TYA University Connect
TYA in Hawai‘i:
The Power of Storytelling
Hosted and Presented by University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
in association with TYA/USA
Hosted and Presented by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in association with TYA/USA
April 17-18, 2021
About TYA University Connect
Join TYA/USA for TYA University Connect, a new conference opportunity created by and for TYA university students nationwide. Inspired by the inaugural event hosted by University of Central Florida in collaboration with Orlando REP, this event will be hosted by a rotating group of University programs, curated and planned by the students themselves for learning, exchange, and connection with their peers across the country. It will also provide an opportunity for TYA students to connect with professionals working in the field of TYA through presentations and professional development.
TYA in Hawaiʻi: The Power of Storytelling
Hosted and Presented by University of Hawai’i at Mānoa in association with TYA/USA
Calling All TYA University Students and Faculty!
The TYA Graduate Students of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, in association with TYA/USA, host a conference exploring the different ways Hawaiʻi shares stories with their young audiences. The workshops and inspiring keynote speeches also explore how to create space for BIPOC voices, and celebrate their many contributions to Hawaiʻi and the world of TYA. The conference features presentations and workshops from theatre creators in Hawaiʻi, including the creative minds behind Honolulu Theatre for Youth; UH Mānoa’s Hawaiian Theatre Program Director and creator Kumu Hailiʻōpua Baker; and past and present MFA graduate students of the TYA Program at UH Mānoa.
Registration Info
Students need to register for the event individually. Registration is offered on a sliding scale, with a free Access-for-All option. TYA/USA membership is not required to register for this event.
University programs that wish to register multiple students simultaneously must be organizational members of TYA/USA. For more info about TYA/USA membership, click here.
Registration gives you access to:
- The Zoom link to attend all sessions live
- The recordings for all sessions, so that you can revisit them or view any sessions you miss.
Registration Fees
TYA/USA wishes to make programming available to as many individuals in the TYA field as possible. Registration is open to TYA/USA members and non-members. If you are not a member of TYA/USA, we encourage you to become one as part of your registration, as your support ensures our ability to continue to provide the national TYA community with vital resources.
For TYA University Connect, TYA/USA is offering a sliding scale registration fee. The suggested registration fee is $40 for an individual and $100 for a university program. We are also offering a $0 “Access for All” option so that no one is turned away from participating in the series regardless of their ability to pay.
The website will prompt you to either log in to your TYA/USA member account, or create an account using your name and email address, in order to register. If you have problems accessing your account, please contact us at info@tyausa.org.
Questions? Contact info@tyausa.org.
Our 2021 Host and Presenter
Featured Speakers
TYA University Connect – TYA in Hawaiʻi: The Power of Storytelling features presentations and workshops from theatre creators in Hawaiʻi, including the creative minds behind Honolulu Theatre for Youth; UH Mānoa’s Hawaiian Theatre Program Director and creator Kumu Hailiʻōpua Baker; and past and present MFA graduate students of the TYA Program at UH Mānoa.
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Honolulu Theatre for Youth
Keynote Speaker
Honolulu Theatre for Youth
Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY) produces professional theatre and drama education programs that make a difference in the lives of young people, families and educators in the state of Hawai‘i.
HTY believes that drama education and theatre are unique, socially-based education and art forms that help their participants and audiences walk in the shoes of others, allowing them to expand their imaginations, enrich their lives and discover the infinite possibilities in the world. HTY works towards a future for Hawai‘i in which people are culturally literate and imaginative, are critical thinkers and inventive problem solvers, with a respect for history and a sense of place in a complex world.
Founded in 1955, HTY is one of the oldest and most respected children’s theatres in the country. HTY has served over five million people through school and family performances and drama education programs. Over 300 new plays for young audiences have been commissioned by HTY.
Eric Johnson – Artistic Director, Honolulu Theatre for Youth
Eric is now in his 14th season as the Artistic Director of Honolulu Theatre for Youth. Prior to HTY, Eric was an Artistic Associate at the Fulton Opera House and the Founding Artistic Director of Blue Shift Theatre Ensemble. His work has toured nationally and internationally. Outside directing credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, Childsplay, Imagination Stage and the Kennedy Center New Visions/New Voices Festival. He is a proud alumnus of the TCG/NEA Early Career Directors Program and Princess Grace Fellowship. Eric would like to thank Megan and Hunter for their support and patience!
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Kumu Hailiʻōpua Baker
Keynote Speaker
Associate Professor of Theatre & Hawaiian Theatre Program Director, UH Mānoa
Tammy Haili‘ōpua Baker’s work centers on the development of an indigenous Hawaiian theatre aesthetic and form, Hawaiian language revitalization, and the empowerment of cultural identity through stage performance. Baker is also a playwright and the artistic director of Ka Hālau Hanakeaka, a Hawaiian medium theatre troupe. In UH Mānoa’s Department of Theatre and Dance she is also an associate professor of theatre, and oversees the Hawaiian and Playwriting programs.Her recent work ʻAu ʻa ʻIa: Holding On, which premiered at Kennedy Theatre to sold-out houses, was also invited to perform at the Reflections of the New Voice Festival at the Theatre for the New City last January.
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Mark Branner
Keynote Speaker
Associate Professor of Theatre & TYA Program Director, UH Mānoa
Born in Los Angeles but raised primarily in Taiwan, Mark returned to the U.S. to attend college, whereupon he quickly dropped a scholarship from UCLA to work as a clown with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Mark eventually received an MFA from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He teaches courses in theatre for young audiences, puppetry, mask, and physical comedy. Previously Mark served as the director and producer of Theatre Arts at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California. He has toured nationally with various groups, including Diavolo, and performed extensively in Asia, most notably in chuanju (Sichuan Opera), a regional Chinese theatre form. He and his family operate CiRCO Redempto, a community outreach program designed to benefit children from the Nosu Yi minority nationality of central China.
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Melisa Orozco Vargas
Workshop Leader
MFA in TYA Graduate, UH Mānoa
Melisa Orozco Vargas (she/hers) is a collaborative performance artist and educator who recently received her MFA in Theatre for Young Audiences from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. After spending several years working in service-learning and sustainability at Kapiʻolani Community College, she began exploring theatre and arts education as a path for advocacy and community building. During graduate school, Melisa was able to continue working with the community and schools across Hawaiʻi as the outreach/school show coordinator for several productions. Melisa’s thesis production, Keiki Kalo, is a groundbreaking theatrical experience for the very young that takes them on a journey of the lifecycle of taro, the staple food of the kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiians), and is a reflection of her life growing up, as well as raising her own children, in Hawaiʻi. A 2019 TYA/USA Emerging Leader in Theatre in Young Audiences Fellow, Melisa is also a founding member of the contemporary theatre company, ¡好 🗡 Peligro! (or Aloha also means goodbye).
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Rudy Ramirez
Workshop Leader
Consulting Director of Antiracism in TYA Initiatives, TYA/USA
Rudy Ramirez (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist, arts educator, and facilitator. Rudy is an Arizona State University alumnus and Arizona native. As a performer, some of their favorite projects include Childsplay’s THE YELLOW BOAT, TOMAS & THE LIBRARY LADY (national tour), and THE SMARTEST GIRL IN THE WORLD. Rudy is a current teaching artist with Ping Chong + Company, and has served similarly at other organizations like Seattle Children’s Theatre, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Childsplay. They recently served as Director of Education at The Magik Theatre. Rudy is a founding member of the BIPOC in TYA Advisory Board and the project curator for ANTI-RACIST & ANTI-OPPRESSIVE FUTURES FOR THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES: AN INTERACTIVE GUIDE. Rudy firmly believes in the transformative power of storytelling, art-making, and theatre for all.
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Audrey Castañeda Walker
Head Facilitator
MFA in TYA Candidate, UH Mānoa
Audrey Castañeda Walker is a Peruvian American artist currently based in Oaʻhu, HI where she is pursuing her MFA in Theatre for Young Audiences at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. She is currently working on her thesis “Storytelling Through Puppetry” with 3rd-5th graders on the Zoom platform. She is currently working on Remotely Kyōgen: Comedy Under the (virtual) Stars and was most recently in the Wayang Listrik (indonesian shadow puppetry) show “The Last King of Bali”, both performed at UHMānoaJOin. As a Queens Native, Audrey has dedicated her work to reflect her passion for storytelling by and for BIPOC voices. She also received her B.A. in Theatre at Ohio Wesleyan University. She has had the honor to create work with the K-12 audience, whether that be through creative drama/dance lessons based on multilingual education, and has been the administrative coordinator at Ohana Arts, a musical theatre program based in Oʻahu.
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Olivia Coughlin
Facilitator
MFA in TYA Candidate, UH Mānoa
Olivia Coughlin is an actor and educator from York, Maine. She recently graduated from Lafayette College in 2020 and is currently pursuing her MFA in TYA at UH Manoa. Her most recent productions were “Ondine” and “Getting Ready for Eddie”, both through the UH Theater Department. She is looking forward to teaching three week-long devised theater camps this summer in her hometown!
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Nate Drackett
Facilitator
MFA in TYA Candidate, UH Mānoa
Nate Drackett is currently an MFA candidate in TYA at UH Mānoa. He has been teaching and practicing Theatre and Circus Arts for over 15 years and has taught for SANCA, Studio East, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and The Actors Gymnasium. He also started his own teaching business called Six Impossible Things, LLC, which brought theatre and circus education to several homeschooling groups including Family Learning Program and Loyal Heights Homeschool. His passion is teaching people of all ages, races, and ethnicities how to do dangerous things safely, and to push the boundaries of what we think theatre, circus, and storytelling can do.
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Kimberlee Stone
Facilitator
MFA in TYA Candidate, UH Mānoa
Kimberlee Stone is a current MFA Playwriting Candidate at UH Mānoa. Originally from sunny California, Kimberlee delights in working with young artists in creative and educational capacities. Itʻs her work that aims to create with young people that impacts her the most however, most notably her work with the ensemble of female identifying young people known as Broken Mirror (Rose Theatre, 2016) as well as the collaborative work done with Prince Jonah Kūhiō Pre-K to create The Journey to Me: A Sea Dragon Adventure. Both of these works were devised and created with these young artists and worked to show audiences how these different age groups view the world around them and even how they wish to shape it.
Want more information? Visit Kim’s website: www.kimberleestonecreates.com
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Thea Wigglesworth
Facilitator
MFA in TYA Candidate, UH Mānoa
Thea Wigglesworth, originally from Frankfort, KY, is currently a directing MFA Candidate at UH Mānoa in Honolulu, HI.
While at UH she keeps herself active in her craft, often having multiple projects at once, she and currently completed work on Ondine, my MFA thesis — which also happens to be another play about water and the mythical creatures that live there!
Want to know more about Thea? Visit her website:
Schedule
Below you’ll find more information, including dates, times, titles, and description, for each of the sessions in TYA University Connect.
Sessions are on Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18 from 9:00 AM HT / 3:00 PM ET to 12:30 PM HT / 6:30 PM ET.
Registered participants can access recordings of the sessions as they become available on the Participant Resources tab of this site.
Introduction
Keynote Presentation - Honolulu Theatre for Youth
Meet some of Honolulu Theatre for Youthʻs creative team and explore their ensemble-based creation model in a lively moderated session. Founded in 1955, HTY is one of the oldest children’s theatres in the country. Over 100,000 school children on the six major islands of Hawai‘i see at least one HTY production a year and in the past year that has expanded to 3.5 million views through digital work.
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Honolulu Theatre for Youth Ensemble
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Olivia Coughlin (Moderator)
Honolulu Theatre for Youth Forum
Dive even deeper into HTYʻs ensemble-based creation model, as additional members of HTYʻs creative team introduce their newest work – Stories of Oceania. These stories from Hawai‘i and our neighbors in the Pacific celebrate the cultural traditions that connect us. Explore the process of creating and filming the work. All participants will be invited to watch the one hour performance either before or after the presentation.
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Honolulu Theatre for Youth Ensemble
UHM Keiki Kalo/Eddie Wen’ Go
In this workshop, we will explore ways that we can connect young audiences with stories about the environment and the natural world. Additionally, we will introduce a framework that empowers creators, performers, and audience members as stewards of the land, who respect and honor the places they live in and their indigenous inhabitants and protectors.
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Melisa Orozco Vargas
Asian Theatre and TYA
Although the world of Asian theatre and the world of TYA may seem to be polar opposites, The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa has had the privileged opportunity to marry these worlds in our programming, theatre making, and outreach. In this workshop, participants will explore how the tools of TYA can be used to create a connection between Asian theatre, a performance genre rich in culture, stylization, and history, and Hawai‘i’s young audiences.
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Audrey Castañeda Walker
Closing and Reflection
Keynote Presentation - Kumu Haili‘opua Baker
Join us for a conversation with Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker, a kānaka maoli theatre practitioner, on how her work has served the Native Hawaiian community. In this forum, we will discuss how important the revitalization of indigenous theatre practices are and how they can be used to serve their respective communities.
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Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker
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Audrey Castañeda Walker (Moderator)
Building an Anti-Racist & Anti-Oppressive Future for TYA
This session will look at the growing movement across our field for accountability and change, inspired by the work of BIPOC in TYA and the Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Futures in TYA Guide that was released this past winter.
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Rudy Ramirez
Encouraging Play on Zoom
Participants will explore how to transform the often stifling world of Zoom into a virtual playground through the adaptation of theatre games. Learn a few games that have worked well on Zoom, and collaborate with your peers to adapt and share games that are tried and tested for foolproof fun on any video conferencing platform.
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Nate Drackett
Creating Imaginative Worlds in Digital Spaces (with and for young people)
Participants will go on a creative journey of their own with things found around their own homes! With creativity and ingenuity, we will make the space inside our screens come alive and create our own adventures with scored music from the show. Participants will come away with an awareness of how to create visually engaging, whimsical adventure spaces from their homes (great for teachers, teaching artists, and parents alike)!
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Kimberlee Stone
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Thea Wigglesworth