“Shipment Day” is a poignant story of one woman’s exile to a remote settlement on Molokaʻi for those diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy.
HPR first highlighted Olivia Robello Breitha’s life when the stage production hit Mānoa Valley Theater to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Well, that play is now a film and will make its broadcast premiere on PBS Hawaiʻi later this month.
The play's film adaptation features live performances shot at MVT with an all-new soundtrack of original and archival music.
It follows the same story of Breitha’s journey as she is about to be married, when she is diagnosed at 18 with Hansen's disease.
The Conversation talked to writer and director Lorenzo DeStefano, who learned the plight of a relative and felt compelled to share it.
DeStefano said that Breitha was arrested and taken to Kalihi Hospital for two and a half years before she was sent to Kalaupapa in 1937. She remained there until she died at 90 years old.
He added that Sept. 28 will be the 20th anniversary of Breitha’s death.
He recalled first meeting her in 1989.
"I saw a copy of her book, which is still out there. It's called 'Olivia: My Life of Exile in Kalaupapa.' And I said to my mom, 'Who's this?' And she said, 'That's our cousin.' So I met her in 1989 and knew her for 17 years," DeStefano said.
"I found her tremendous," he shared. "There was a person in the family who was that courageous and that strong. And also a writer, as I was a writer myself, was a revelation. And her story is pretty unique. I call her the Rosa Parks of leprosy, in a sense she was like Rosa Parks in a way, just a woman who could easily be overlooked, but someone with great strength and fortitude, and did not take kindly to being ignored or labeled as 'the l-word,' what they would call leper which is a pejorative word for many people. She was tough, strong, tough, sweet, exasperating, all the things."
“Shipment Day” will broadcast on PBS Hawaiʻi on May 21 at 8:30 p.m. and again on May 24 at 12:30 p.m.
This story aired on The Conversation on May 11, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this story for the web.
