Wong III. Previously, Reyn directed Outlandish by Eric Anderson for Kumu Kahua's 55th Season. Recently, they were seen on stage at MVT in David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face, and at KKT in Lee Tonouchi's adaptation of Alden Hayashi's novel Two Nails, One Love. They also can be seen in our local improv comedy scene as a member of The Improv Superette and Flip Army Knife. Reyn sits on the Board of Stakeholders at KKT, serving as Chair for its Space Committee, and is the newly-appointed Artistic Director of the Hawai'i Shakespeare Festival.
Sean T.C. O'Malley is a playwright, songwriter, improviser, photographer, and recently retired medicinal chemist. The Queen’s Will, commissioned by Kumu Kahua, is the fourth in his series of historical Hawaiʻi plays dealing with key moments in the political lives of Princess Theresa and her husband Robert Wilcox. All four premiered at Kumu: Island Skin Songs in 1998 (winner of the Kumu Kahua Hawai‛i Playwriting Prize), To The Last Hawaiian Soldier in 2002, and Wilcox’s Shot in 2012 (which was also commissioned by Kumu and received a Po‛okela award). Shorter pieces were featured in the Kumu productions The Statehood Project and 38 Minutes. His short works for the Honolulu Theatre for Youth include The Med Is In, The Frog Dance, and several pieces for their Christmas Talk Story project.
He was a founding member of the experimental Vortex Theatre in Austin, Texas, and the long-lived improv group Loose Screws in Honolulu. Sean has also written over 700 songs on the fly in the mega-rockstar improv comedy musicact “Oil in the Alley.”
He is indebted to playwriting mentors Dennis Carroll and Y York for his understanding of structure and subtext.
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.