News! News! News!
Contact: Carol Polcovar  917-488-4375
Polcovar18@gmail.com
 
A shout out to our playwrights, poets, singers, and storytellers, PlayBuilders of Hawaii seeks short plays, poetry, dance, and songs for a one night only performance event honoring caregivers and caregiving. We seek short plays 10-20 minutes, poems or songs and monologues about caregivers, caregiving and/or those who need care.  Please send your submissions and any questions to polcovar18@gmail and be sure to include your contact information. The deadline is January 1st.  

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By the way, Georgette Stevens is teaching us caregivers aa new song. Oli Mahalo, Written by Kēhau Camara. You might want to learn it as well because it is beautiful and perfect for Thanksgiving.
https://blogs.ksbe.edu/kaulualoha/oli-mahalo-gratitude-chant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9RR1GMrFuI
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PlayBuilders'
Malama The Caregiver Project

Mahalo Hawaii Life Real Estate for your hospitality and granting us office space to hold story circles and rehearsals for "Malama the Caregivers" !  

Welcome to our new community partners, ʻŌlelo Junior Academy for Media and The Kupuna Collective!
 Details as to their involvement to follow soon!
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To all of our community partners, this song is for you.
​(Singers are former caregivers Ke'ala Ford and Georgette Stevens.)
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​Get involved
​with Community Advocacy!
​

 Photos are of our September story circles.
​Please email Terri  at terri.madden@playbuilders.org if you have any suggestions or questions. Mahalo!

Catherine Ann Restivo, MFA
Actor-Creator
Director of Play Devising for the Mālama Caregivers Theatre Project and will guide the ensemble in creating, forming, and choosing the format and content for the play.
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Catherine Restivo was raised with an older severely disabled sister and has been a witness and participant in caregiving her entire life. She holds an MFA in Acting and Asian Performance from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa; a BFA in Theatre from Stephen F. Austin State University; and a Professional Training Certificate from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She spent a year studying Contemporary Performance at Naropa University. Catherine has performed, devised, taught, and worked backstage in multiple states and countries including NYC, California, England, and Spain. She was an Ensemble Apprentice at Touchstone Theatre 

Elizabeth Ann Wichmann-Walczak, PhD
Retired Professor of Asian Theatre, Chinese Focus
 Co- Director for the Mālama Caregivers Theatre Project, 
Script supervisor and editor.

 In 1981 Elizabeth  joined the faculty of the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she served as Director of the Asian Theatre Program from 1985 until she retired in 2018.  Theatre that aims to make a difference, is important to her.  She currently serves as PlayBuilders Vice President, and has contributed as one of the playwrights and directors to three major PlayBuilders projects: the “Bursting Bubbles” anti-domestic violence video series; the “Open Your Hearts Wide” film about descendants of the first Protestant missionaries and their contemporary status.

Kalawai'a Goo, MSW,  LSW
​Licensed Social Worker
Consultant on caregiving practices and issues, hospice, death and dying for the Mālama Caregivers Theatre Project. Assistant Story Circle Fascilitator.
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Kalawai’a Goo was born and raised in Hawai’i.  He retired from the military as a combat medic, preferring to save rather than take lives.  After the service, he sailed with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, where he learned more about traditional Hawaiian culture.  To promote harmony among crew members, Ho’oponopono was practiced...

Kalawai’a is  a Licensed Social Worker (LSW).  He got his master’s in social work from the University of Hawai’i, with a concentration on mental health, and child and family.  His professional experiences include working with teens and young adults, prison populations, crisis therapist, and development of policies for social justice.  Currently, he is a hospice social worker, addressing psychosocial issues with dying patients and their loved ones.   
 
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 Help PlayBuilders Create a Play With, About, and FOR CAREGIVERS!

​Details
PlayBuilders of Hawaii Theater Company is a professional theater company based in Honolulu. Since 2011, we have been creating plays with, for, and about the diverse communities in Hawai’i.  We now are creating a new play in collaboration with interested caregivers in Hawaiʻi, because at some time in our lives, all of us will either need a caregiver and/or become a caregiver. It's part of the cycle of life, and we believe the theatrical exploration of this topic will spark great conversations here on Oahu,  that will benefit all of Hawaii’s people.

The play will be created based on actual caregiving experiences caring for Kupuna and those with disabilities. The stories will be gathered during a series of talk- story circles and individual interviews organized and hosted by PlayBuilders with help from community partners such as the Kupuna Collective, 'Ōlelo Community Media, Hawaii's Plantation Village, and Hawai'i Life real Estate Company.
 
Here is what we are looking for:

• Current and former caregivers and when possible, those they care for.  (caregivers include family member caregivers, social workers, doctors, nurses, and certified nursing assistants) to tell us about their lives, needs, interests, and concerns during Talk- Story Circles or private interviews. ​
  
  
• Stories about what it is like to be a caregiver in Hawaii.
  
  
• Kupuna and those who need assistance from caregivers to share stories about what it is like to be "cared for", or not "cared for" enough.
  
  
•  Local stakeholder organizations who can provide further education and guide us to additional resources.
  
  
• A performance venue--it can be a traditional theater space, but it doesn’t have to be. It needs to be accessible to the community members who collaborate on the project and meaningful to the community.
  
  
• Local artists, educators and organizers who might want to learn PlayBuilders of Hawaii’s methodology for creating community-specific theater.

 
  Upon receiving funding, (hopefully in January 2023) PlayBuilders of Hawaii Theater Company will visit various communities to continue our talk-story circles, to share and get ideas for the script, and to host workshops for community members of all backgrounds. Between January and the end of March 2023, Director of Play Devising for the Malama the Caregivers Project, Catherine Ann Restivo, will hold devising workshops rehearsals with the caregivers we have met along the way. (We already have identified 10 interested caregivers we met this year while holding preliminary story circles in Ewa Beach, Kaimuki, Kailua and Haleiwa)

In  April of 2023, PlayBuilders will hold an invited reading of the new play for those who shared their stories with us, in order to obtain special permission to do a full production of the newly community-engaged and created play for the general public in November of 2023 which is National Caregivers Month.  
 
We will spend the summer of 2023 editing and making the community requested changes to the script. Then finally, we will hold auditions and cast caregivers to perform onstage along side our veteran performers in late August. Rehearsals will commence immediately. Finally, lights will be hung.  costumes will be made, and   actors will be ready for everyone in the community to come and see "Malama the Caregivers." 
 
PlayBuilders’ mission is to gather and share real stories that resonate with, empower, and connect the many culturally rich and diverse people of Hawai’i. 
 
If you have ideas to share or want more information about participating, please contact Terri Madden at 808-218-0103, or terri.madden@playbuilders.org.

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Terri Madden, MFA
Founder and Artistic Director, PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi Theater Company
Project Director,  Story Circle Facilitator, and Co- Director for the Nov. 2023 production of the Mālama Caregivers Theatre Project 

 Terri has served as project director for of all PlayBuilders' productions since itʻs inception in 2011 and  has directed and/or devised many including  "Wahiawa, Rememah Wen...", "Yes I Am, Stories from Honolulu's LGBTQ+ Community" , "#MeToo Survivors Circle" and  the multi-award winning musical "Dragonfly, A Young Local Girls Journey Through Foster Care".

  Terri dedicates her work for "Malama the Caregivers" to  her father, LTC  Darrell Large, Retired US Army who passed away during the covid pandemic. Her experience of helping to navigate his service related Parkinsonism inspired her to organize this project.
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If you know of a caregiver, kupuna, or disability organization that may be interested in having their stories and expertise shared and would be willing to collaborate with us on this project, please call Terri Madden at 808-218-0103 or email her at Terri.madden@playbuilders.org. Mahalo!
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​PLAYBUILDERS MISSION IS TO GATHER AND SHARE REAL STORIES THAT RESONATE WITH, EMPOWER, AND CONNECT PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE CULTURALLY RICH AND DIVERSE COMMUNITIES OF HAWAI'I.

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​About PlayBuilders

PlayBuilders original plays have been supported by the Hawaii Peoples Fund, the Hawaii Community Coalition, The Geist Foundation, The Cooke Foundation, The Atherton Foundation, and The National Endowment of the Arts. Our work would be impossible without the support of  individual donors like you. Mahalo nui loa

​News

Community partners for past shows include The Wahiawa Historic Society, Catholic Charities, Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific University, Family Programs Hawaii, Waipahu Community Coalition, The Foster Care Training Committee, Partners in Development, Leeward Community College,  the Mele Program of Honolulu Community College, Nanakuli High and Intermediate School, and the Hawai'i State Department of Health. 

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Coming Up Next

​We are always working on new projects, performances, and collaborations. Stay tuned for news on upcoming plays, behind-the-scenes updates, live events, and more. Coming soon: "Open Your Hearts Wide" by Marion Lyman-Mersereau and "Bursting Bubbles" by Laura Clark Greaver. PlayBuilders' PlayFestival will be held here on this website during the entire month of September!




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