PlayBuilders gathers, honors, and shares Hawaiʻi’s real-life stories through theatre, creating spaces where culturally rich and diverse communities can connect, be heard, and be empowered.
PlayBuilders Presents
No One is Prepared for Alzheimer's,
June 23 and 24, 7 pm at
Kumu Kahua Theatre
As Part of Kumu's Dark Night Series
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/no-one-is-prepared-tickets-1987668159973?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
No One is Prepared for Alzheimer's,
June 23 and 24, 7 pm at
Kumu Kahua Theatre
As Part of Kumu's Dark Night Series
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/no-one-is-prepared-tickets-1987668159973?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi Presents Staged Reading on Caregiving, Alzheimer’s,
and Love at Kumu Kahua Theatre as Part of their Dark Night Series.
HONOLULU, HI — PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi Theater Company will present a staged reading of No One Is Prepared for Alzheimer’s: One Family’s Story on Tuesday, June 23, and Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at 7:00 PM at Kumu Kahua Theatre as part of its Dark Night Series.
June is internationally recognized as Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month. Based on the published journal of Lindsey Pjerrou Desrochers, the piece explores caregiving, Alzheimer’s disease, memory, grief, and love through one family’s experience. Lindsey began writing while caring for her husband, George, documenting both his journey with Alzheimer’s and her own life as his caregiver.
The journal has been prepared for the stage by Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak and features PeggyAnne Siegmund as Lindsey and Allan Okubo as George. The staged reading takes dramatic license by dividing the material between the two actors, imagining George’s inner voice and transforming the journal into an intimate conversation. Though emotionally honest and difficult at times, Lindsey describes the work as ultimately a love story.
The evening will also include the “Lindsey scene” from PlayBuilders’ 2023 community-based production The Super Executive Aunties of the Mālama the Caregivers Collective, which was developed through story circles with family caregivers on Oʻahu.
“This reading honors the exhaustion, grief, humor, devotion, and deep love that caregivers carry. It also connects naturally with Kumu Kahua’s current production, which explores generational memory and touches on the subject of dementia,” said Terri Madden, founder and executive director of PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi Theater Company.
PeggyAnne Siegmund began her professional acting career at age six, with credits including Broadway, regional theatre, radio, television, and film. Allan Okubo is an original board member of PlayBuilders and has performed in numerous productions throughout Hawaiʻi, including The Super Executive Aunties of the Mālama the Caregivers Collective.
The event invites audiences to reflect on the often unseen emotional lives of caregivers and their loved ones, while honoring the power of community storytelling to create connection and healing.
PlayBuilders gathers, honors, and shares Hawaiʻi’s real-life stories through theatre, creating spaces where culturally rich and diverse communities can connect, be heard, and be empowered.
“Kumu Kahua Theatre’s Dark Night Series was created to offer other theatre groups, playwrights, and performance artists the opportunity to present their work to the community. This series is presented during dark nights, evenings when Kumu Kahua’s regular season shows are not being performed. To be part of the Dark Night Series artists must submit a proposal, which is reviewed by the Artistic Director of Kumu Kahua. From these proposals, projects are chosen that Kumu Kahua feels will promote the development of the theatrical arts and benefit local artists. Kumu Kahua sees this as another way to enhance and enrich the cultural diversity and artistic climate of Honolulu;”
Stay Tuned -
late September through October.
Our Okinawa Ohana: Stories from our Uchinanchu community by Lee Tonouchi
( based on shared stories collected by
PlayBuilders of HawaiʻI Theater Company)
Community auditions in Mid July!
Our Okinawan ʻOhana Project OverviewL
Our Okinawan ʻOhana is a community-based theatre project created by PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi Theater Company in collaboration with the Hawaiʻi United Okinawa Association, the Jikoen Hongwanji, and the Maui Okinawa Kenjinkai. The project honors and shares the personal stories of Hawaiʻi’s Okinawan community.
From November 2024 to the present, stories have been collected through community story circles led by Terri Madden, with assistance from Diane Aoki, Deanna Espinas, William Hao, Emily Jorgenson, Jonathan Misaki, and Karen C. Oshiro. During these story circles, community members shared memories of family, immigration, plantation life, food, language, cultural traditions, humor, and resilience. In addition the team interviewed over 40 individuals. The stories were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Playwright Lee A. Tonouchi, Hawaiʻi’s Poet Laureate, then transformed these stories into the play he titled Our Okinawan ʻOhana: Stories from Hawaiʻi’s Okinawan Community.
The project celebrates intergenerational storytelling, cultural preservation, and community connection. On January 15, Reiko Ho and Sean Joseph Chu staged a community reading at Jikoen Honwanji. Since that reading, Lee has continued revising the play based on feedback from community members who attended. These revisions are helping prepare the work for its upcoming full production, directed by Reiko Ho, which will bring together experienced actors and community members to share these stories onstage, including participants who will help tell their own lived experiences. Performances will take place at the Okinawan Ballroom on September 27 and at Windward Community College on October 17 and 18.
Our Okinawan ʻOhana creates space for Okinawan families and the wider community to remember, reflect, laugh, and celebrate together.
About Lee A. Tonouchi
Lee A. Tonouchi is the current Hawaiʻi Poet Laureate, serving a three-year term from February 2026 to January 2029. Widely known as “Da Pidgin Guerrilla,” he is a prominent author, playwright, and educator who advocates for the use of Hawaiʻi Creole English, or Pidgin, in literature.
Happy Grant News! We were just notified by the Atherton Family Foundation that they are providing a $10,000 grant for Our Okinawan Ohana! Atherton Family Foundation has helped us in the past on several of our projects over the years, and we are so very grateful for their support!
Our Okinawan ʻOhana is a community-based theatre project created by PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi Theater Company in collaboration with the Hawaiʻi United Okinawa Association, the Jikoen Hongwanji, and the Maui Okinawa Kenjinkai. The project honors and shares the personal stories of Hawaiʻi’s Okinawan community.
From November 2024 to the present, stories have been collected through community story circles led by Terri Madden, with assistance from Diane Aoki, Deanna Espinas, William Hao, Emily Jorgenson, Jonathan Misaki, and Karen C. Oshiro. During these story circles, community members shared memories of family, immigration, plantation life, food, language, cultural traditions, humor, and resilience. In addition the team interviewed over 40 individuals. The stories were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Playwright Lee A. Tonouchi, Hawaiʻi’s Poet Laureate, then transformed these stories into the play he titled Our Okinawan ʻOhana: Stories from Hawaiʻi’s Okinawan Community.
The project celebrates intergenerational storytelling, cultural preservation, and community connection. On January 15, Reiko Ho and Sean Joseph Chu staged a community reading at Jikoen Honwanji. Since that reading, Lee has continued revising the play based on feedback from community members who attended. These revisions are helping prepare the work for its upcoming full production, directed by Reiko Ho, which will bring together experienced actors and community members to share these stories onstage, including participants who will help tell their own lived experiences. Performances will take place at the Okinawan Ballroom on September 27 and at Windward Community College on October 17 and 18.
Our Okinawan ʻOhana creates space for Okinawan families and the wider community to remember, reflect, laugh, and celebrate together.
About Lee A. Tonouchi
Lee A. Tonouchi is the current Hawaiʻi Poet Laureate, serving a three-year term from February 2026 to January 2029. Widely known as “Da Pidgin Guerrilla,” he is a prominent author, playwright, and educator who advocates for the use of Hawaiʻi Creole English, or Pidgin, in literature.
Happy Grant News! We were just notified by the Atherton Family Foundation that they are providing a $10,000 grant for Our Okinawan Ohana! Atherton Family Foundation has helped us in the past on several of our projects over the years, and we are so very grateful for their support!
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On January 15, 2025, PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi Theater Company presented the first draft of Lee Tonouchi’s community-based play, Our Okinawan ʻOhana: Stories from Our Uchinanchu Community, as a staged reading at Jikoen Hongwanji. Directed by Reiko Ho, and Sean Joseph Choo, the reading featured many of Hawaiʻi’s most celebrated actors bringing the community’s stories to life.
The evening was warm, joyful, and deeply meaningful. Before the reading began, the reading, participants, artists, and audience members gathered for a potluck feast that included special Okinawan food bentos from Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant. After the reading, PlayBuilders received audience feedback by email, which Lee is now using to revise the script. His revisions are also being informed by additional stories collected from Maui. To date, PlayBuilders has conducted story circles in Honolulu and Maui and approximately 50 personal interviews with members of Hawaiʻi’s Uchinanchu community. These stories continue to shape the play, ensuring that it reflects the voices, memories, humor, struggles, and cultural pride of the community it represents. |
June 4, 2026: Such a wonderful live interview of Lee by Russell Subiono at the Atherton. Diane Aokiʻs play "Memory Beads" is playing at Kumu right now.
