Actress proves perfect for 'old lady's part' in play

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Charlotte Dias, front, is flower-shop co-owner Mrs. Fujiuchi in "Half Dozen Long Stem," premiering at Kumu Kahua Thursday night. Others in the cast include, from left, Karen Hironaga, Aito Steele, Norman Muöoz, Ron Encarnacion and Danel Verdugo. Brad Goda 'HALF DOZEN LONG STEM' A comedy by Lee Cataluna; produced by Kumu Kahua Premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday; repeats at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 5 $5-$16 536-4441; box office open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays

Still, Dias brings gusto and drive to Lee Cataluna's "Half Dozen Long Stem," opening Thursday at Kumu Kahua Theatre, as a crochety flower-shop owner named Mrs. Fujiuchi.

"I tried out specifically for Mrs. Fujiuchi because it was an old lady's part," said Dias. "And I'm old. The call was out for someone 50 to 60, and I was over 70."

The challenge is to retain her lines, she said less than two weeks before the opening curtain. "I use a tape recorder and listen to the lines over and over. I also write them out over and over, and I read the script over and over."

It works, she said.

Her character, she said, is supposed to be grouchy, although she's nothing like that offstage. "I'm usually nice and calm," she said.

"But the plot involves another woman, the wife of my ex-husband, who was my friend until she stole my husband," she said. "We own this Honolulu flower shop together. So we argue."

She went full throttle to land the part "because there aren't that many roles for older women," she said. "I look for plays in my age group, but when you're 72, there aren't that many."

Acting, it turns out, bloomed late in her life, though she's been an avid theater-goer for years, recalling those summertime Herb Rogers musicals such as "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Sound of Music" at Blaisdell Concert Hall and the more recent Broadway blockbusters such as "Miss Saigon" and "The Phantom of the Opera."

It was in 1993 that she discovered she had presence — and the ability to step into a role.

"I took a course in continuing education at the University of Hawai'i and learned camera technique," she said. "I was told I had potential, and I started to try out."

She landed a couple of TV commercials, joined the Screen Actors Guild, but stopped getting TV roles after that. Oh, she landed a few walk-on parts.

But since 1996, she has become a Kumu Kahua staple, where Dias has learned that her local looks were an asset.

"What do you think I am?" she asked. "Most people think I'm Hawaiian Chinese." But, she said, she's a mix of Filipino, Portuguese and Spanish ancestry.

"I'm a tutu but don't sound like one, either," she said. This has both been a blessing and a curse; she earlier got tutu-type commercial work in front of the camera, because she looks the part, but can't get voice-over jobs because, well, she sounds young, not grandmotherly.

She takes all this in stride. She's just happy she's having fun doing what is primarily a hobby.

"I retired from the shipyard (Pearl Harbor, in the early '90s) where I was an equipment specialist supervisor," said Dias. "I worked 30 years with government, 16 at Pearl Harbor."

She has a part-time job, teaching English as a second language to adults at the McKinley Community School.

"My students are mostly immigrants, and I enjoy teaching them," she said. "But English is difficult. I've had students from Europe, from the Ukraine, a Portuguese from Argentina, a Chinese from Tahiti," said Dias. "What's terrific is I learn from the students, too. Culture."

Her son, Ivan Delaforce, has been a performer in a "Stomp!" production, and she saw him numerous times in bookings in Toronto and in Paris.

"I'm happy I found the stage," she said. "The first role was Kiyoko, in 'The Wash' at Kumu Kahua. The good thing about the theater is that when you're acting, you're interacting, you're relating. I was in 'The Joy Luck Club' earlier, and when you bond with your fellow actors, you become family. I'm still very close with three other women actors."

Dias said playwright Cataluna, who also is a Honolulu Advertiser columnist, has another play in the works that specifically is about her — "an LOL — little old lady. I guess I'd like to be in it ... but I told Lee she better hurry up, or I won't be able to remember my lines," she said.

Reach Wayne Harada at 525-8067, wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, or fax 525-8055.