An Offer She Couldn’t Refuse

This was an opportunity that Mehana Hind couldn’t pass up. She would find a way to make room in her busy schedule to do what comes naturally to her anyway—bringing Hawaiian culture into the mainstream.

Besides, the invitation from a former student-turned-playwright was impossible to turn down. Hind knew that working on The Staircase by Noa Gardner rounded out her lengthy resume of supporting Hawaiian cultural programs in a new way.

“This is so next-level,” she said about her work dramaturging The Staircase. “At home, we don’t have that much support for the arts in this manner. You won’t see things like this there too often.”

With her background teaching Hawaiian languages and chanting, Hind was a natural choice. Hind joined The Staircase’s creative team on the invitation of Gardner, who studied under Hind at the University of Hawaii, where she taught in the Hawaiian Studies program. Ever attentive to elements that could help him keep his work authentic, Gardner told Hind she was the perfect person to help the actors master the chanting and the languages in the script.

She’ll work with the cast on both pidgin Hawaiian and Hawaiian languages. She’ll also work with musician/chanter Kainui Whiting on crafting an authentic sound representative of the music found in Hawaiian culture.

“The content in The Staircase deals with our mythology. It tells stories of our origins. There’s a part about our volcanic goddess and themes that pop up in whole parts of the script,” she said. “A big part of my role is getting the actors more comfortable understanding the inspirations behind particular parts of the text so they can act it out on stage. They’re literally playing the equivalent of Greek gods, but in Hawaiian, and those gods are less familiar than, say, a Zeus, an Aphrodite, who everyone has an idea of what they look like. …

“My job is to help familiarize them with those stories and characters built into this play, so the actors can help bring them out on stage.”

Hind’s “day job” is literally bringing out Hawaiian culture. She is the senior advisor to the CEO of the nonprofit Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, where she travels the state and the world supporting economic development, cultural programs and building intergovernmental relationships on behalf of Hawaii and its unique culture. During the 2023 Maui wildfires, Hind was at ground zero in Lahaina, providing cultural training for federal contractors, navigating governmental channels to help set up public and private funding and working to establish a foundation that helped provide resources to the area.

The Staircase, however, is a unique experience that even Hind—with all her vast knowledge of Hawaiian culture and frequent-flyer miles—hasn’t imagined before now.

“I travel the world sharing our hula. I’ve been to six continents sharing culture with audiences in cultural exchanges from India to Africa, Australia, throughout Asia, North America and South America, sharing history, culture and language in different forms,” she said. “What I love about this opportunity is there’s some semblances of Hawaii that get to be shared with audiences that maybe have never been to Hawaii, or if they have, they’ve only seen Waikiki or the tourist spots.

“I’m excited at any opportunity that Hawaii gets to be shared. But I’m really excited about this particular one. When we share hula, it’s in a particular format and a particular way. This is odd because it’s our home life getting shared. It’s not the luau being shared. It’s people coming into our living room. That’s a unique experience and you’re getting introduced to that part of us. I would bet nine out of 10 people have never had that experience.”

Part of this year’s Pacific Playwrights Festival, which is May 2-4, The Staircase runs April 27-May 18 on the Julianne Argyros Stage. It is recommended for ages 14 and up.