The story of the Hawaiian myth in which Maui’s challenge is to stop the sun goddess Lā from moving so quickly across the sky is showcased in Conquering the Sun, the directorial debut of University of Hawaiʻi Hilo Performing Arts Center’s alumnus Kimo Apaka. Show dates are Friday and Saturday, November 14 and 15 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, November 16 at 2 p.m. in the PAC.
Audience members will be enlivened as Maui and his sister Keahi take on this larger-than-life challenge of slowing down the sun so that their mother Hina can dry her kapa.
Originally one of the three plays done by the touring University of Colorado theatre group The Colorado Caravan, Conquering the Sun was created by group members including UH Hilo Professor of Drama Jackie Pualani Johnson in 1976. The show was performed for elementary-aged children, teaching audience members that working together is often more effective than working alone, and that helping others can be more profitable than just helping yourself.
Johnson describes her former student Apaka as the “ideal person to bring the project to our stage.”
“He has shaped the show into a proscenium-style presentation so that it can be on the main stage at the Performing Arts Center” said Johnson of Apaka’s alteration of the show’s spatial configuration.
“Additionally, he has added a bit more Hawaiian language to the script since the play was written before the language renaissance was in full swing,” she adds. “Words we commonly hear every day now help to anchor the play in our host culture.”
For much more on Apaka, read the story “Directorial debut of UH Hilo performing arts alumnus Kimo Apaka” on the UH Hilo Stories website.
Ticket information
Ticket prices
- $12 general admission
- $7 discount
- $5 for UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College students and children 17 and under
To purchase tickets, visit the UH Hilo Performing Arts website or call the box office at (808) 932-7490.
