a global residency designed to inspire and broaden the artist in any discipline & at any stage in their career, deepening their relationship with collaborative performance in an intercultural context.

The residency will be an international company that is cross-disciplinary, multigenerational, and multicultural.  The primary focus of this residency is to experiment in the creation of a Greek Chorus, and to perform in that chorus alongside OYL company members in the premiere of a new adaptation of Arms by Lisa Sanaye Dring in both Greek and English. All artists will take part in all programming. Read testimonials from past participants HERE.

The residency is held in the remote, breathtaking locations of Varadenahalli Village, India; Lake Nojiri, Japan; and Papingo, Greece. Intrinsic to artistic activities, programming includes hikes into the stunning natural environment, as well as excursions into the cultural landscape of each country, in order to enrich our creative work as a collective. 

During this residency, I want to grow as an artist and expand my network beyond my home islands of the pae ʻāina of Hawaiʻi. I seek to connect to the cultural roots of some of my ancestors, in Japan, and learn more about the cultures and arts of other places in the global village.

Additionally, a secondary fundraising goal is seeking financial support to go towards independent research of my play, the folly of icarus in Crete, where the play is set.  Monies would help offset costs of accommodations, airfare, hiring a translator and other transportation.  I hope to finish a new draft, incorporating more elevated language, imbued with the Mediterranean Sea while in that part of the world, and give my work all the richness that my studies and conversations will surface.

HOW MUCH?

The original cost of the entire trip (not including airfare between India, Japan, and Greece and Hawai'i) is $11,000.  I have recently received news that the fee is now reduced to $7,000.

In total, I'm budgeting  $13,148 for the residency.  Including my Crete trip would bring the total up to $13,993.  When creating this budget, I factored in the following:

-Passport fees
-Ticket to Bangalore
-Airfare from New Delhi to Tokyo
-Travel Insurance
-Airfrare from Tokyo to Athens
-Airfare from Athens to Honolulu
-Transportation to Crete
-"Just in case" kine money
-Food, of course
-Administrative financial processing fees


AN AMBITIOUS GOAL

A much more ambitious goal for the fundraising is to also include living expenses in the budget while I am gone: rent, insurance, utilities.

To cover my living expenses at home from June thru August, the total would be $18,470.

If I added a couple months of buffer after I returned home to look for work/gigs,
to cover my living expenses at home from June thru October, the total would be $20,768.

TIMELINE?

MY ARTISTIC GROWTH

Thru this residency, I'm looking forward to learning more about storytelling, about performance, about using the voice, the body, the spirit to create.

As an actor living in Hawai'i, most of the storytelling I have experienced has been informal, everyday "talk story" banter, stories of my family growing up during the holidays over meals, or more formal forms heavily influenced by Western theater traditions. Only later in life did I become more curious about traditional Hawaiian storytelling practices, and learned some, thru song, thru story, thru dance.

In this journey in reconnecting to my roots,
I seek to connect to the roots of my ancestors, in Japan,
learn more about the practices of South Asia in carnatic music and dance and ritual,

and of course,

absorb all I can while in the Mediterranean, the home of much of what I know about theater, and the home of the myths I grew up loving so much.

I want to meet and discuss story and myth and big ideas with other people, and learn about their folklores and stories, as I have started to learn about my own in my home islands. I look forward to meeting other islanders, and connecting with other island communities, and ponder on what it means to be from a waterlocked land, or to have some sort of allegiance to a people that call a group of islands their home.


NOTES ON KAMAMO HOUSE

My new work/play development theater company is called Kamamo House. “Kamamo” was my Grandma Eloise's Hawaiian name, and I wanted to replicate the relaxed  "talk story" environment she would create when hanging out with her favorite cousin, my Aunty Bella, whenever she would pop in and wala'au with us on the weekends at home. It always felt relaxed, loving, and safe. I aim to create that environment in my events, with a special emphasis on MVPFAFF+ and 2SLGBTQIA+ artists.

Kamamo House offers creative consulting, arts advocacy, and light educational and production services. I identify my role as the Jester + Steward of Kamamo House, a rejection of the more typical, dry, capitalistic Executive Artistic Director type of title in favor of how I view my work: someone to speak truth to power, and a kahu of knowledge and skills that is my responsibility, my kuleana, to pass on.

I hope in the coming years to not only grow as an artist (refining skills I have, learning new ones, networking ), but thru Kamamo House, also grow as a connector and artistic leader in Hawai'i and the Oceanic region. I'm curious about how bridges can be made to and from my home islands, and how that might be mutually beneficial for those who are visiting and those who call these islands home. One way that could manifest is bringing artists here to both share what they know, but also learn more about the needs, the stories of local and Hawaiian storytellers: the cultural, the historical, the political, the contemporary.

My process prioritizes slow growth, like a plant, and being granted resources to take time to create with great intention and care would be such a blessing. Part of my long term goals is to create more funding sources and residencies here in Hawai'i to allow others to pursue their creative ventures: being able to participate and grow in relationship with organizations like OYL would assist me in achieving that long term vision in better serving performing artists, and specifically MVPFAFF+/2SLGBTQIA+ artists.

PAYMENT DETAILS

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-Checks Should be Made Out to "Fractured Atlas"
Donors should make their checks payable to “Fractured Atlas”. It is extremely important that all checks are made out to “Fractured Atlas” ONLY.

Fractured Atlas cannot accept checks that are made out to me, my company or my “project name/Fractured Atlas”.

-Send Checks to My Address
 
1025 Waimanu Street, #813
Honolulu, HI 96814

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