Community Calendar

Balinese Wayang Listrik (giant shadow puppets in combination with live action and gamelan orchestra)
April 17-26, 2026
*Pre-Show Chats at 6:45pm before Saturday performances

Co-Directed by Kristin Pauka and I Madé Moja
Adapted from a traditional Balinese folktale by Ketut Wirtawan and Madé Moja

Panji and the Lost Princess is a large-scale Balinese shadow puppetry performance in the tradition of wayang listrik. The story is based on the Balinese interpretation of a traditional Javanese story, and adapted to the genre of wayang listrik by Balinese master artists I Ketut Wirtawan and I Madé Moja. The show is dynamically staged with giant shadow puppetry, actors, dancers, special lighting effects, and is accompanied by a live gamelan ensemble, led by master musician I Madé Widana. The style of the production, wayang listrik (Indonesian for “electric shadows”), is a recent development in Balinese shadow puppetry that emerged in the late 1990s. What distinguishes this art form from others is the inclusion of giant screens, paintings, complex lighting, 3-dimensional effects, and dancers, as well as actors behind the screen, wearing shadow masks carved in a similar manner as traditional kulit (“leather”) puppets. Moja has staged two previous wayang listrik productions at Kennedy Theatre: Subali-Sugriwa – Battle of the Monkey Kings and The Last King of Bali. We are thrilled that he will return this season to serve as the master designer and co-director of this production.

Friday, Apr. 17 at 7:30pm
Saturday, Apr. 18 at 7:30pm*
Friday, Apr. 24 at 7:30pm
Saturday, Apr. 25 at 7:30pm*
Sunday, Apr. 26 at 2:00pm
*pre-show chat 4/18 & 4/25 at 6:45pm

The 39 Steps is a parody play adapted from the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock, which is itself adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan. The original concept and production of a four-actor version of the story was written by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, and premiered in 1996. Patrick Barlow rewrote this adaptation in 2005. The play's concept calls for the entirety of the 1935 adventure film The 39 Steps to be performed with a cast of only four. One actor plays the hero, Richard Hannay; an actress (or sometimes actor) plays the three women with whom he has romantic entanglements; and two other actors play every other character in the show, each occasionally playing multiple characters at once. Thus the film's serious spy story is given a comedic twist.
Don't miss your chance to see it at Kona's historic Aloha Theatre.

Come see for yourself the Beauty of Pastel in an exhibit sponsored by Pastel Artists of Hawaii (PAH). The exhibit, open to all pastel artists statewide, will be juried by Terrilynn Dubreuil, She is an internationally recognized “Master Circle
Pastellist with IAPS (International Association of Pastel Societies), a juried Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America (PSA), Signature member of Pastel Society of Maine,” among others…

PAH is a Hawaii-wide group of artists who produce works using soft, sometimes known as dry, pastels. The pieces must consist of at least 80% soft pastel. Used for hundreds of years by the likes of Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, and Pierre-August Renoir, soft pastels are nothing more than pigment (or color) held in a stick form by a minimum amount of binder, allowing the artists many ways of applying and manipulating the color.

Scenes from Hawaii tend to feature prominently in PAH paintings, but you can also see portraits, still life, and maybe even a few abstracts. Come see some views of the islands and more through the loving eyes of these local artists.

Painters and ceramicists collide in "Forms of Voids." Two local artists—painter Kloe Kang and ceramicist Suzanne Wolfe—explore the symbolic power of the bowl, bridging the gap between ethereal painting and tactile clay.

After first collaborating in 2007 at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (Linekona), Kang and Wolfe reunite for a shared investigation of one of humanity's most elemental objects. The exhibit uses the simple form of a "bowl" to explore complex themes of identity and physical reality.

In this renewed partnership, the artists transition from sharing a studio to sharing a conceptual anchor. Kang’s paintings function as "visual pronouns" exploring the ephemeral state of being, while Wolfe’s ceramic forms remain rooted in material reality, layered with intricate text and imagery. It is a compelling look at how local artists collaborate and evolve across different mediums over decades.

The 39 Steps is a parody play adapted from the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock, which is itself adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan. The original concept and production of a four-actor version of the story was written by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, and premiered in 1996. Patrick Barlow rewrote this adaptation in 2005. The play's concept calls for the entirety of the 1935 adventure film The 39 Steps to be performed with a cast of only four. One actor plays the hero, Richard Hannay; an actress (or sometimes actor) plays the three women with whom he has romantic entanglements; and two other actors play every other character in the show, each occasionally playing multiple characters at once. Thus the film's serious spy story is given a comedic twist.
Don't miss your chance to see it at Kona's historic Aloha Theatre.

Presented By Big Island Grown

Afroman's musical career began in the eighth grade, when he began recording homemade songs and selling them to his classmates. "The first tape I made was about my eighth-grade teacher," he once recalled. "She got me kicked out of school for sagging my pants, which was a big deal back then. So I wrote this song about her and it sold about 400 copies: it was selling to teachers, students, just about everybody. And I realized that, even though I wasn't at school, my song was at school, so in a way I was still there. All these people would come by my house just to give me comments about how cool they thought the song was." Foreman also performed in his church at a young age, playing both the drums and guitar.

In 1998, Afroman released his first album, My Fro-losophy and later relocated to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he met drummer Jody Stallone, keyboardist/bassist Darrell Havard and producer Tim Ramenofsky (a.k.a. Headfridge).

Ramenofsky produced and released Afroman's album Because I Got High in 2000 on T-Bones Records; it was distributed primarily through concerts and the file-sharing service Napster before its title track was played on The Howard Stern Show. Afroman was inspired to write the song's lyrical content by his unwillingness to clean his room, and he ran with the idea of everyday tasks being derailed by drug use. In late 2001, the song became a hit and was featured in the films Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Perfect Score, and Disturbia later in the 2000s. "Because I Got High" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 2002.

After the single's success, Afroman joined the lineup of Cypress Hill's fall festival "Smoke Out" with the Deftones, Method Man, and others. After this, Universal Records signed Afroman to a six-album deal, and Universal released The Good Times in 2001. The Good Times was a compilation of Afroman's first two albums and some new tracks.

Balinese Wayang Listrik (giant shadow puppets in combination with live action and gamelan orchestra)
April 17-26, 2026
*Pre-Show Chats at 6:45pm before Saturday performances

Co-Directed by Kristin Pauka and I Madé Moja
Adapted from a traditional Balinese folktale by Ketut Wirtawan and Madé Moja

Panji and the Lost Princess is a large-scale Balinese shadow puppetry performance in the tradition of wayang listrik. The story is based on the Balinese interpretation of a traditional Javanese story, and adapted to the genre of wayang listrik by Balinese master artists I Ketut Wirtawan and I Madé Moja. The show is dynamically staged with giant shadow puppetry, actors, dancers, special lighting effects, and is accompanied by a live gamelan ensemble, led by master musician I Madé Widana. The style of the production, wayang listrik (Indonesian for “electric shadows”), is a recent development in Balinese shadow puppetry that emerged in the late 1990s. What distinguishes this art form from others is the inclusion of giant screens, paintings, complex lighting, 3-dimensional effects, and dancers, as well as actors behind the screen, wearing shadow masks carved in a similar manner as traditional kulit (“leather”) puppets. Moja has staged two previous wayang listrik productions at Kennedy Theatre: Subali-Sugriwa – Battle of the Monkey Kings and The Last King of Bali. We are thrilled that he will return this season to serve as the master designer and co-director of this production.

Friday, Apr. 17 at 7:30pm
Saturday, Apr. 18 at 7:30pm*
Friday, Apr. 24 at 7:30pm
Saturday, Apr. 25 at 7:30pm*
Sunday, Apr. 26 at 2:00pm
*pre-show chat 4/18 & 4/25 at 6:45pm

Come see for yourself the Beauty of Pastel in an exhibit sponsored by Pastel Artists of Hawaii (PAH). The exhibit, open to all pastel artists statewide, will be juried by Terrilynn Dubreuil, She is an internationally recognized “Master Circle
Pastellist with IAPS (International Association of Pastel Societies), a juried Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America (PSA), Signature member of Pastel Society of Maine,” among others…

PAH is a Hawaii-wide group of artists who produce works using soft, sometimes known as dry, pastels. The pieces must consist of at least 80% soft pastel. Used for hundreds of years by the likes of Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, and Pierre-August Renoir, soft pastels are nothing more than pigment (or color) held in a stick form by a minimum amount of binder, allowing the artists many ways of applying and manipulating the color.

Scenes from Hawaii tend to feature prominently in PAH paintings, but you can also see portraits, still life, and maybe even a few abstracts. Come see some views of the islands and more through the loving eyes of these local artists.

Painters and ceramicists collide in "Forms of Voids." Two local artists—painter Kloe Kang and ceramicist Suzanne Wolfe—explore the symbolic power of the bowl, bridging the gap between ethereal painting and tactile clay.

After first collaborating in 2007 at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (Linekona), Kang and Wolfe reunite for a shared investigation of one of humanity's most elemental objects. The exhibit uses the simple form of a "bowl" to explore complex themes of identity and physical reality.

In this renewed partnership, the artists transition from sharing a studio to sharing a conceptual anchor. Kang’s paintings function as "visual pronouns" exploring the ephemeral state of being, while Wolfe’s ceramic forms remain rooted in material reality, layered with intricate text and imagery. It is a compelling look at how local artists collaborate and evolve across different mediums over decades.

ARS Hawaii invites all recorder players to attend our weekly practices at Arcadia, 1434 Punahou St, Honolulu, HI. The ensemble of 6-8 performers plays a wide range of music from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque to Contemporary, on instruments including Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Great Bass and occasionally sopranino. The group performs several times per year at a variety of occasions including church services, art museums, and special events. We encourage recorder players of all skill levels, from beginner to advanced, to come join us. ARS Hawaii is a chapter of the national 501(c)(3) American Recorder Society.