THE LEFT LANE
Theater team goes to Washington

Island playwright Yokanaan Kearns and Honolulu Theatre for Youth artistic director Mark Lutwak have been tapped as one of eight national playwright-director teams to attend the seventh biennial New Visions/New Voices Festival, today through Sunday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.

Each team is given a cast of actors and other artists to develop a play during intensive workshops, culminating in performances.

The HTY team will work on Kearns' new play, "Dis/Troy," a contemporary retelling of "The Iliad." Kearns is also the creator of the award-winning "Pidg Latin," a co-production of HTY and Kumu Kahua.

WILLIS

Actor Bruce Willis, in town filming the wartime drama "Hostile Rescue," will moonlight as a bandmate, singing and playing harmonica with his band The Accelerators at 8 p.m. June 8 at the World Cafe. Doors will open at 7 p.m.

The gig will be a co-presentation of World Cafe and Tom Moffatt Productions.

"It's something he's wanted to do on a Saturday night," said Moffatt of the actor's night off.

"I think I'm never in any danger of being accused of being a singer, but it's fun ... it's a good hobby," Willis said.

While Willis is best known for his TV ("Moonlighting") and film work (three "Die Hard" action pictures, "Pulp Fiction," "Armageddon," "The Sixth Sense," and "Hart's War"), he had a musical hit with "Respect Yourself" from an album and an HBO special, "The Return of Bruno," in 1997. Bruno is his nickname.

Tickets, $22.50 presale for the all-ages show, go on sale Saturday at the World Cafe, Tower Records, Tower Video and Cheapo Music. They're $27.50 at the door. For information, call 585-2877.