Around Town
'Mars, Venus' author to speak

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

Dr. John Gray, author of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," will give a seminar from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. Portions of the proceeds will benefit Parents and Children Together. The workshop will include discussions about relationships. Tickets: $30, available through Ticket Plus. Charge by phone: 526-4400.

HPU names cast for 'James Joyce'

Eden-Lee Murray, Jo Pruden, Becky Maltby Graue, Alan Sutterfield and Dave Donnelly are among the stage veterans appearing in Hawai'i Pacific University's "James Joyce's the Dead," premiering at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at the HPU Windward campus, 45-045 Kamehameha Highway. Murray plays Gretta, Pruden is Mrs. Mallins, Graue is Molly Ivors, Sutterfield is the narrator as well as Gregory, and Donnelly is Mr. Browne. Other cast members are Mary Frances Kabel-Gwinn, Sharon Adair, Katie Leiva, Luke Anderson, Jason Carpenter, Lisa Cripe, Kalani Hicks, Sarah Tidwell and Tatiana Wilson. Joyce Maltby is directing the musical by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey, with Mary Chestnut and Phil Hidalgo handling musical direction. The play repeats at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays; a Nov. 21 Wednesday performance, at 7:30 p.m., replaces the Thanksgiving Nov. 22 show. Tickets: $14 for adults, $10 for seniors, military, students, HPU faculty and staff, $5 for HPU students. Reservations: 375-1282.

'Trudi' fantasy at Punahou

"Trudi and the Minstrel," described as a neo-Gothic multimedia extravaganza, will be at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 9, 10, 16 and 17 at Dillingham Hall, Punahou School. The Punahou School Academy students, Grades 9 through 12, are presenting the tale about a young woman named Trudi who meets up with a minstrel named Pete Pumpernickel. Together, they journey through an enchanted land of trolls, gypsies, an evil baroness, a mermaid and a dragon that eats people. Pamela Robles, a fifth-grade teacher and drama club adviser, is directing. Student David Tam, a senior, composed original music. Tickets: $6 for adults, $3 for students with ID. Information: 943-3673.

MVT preparing to do 'The Wash'

"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 that has separated at wife Masi's request. Tradition overshadows her American sense of self-fulfillment, however, as she interrupts husband Nobu's new-found bachelorhood 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 for 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.