Do you go to a school in Hawaii? Would you like me to visit your school? Well, I might be back in Hawaii in April, so maybe I could come*!
And, why (besides it obviously being Hawaii!) might I be coming back? To see the Where the Mountain Meets the Moon play there! Yes, as I may have mentioned earlier, the Honolulu Theater for Youth is putting on their own production of the book:
And it promises to be much different from the other adaptations that I've seen so far. At the conference, the theater put on a short excerpt of their first interpretation of the book. I'm told that the final performance will probably not be like this but what was shown was definitely intriguing! I really liked their idea of mixing a modern aesthetic:
with a very traditional one:
this is "The Story of the Old Man of the Moon" told in the Peking Opera theater-style |
It's parallel to my own interpretation of my work, thematically--I like to think of my books as mix of my modern, Asian-American sensibilities and the traditional stories I take inspiration from. So you can see why I'm so interested in seeing the Honolulu Theatre's final product!
So I'm trying to work out a return trip! If you are a Hawaii school, let me* know if you'd be interested in having me for a school visit....it'd definitely help me make my decision!
*contact my school visit coordinator Aimee at gracelinvisits@gmail.com to set it up! Not only would your school not have to pay airfare (as I think the theater would pay for that), it would be the "local fee!"