Around Town
MVT preparing to do 'The Wash'

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

"The Wash," a drama by Philip Kan Gotanda, will premiere at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Manoa Valley Theatre. MVT earlier produced Gotanda's "Sisters Matsumoto."

Lyn Kajiwara Ackerman will be guest director. The cast includes Allan Okubo as Nobu Matsumoto, Florence Chang as Masi Matsumoto, Joy Minaai as Marsha Matsumoto, Jackie Jordan as Judy Adams, Sue Nada as Kiyoko Hasegawa, Dennis Ihara as Curley, Dann Seki as Sadao Nakasato and Nan Asuncion as Chiyo Froelich.

The play, set in present-day San Jose, Calif., examines the life of a Japanese American couple who have separated at wife Masi's request. Tradition overshadows her American sense of self-fulfillment, however, as she interrupts husband Nobu's new-found bachelorhood each week to drop off his laundry, one of the duties she still feels a Japanese wife owes her husband.

Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 2.

Tickets: $25, with $5 discounts available to seniors and military; $10 for patrons under 25.

A buffet dinner by the Eclectic Chef will be offered on the MVT lanai 90 minutes before curtain, nightly except Sundays.

Reservations: 988-6131.

Art song winners in Nov. 11 show

Winners of the Fifth Annual Art Song Contest will perform at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11 at Orvis Auditorium, University of Hawai'i-Manoa. The event originally was scheduled for September.

The winners: sopranos Shelly Breneman and Heather Roberts from O'ahu, tenor Kaweo Kanoho from the Big Island and soprano Debra Lynn from Maui. Gary Hickling, of Hawai'i Public Radio's "Great Songs," is founder of the contest.

Because Breneman has moved to the Mainland, soprano Phyllis Haines, a 1999 winner, will perform in her place.

Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for seniors, students and military.

Reservations: 955-8821.