Get involved in Community Advocacy!
Help PlayBuilders Create a Play With, About, and For Caregivers!

PlayBuilders of Hawaii Theater Company is 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 creating a new play in collaboration with interested caregivers in Hawaii, because at some time in our lives, all of us will either need a caregiver and/or will become a caregiver. We think the theatrical exploration of this topic will spark great conversations in the community at large that will also benefit Hawaii’s caregivers.

The play will be created based on actual caregiving experiences shared by individual caregivers at a series of story circles.

The Caregivers’ first series of story circles is being held at 4 pm on Sundays in September, at Hawaii Life Real Estate Offices. This is the second story circle and will be held in Kaimuki on September 4th and will be led by Terri Madden, Dr. Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak, and Catherine Restivo-Romito. Mahalo nui to Hawaii Life Real Estate Offices for donating their office spaces for these story circles.

Here is what we are looking for:

• Caregivers (including family member and other caregivers, doctors, nurses, and certified nursing assistants) to tell us about their lives, needs, interests, and concerns at these September Story Circles.
• Stories and information about what it is like to be a caregiver in Hawaii.
• Local organizations who can introduce us to people and resources.
• Interested people to participate in additional Story Circles and other events through November of 2023 (which is national Caregivers Month).
• 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.
• Local artists, educators and organizers who might want to learn PlayBuilders of Hawaii’s methodology for creating community-specific theater.

  PlayBuilders of Hawaii Theater Company will visit various communities on Oahu between now and March of 2023 to hold story circles, to share and get ideas for the script, and to host workshops for community members of all backgrounds. Then in August of 2023, PlayBuilders will hold a reading of the new play for the caregivers and organizations who shared their stories, in order to obtain their permission to either do a reading or a full production for the general public in November of 2023.

We will cast actual caregivers onstage and present the final readings or performances for everyone in the community to come and see. No theater experience is necessary.

PlayBuilders’ mission is to gather and share real stories that resonate with, empower, and connect the many culturally rich and diverse communities of Hawai’i.

Learn more about PlayBuilders of Hawaii Theatre Company at www.playbuilders.org.

If you have ideas to share, questions, or want more information about participating, please contact Terri Madden at 808-218-0103, or terri.madden@playbuilders.org.