PlayBuilders of Hawai‘i Theater Company – Fall 2025 Update

A message from Terri Madden, Founder & Executive Director
Recent HighlightsHanafuda with Grandma

​This summer, we presented Diane Aoki’s Hanafuda with Grandma — part reading, part community celebration — at Mission Memorial Auditorium. Act I invited the audience to play hanafuda together, and Act II featured a one-hour staged reading directed by Denise Aiko Chinen. It was our first time being granted both rehearsal and performance space at Mission Memorial Auditorium — a milestone in our partnership with the City and County of Honolulu. Over 200 people attended (about 80% capacity), and the event raised $564 in community donations. Though not part of a formal series, Hanafuda with Grandma connected naturally to our upcoming Okinawan project.






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Okinawan Project: Our Okinawan OhanaOur upcoming production, Our Okinawan Ohana: Stories from Hawai‘i’s Okinawan Community, has been a true labor of love — and this year, we have so much to celebrate. Over the past months, we’ve conducted numerous story circles and individual interviews with community members, capturing memories, humor, struggles, and pride that span generations. Playwright Lee A. Tonouchi has already written 65 beautiful pages weaving these voices together into a play that reflects the heart and soul of Hawai‘i’s Okinawan community.
A reading of the first draft will take place on January 8, 2026, at Jikoen Hongwanji. In January or February 2026, I will travel to Hawai‘i Island and Maui to conduct additional story circles and build new relationships. We are grateful for in-kind support from Mission Memorial Auditorium, Okinawan Cultural Center, and Jikoen Hongwanji. Rehearsals will run from mid-August through late September 2026, with performances on September 26, 2026, at the Okinawan Ballroom. We are now raising funds for stipends for community participants and travel to the neighbor islands.
[Insert Photo: Participants share stories during the Paranku Ladies Story Circle.]
Forum Theatre: Building Community Through ActionIn February 2026, we’ll begin community Forum Theatre training sessions at Mission Memorial Auditorium. Forum Theatre transforms audience members into active participants — exploring real issues, rehearsing solutions, and discovering empathy through performance. I’m especially interested in working with people who have never done theatre before but who care deeply about community. Sessions will begin with open community nights, then expand to targeted group partnerships, and later to empowerment projects with underrepresented groups.
This work is inspired by my studies with David Diamond and will include a “First Joker Toolkit” to guide safe, inclusive facilitation. Forum Theatre will also play a central role in our NEA GAP proposal, Chinatown O‘ahu Rising.
Community Forum Theatre sessions begin February 2026 — photos coming soon.
Grant Writing & PartnershipsThis year, we submitted our National Endowment for the Arts GAP proposal for Chinatown O‘ahu Rising, designed as a two-phase project: Phase One focuses on story circles, interviews, recording, transcription, and Forum Theatre training; Phase Two includes quarterly Forum Theatre events, playwriting, and development of a full community production. We expect to hear back from the NEA in May 2026. In the meantime, I’m preparing two additional applications — one for the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and another for the City and County of Honolulu’s Grants in Aid program.
Our ongoing partnership with the City and County, especially in-kind support of Mission Memorial Auditorium, continues to be essential to our growth.
Board & Organizational GrowthI recently created a Board Recruitment Brochure to invite new members who share our values and commitment to community-based theatre. We’re seeking individuals with experience in fundraising, finance, and community engagement to help strengthen PlayBuilders’ next chapter. Our goal is to add two to three new Board members in 2026 to support sustainability, share leadership, and expand our reach.
With aloha,
Terri Madden
Founder & Executive Director
Facebook: facebook.com/playbuilders.hawaii
Patreon: patreon.com/c/PlayBuilders808
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PlayFestival 2020:
Mahalo nui to all the wonderful playwrights who submitted their works to our 9th Annual PlayFestival. Because of the numbers of excellent plays submitted, we added an extra day to the festival to allow for more plays to be included. Furthermore, we had so many entries submitted by young people under the age of 18  that we decided to organize a special play festival just for them.

Thanks to Windward Community College theatre professor, Taurie Kinoshita, who has agreed to sponsor us our first Youth PlayFestival will be presented at Windward Community College (exact date and location to be announced) and Robert St. John of Le Jardin Academy has agreed to organize it.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, we have adjusted festival dates from May 21 to 24 to September 10-14 and it will still be presented at the ARTS at Marks Garage.

Congratulations to the following playwrights who were selected to participate in The PlayFestival 2020:
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Full-Length Plays
(To be presented at the ARTS at Marks Garage September 10-14)
“Beretania Snap Shots” by Sean-Joseph Choo
“Vile Jelly” by Robert St. John
“Harlot Town “ by Michael Markrich
“Who You Again?” by Ryan Okinaka
“The Girl’s Bathroom Confessional” by Kimberlee Stone

One-Act Plays
(To be presented at the ARTS at Marks Garage September 10-14)
“Token” by Lauren Ballesteros
“Velvet Red” by Fili Leasau
“Shame Shame” by SH Murakoshi
“Fable, A Dark Comedy in One Act” by Carol Polcovar
“Happy Divorce” by Kimberlee Stone
“The Bad Woman of Chinatown” by Mark Tjarks
Full-length Plays by Young People Under 18
(To be presented at Windward Community College this fall, at a date and exact location to be determined)
“Symmetry” by Diza Hendrawan
“Praying to Oreos” by Maggie Munday Odom

Ten-minute Plays and a One Act Play by Young People Under 18
(Also to be presented as part of the Youth PlayFestival at WCC)
“The Storm” by Cole Barnes
“Lost” by Savannah Boals
“Fasten Your Seatbelts’” by Lucy Chung
“Hawaiian Style” by Kealisha Kalani
“Betrayed” by Leilani Kawaa
“Rules” by Luc Lambert
“Becoming Bartos” by Aya Lewis
“Love” by Bella Powers
“An Impossible Mistake “ by Dante Sbarbaro
“How to Buy a Pool” by Wade Spriggs
“The Cursed Ticket” by Catherine Ward
And…
“The Surly Bonds of Earth” (a one-act) by Maggie Munday Odom

"Open Your Hearts Wide" by Marion Lyman-Mersereau
Over the course of a year, in preparation for the bicentennial, playwright and missionary descendant Marion Lyman Mersereau conducted a series of story circles and personal interviews with fellow descendants to ask a simple question, “What is it like to be a Missionary Descendant and how do you feel about your ancestors?” The play explores multifaceted perspectives and incorporates excerpts from missionary journals and the recently discovered Aliʻi letters. Produced by PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi Theatre Company under special agreement with Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, with grants from the Cooke and Atherton Foundations and the National Endowment of the ARTS.  Directed by Mark Branner and Will Haʻo.

On April 24 we will record a Zoom reading and will soon invite missionary descendants to view it on either PlayBuildersʻ or Hawaiian Missionary Houses Historic Site and Archives and to share their thoughts and suggestions with us via Google Forms.


"Bursting Bubbles"
 by Laura Clark Greaver with Lauren Ballesteros, Cindy Ramirez, and Terri Madden
Over 30 domestic violence survivors have been interviewed for our"Bursting Bubbles Project." Laura Clark Greaver is doing a beautiful job leading the writing team which includes Lauren Ballesteros, Cindy Ramirez,  and Terri Madden.  A date for the reading of the first draft of the play will be announced soon.


Monday Night Bursting Bubbles Story Circles have continued since January but we are now transitioning into special story circles lead by Elaine Valdov.
Elaine has volunteered to work with our domestic violence survivors group via Zoom while she is isolating with her family on the Windward side. She was supposed to have returned to hometown of NYC in March but decided it would be safer to stay put here until things open up again.  Elaine is a lovely person and we appreciate her so much. When she learned of what we are doing, she wanted to help. Here is a little info about Elaine. I will be posting an interview with her soon.

Elaine Valdov is President and Founder of The International Institute for a Culture of Peace[1] As a peace and human rights activist and conflict resolution specialist, Valdov lectures internationally and is best known for her work in championing and building initiatives worldwide, in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and UNESCO’s[2] International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. She has chaired task forces for women empowerment and gender equality; and founded “Yoga Peace Ambassadors” to teach MDG humanitarian service options in Yoga Ashrams worldwide.
Valdov has held many NGO positions at UN Headquarters in New York, including:

• Chair: Executive Committee of NGOs Affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information 1996-2000 (outreaching to civil society and NGOs worldwide, to enhance the partnerships between the United Nations, Governments and NGOs in addressing world challenges.[3][4][5]
• Co-Convener: Seoul International Conference of NGOs: The Role of NGOs in the 21st Century.
• Secretary General: Medical Assembly at the United Nations (focused on reversing the World Health Organization and World Bank’s predicted world pandemic of cancer.)
• Chair: NGO Committee on the University for Peace.
• VP, Member of Executive Committee and Advisory Committee to the UN Secretary General:[6] As President of the DPI Executive Committee, Dr Valdov, was on the Millennum NGO Forum Advisory Committee to the UN Secretary General in 1997 and 2000.[7]

She has been a director of mental health facilities and a trauma counselor, with persons from countries around the world. Following September 11, Valdov was the director of the September 11 family relations and established programs in the US and abroad, helping families to deal with disasters, with special focus on helping widows and children who are caught in the midst of violence and terrorism. She further has worked with Lions Club International, Rotary International and [8] (FAF) in the creation and implementation of the post-September-11 programs of (“Finding New Hope”) and (“Universal Hug for Peace”).

PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi is pleased to announce that the 2020 PlayFestival submission window is now open. All interested playwrights who reside in or have resided in Hawaiʻi, regardless of age, are encouraged to email their never produced, original full length or one-act plays to playsubmissions@playbuilders.org for consideration. The submission deadline is midnight, Sunday, March 15th, Submitters shall be notified of selections via email on Sunday, April 5, 2020.  This is PlayBuilders’ 9th year presenting new works by local playwrights. Todate, we have introduced almost 90 new plays to Honolulu audiences. Several have gone on to be produced by Hawaii’s best theatre companies, including Lorenzo Destefano’s “Shipment Day” at Manoa Valley Theatre, Jan McGrath’s Outage at The Actors Group, Nancy P. Moss’ “Will the Real Charlie Chan Please Stand Up” at Kumu Kahua Theatre, and Marion Lyman-Mersereau’s “Eddie Wen Go” at the Hawaii Theatre.  This year's PlayFestival will be held Thursday through Sunday, May 21 through May 24 at the ARTS at Marks Garage., Mahalo nui loa for your interest in the 2020 PlayBuilders' PlayFestival. If you have any questions, please feel free to email your questions to playsubmissions@playbuilders.org or call Terri Madden at 218-0103

​PlayBuilders is currently working with recovering survivors of domestic violence, meeting once a week, sharing stories while working on a collaborative play that will educate the public regarding this very complex topic.

Two years ago, domestic violence survivor and author of the self-published book, "Falling Perfectly Without Trying", Jenny Duhaylonsod Delos Santos, approached PlayBuilders executive director, Terri Madden, about doing a play with and for the domestic violence community. Terri  instead tried to help Jenny to write her own play.  Jenny joined a playwriting class taught by Terri, but eventually said that with everything going on in her life, it was too difficult and really needed for PlayBuilders to take this on as a project. Terri eventually agreed.  Jenny's book and her life are the inspiration and cornerstone of the Bursting Bubbles Project.

Since then, Terri has interviewed over 20 women currently living in Hawaii who have experienced domestic violence. Some of these women are professionals, some have been incarcerated, others have difficulty finding employment because they are still struggling. She commissioned Laura Clark Greaver to head the "Bursting Bubbles" writing team which includes, Cindy Ramirez,  Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak, Lauren Ballesteros, and Deanna Espinas. Laura will also direct the play. Members of the PlayBuilders Ensemble, who will be performing alongside community members include Mala Sylvester, Misa Sione, and Becky McGarvey. We have been holding special workshops/ story circles with survivors once a week at the ARTS at Marks Garage  for about a year, and are currently in the writing phase.

​Please donate today! To date we have raised almost $10,000 towards producing this play. The play is set to run in October 2020, during Domestic Violence Awareness, at the ARTS at Marks Garage. We also plan to tour it to local churches, high schools, and are also hoping to get permission to take it to Kailua Women's Community Correctional Center. Your gift will help to empower survivors and transform communities.

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​"As a psychologist who has worked with survivors, I found my heart caught in my throat multiple times...there was a healing that occurred" - Dr. Gwen Williams regarding #MeToo Survivors Circle

"Its important work - not just entertainment. Something changes when you perform your own story and hear other peopleʻs" - Survivor and Performer. #MeToo Survivors Circle.

HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I — National Endowment for the Arts Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the Arts Endowment’s second major funding announcement for the fiscal year 2019.  Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $10,000 for PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi Theatre Company to develop and produce a play in collaboration with Hawaiian Missionary Houses Historic Site and Archives. 

According to Terri Madden, founder and artistic director of PlayBuilders, “This is our very first federal grant. From my understanding, only 11 grants are being awarded to nonprofits in Hawai’i during this grant cycle. We are very honored and grateful to be among them. It gives us a great deal of confidence to receive the NEA’s stamp of approval on the social and artistic merit of this project.”

The play will be produced in August of 2020, the bicentennial anniversary year of the arrival of New England missionaries on board the Thaddeus to Honolulu Harbor in 1820.

Yet to be titled, the play is the first of a trilogy of productions that will explore the complex social history shared between missionary descendants and Hawaiian Aliʻi. Marion Lyman-Mersereau is writing the first play from a community-centric methodology, using story circles, and personal interviews with descendants. 

A second play, organized by Aaron Sala, will follow within two years and will be shaped in the same manner, but using the voices of Hawaiian descendants. The series will conclude with a third play serving as a bridge with the hope of bringing both groups together. 

Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grant-making program. The agency received 1,592 Art Works applications for this round of grant-making and will award 977 grants in this category. 

“These awards, reaching every corner of the United States, are a testament to the artistic richness and diversity in our country,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “Organizations such as PlayBuilders of Hawaiʻi are giving people in their community the opportunity to learn, create, and be inspired.”

“We are grateful for this support and endorsement. I am also very appreciative for the help assistance provided by Terry Liu of Hawaiʻi Arts Alliance, Mark Branner with his University of Hawaii’s Applied Theatre Class, and Hawaii Mission Houses for their help with the NEA grant writing process,” added Madden. “We couldn’t have done it without them. This process, like all of our work at PlayBuilders, has been community collaborative!” 

CONTACT:
Terri Madden,
terri.madden@playbuilders.org
808-218-0103

For more information about this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
For more information about PlayBuilders of Hawaii Theater Company, please visit playbuilders.org.