Island couple portrays a couple on stage
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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| Wife and husband Karen and Ray Bumatai play wife and husband in Manoa Valley Theatre's "Over the Tavern." They're so committed to the play that they took the script on their holiday vacation.
Brad Goda 'OVER THE TAVERN' A comedy by Tom Dudzick 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays; through Jan. 30 Manoa Valley Theatre $25 general, $5 discount for seniors and military; $15 for patrons 25 and younger 988-6131 |
Karen Bumatai, his wife, normally is a behind-the-scener — producer, director, one of the driving forces at Manoa Valley Theatre.
But earlier this week, and continuing through the end of this month, the Bumatais are on stage together in MVT's "Over the Tavern," in which they have been typecast as, well, husband and wife.
"It's the first time I'm on stage in 15 years," said Karen, who was the first who got the bug to be in this comedy by Tom Dudzick. She even wrote to the playwright, and he responded, and that tickled her pink. "It was sweet of him," she said.
"I wanted to read the script to see if I were interested," said Ray, who had been very active and visible the past few months, completing a winter run as the King in Army Community Theatre's "The King and I," and promoting, albeit low key, a vocal CD, "All the Things I Said," on which he sings his own originals.
Ray also does intermittent club work, promoting the new CD in every-other-Saturday gigs at Muddy Waters Espresso at 'Aikahi Park; its resumption will depend on when the play closes. But he's also in the midst of filming an indie project, writer-director Michael Wurth's "Pele O Ka Foodland," dealing with a troubled wife and husband, in which he plays a detective type.
"As I was reading the ('Tavern') script, I noticed there was a part where the wife is 'kissed passionately on the lips,'" said Ray, who portrays Chet Pazinski.
That could have been someone else doing the puckering, but because he elected to take the role, it'll be wife and hubby smooching.
"That was not the motivation to get back on stage, but then again, what better way — and there's lots of fun," said Karen.
She plays Ellen Pazinski, the mother of four children, with a cloak of Catholic traditions explored. "I was raised Catholic, and my character is Catholic, but she doesn't buy into it," she said. "The young son questions a lot about what he hears about the Catholic church; the mother is the one who tries to keep the family sane."
Not being a mom, Karen said she informally used her own real-life mother as inspiration "and to relate to the action that way."
Ray said he and brother Andy, the standup comic, were raised Catholic, too. "We had to go through catechism, confirmation, everything," he said. "I identify with the questioning by Rudy, the son, in the play ... when we were growing up, my brother and I didn't take anything seriously. But the head of the household, the father, always ruled.
The play is set in 1959, in Buffalo, N.Y., during a more innocent time, when parents were a lot more authoritative. "These are very different times," said Karen.
"Tavern" is the first of a Dudzick trilogy; the father figure dies in the second, the third involves the children.
"I haven't acted for so long, it's tough remembering lines," Karen said of the dialogue.
"And she has the bulk of the lines," said Ray, who helped her with memory work.
So committed they are to the production, they took their scripts during the holidays for a week's vacation at the Hilton Waikoloa, where they studied lines and practiced in-between swims with the dolphins.
"The last time we worked together was years ago, when we both were doing 'Our Town' at the Honolulu Theatre for Youth," said Ray. "But we didn't have scenes together."
As for that kissing scene, "it's just fine," said Ray.
"Except at a rehearsal, I was supposed to grab her butt, and the kissing was going so well, I forgot," he said.
Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.
