UHH Hosts Public Talk on Pacific Islands Visual and Performing Arts

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
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Posted: Oct 2, 2001

The public is invited to a special public talk on Pacific Islands visual and performing arts on Thursday, October 11 at 7 p.m. in the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo's Campus Center 306-307. There is no admission charge.

Misa Tupou and Michelle Tupou will present "Our Story, Your Story, My Story." The talk will focus on Pacific Island images mapped out through the eyes of Pacific artists. These images, according to the speakers, "mesh the western and pacific to create a hybrid culture of Pacific Island oral tradition through visual and performing arts."

The Tupous will discuss how contemporary theater in the islands combine western performing arts with traditional Pacific Island storytelling to create physical theater--the creative use of body and mind, imagination, and vocal and physical expression. In addition, the speakers will talk about island images in films of the Pacific, with a particular focus on the roles of islanders in the New Zealand film industry.

Misa Tupou was raised in Tonga and New Zealand. A graduate of the New Zealand Drama School, he is a drama educator and has taught drama classes in Hawai'i, including the "Artists in the Schools" program. Michelle Tupou is a lecturer in Hawaiian Studies at Kapi'olani Community College whose interests center on Polynesians in the visual arts, particularly in contemporary film and video produced in Hawai'i and New Zealand.

For more information, please call (808)-933-0859.