Articulating a Vision

In the Fall 2007 semester, the English Department was privileged to welcome much-acclaimed and honored playwright VICTORIA NALANI KNEUBUHL as Distinguished Writer in Residence. Kneubuhl's career in local-Hawaiian and international theatre is stellar. Since the mid-1980s, Kneubuhl has played a key role in the development of Hawai`i theatre, as both a writer and a teacher in the community. She has had twelve plays produced, several of which have toured the Pacific, North America, Asia and the United Kingdom. Her work often deals with juxtapositions of history, tradition and contemporaneity. Her ambitious January 1993 is a five-act, nineteen-scene, fifteen-hour dramatization of historical crimes and contemporary loss. In this way, Kneubuhl reflects and speaks for her Hawaiian, Samoan and European ancestry. The collection Hawai‘i Nei: Island Plays, published by the University of Hawai`i Press in 2002, brings together three important plays by Kneubuhl--The Conversion of Ka`ahumanu, Emmalehua, and Ola Nā Iwi--in a landmark for theatre-on-the page.

Victoria Kneubuhl

In addition to her stage work, Kneubuhl has written ten documentary scripts for television, and has published several short stories. For over a decade she worked in the field of museum education. She now works as a freelance writer. In a new departure, Kneubuhl’s first mystery novel, Murder Casts a Shadow, is forthcoming from University of Hawai`i Press in late Summer 2008. Kneubuhl has been recognized with many awards for her work, including the 1994 Hawai`i Award for Literature, the highest honor the state awards a writer. Also in that year she was invited to the Pacific Writers Forum, and received the Hawai`i Heritage Center Keeper of the Past Award. She was named one of the Extraordinary Women of Hawai`i in 2001 by the Foundation for Hawaii Women’s History and the Native Hawaiian Library of Alu Like, Inc. In 2006 Kneubuhl was presented with the Elliot Cades Award for Literature.

Kneubuhl holds a B. A. in Hawaiian Cultural Studies, Art and Psychology from Antioch University, and is an alumni of the UH Mānoa, holding a Masters degree in Drama and Theatre from this university.

During the residency as Distinguished Writer at UH Mānoa, Kneubuhl was involved in a wide range of events and activities. At the beginning of the semester she performed at HIG, with the help of a fine team of actors, excerpts from several of her plays along with a section from her forthcoming mystery novel. In November she took part in several stimulating sessions of the Fall Festival of Writers. Kneubuhl’s well-loved play, Ola Nā Iwi, had a successful season at the Kumu Kahua Theatre. In addition, Kneubuhl was an extremely popular teacher of graduate fiction and introductory fiction and playwriting.

In December, 2007, Victoria Kneubuhl was interviewed by one of her graduate students, Krystal Ontai.

Krystal Ontai (KO): As a graduate student, I haven’t had many opportunities to meet a practicing native Hawaiian playwright, much less take a class from one. But in Fall 2007 I was lucky enough to be able to study with Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, our Distinguished Writer in Residence. At the end of semester Vicky agreed to let me interview her for Tradewinds.

KO: Why do you write?

Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl (VNK): I started writing through a playwriting class in the early 1980s. When I started writing, I felt I had discovered a lost part of myself. I was right.

KO: What do you think about playwriting in Hawai`i? Especially as a native Hawaiian writer?

VNK: Playwriting in Hawai`i has come a long way in the last two decades. I remember as a board member of Kumu Kahua theatre, we were always desperate for new scripts, especially from local writers. Now, there are many more people writing plays and participating in local theatre. It's great. I still think there is room for more, and I would love to see an arena where playwrights could develop really creative pieces with other artists, like dancers, musicians, costumers, and even visual artists.

KO: What do you think of the local theatre scene? How has it developed since you first began producing your plays? Where do you think it's headed in the future?

VNK: There is a much wider variety of theatre in Honolulu there used to be. There are many more local playwrights, or at least more people doing "performance" art. There are many more local actors and people interested in being a part of island generated theatre. When I first started writing, there was a much greater colonial attitude about local theatre and local literature in general. I'm not saying that we are now writing in a colonial-attitude-free zone, but local writers and artists are treated with way more respect than they were twenty years ago. I think conditions will do nothing but improve, especially now that Pacific literature in coming into its own. This is an exciting time to be a writer from the Pacific.

KO: This is your first semester teaching at the university. How was the experience?

VNK: I have really loved teaching this semester at the University. It has been a great experience getting to know my students. I am constantly delighted and amazed by the stories that students bring to class. It has been an enriching semester infused with a great deal of fun.

VNK: I always have several writing projects that I am working on. I am over a hundred pages into a novel inspired by several generations of my family in the Pacific. I started a sequel to my first mystery [Murder Casts a Shadow]. I have a play that I pick up, work on and put down. I also have my documentary script jobs that I actually get paid decently to do.

KO: You have a detective fiction novel coming out soon, why this genre? And how does it differ from your past writing? What motivated you to write this piece?

VNK: I have always liked detective fiction. As a child, I was hooked on Nancy Drew. I liked mysteries that feature compelling characters and solving puzzles through clues. I am not much of a "hard boiled detective" or "action adventure" fan. I wanted to have some fun writing something so I decided to write a mystery story. It was also something new, and therefore challenging.

KO: What advice would you give to your students who are pursuing playwriting (or creative writing in general) in Hawai`i?

VNK: I would advise students who want to write to also be avid readers and to be participants in a community of artists—wherever they happen to be living. I would also suggest that they create a network of supportive people who will read and discuss their work in an open and constructive way. I would also encourage young writers to hang on to their own visions and to search for ways to creatively articulate that vision to others.