Wailuku Pop-In Performance by Artist Lee Cataluna
Rooted in ‘Ōlelo No‘eau TBD (Currently in consultation with Sissy Lake-Farm)
For this public artwork commission, playwright and journalist Lee Cataluna will co-create a site-responsive pop-up theatrical performance in Wailuku inspired by two Hui Mo‘olelo talk-story recordings from the MPAC collection: Marjorie Kahalaomapuana and Eugene Kahoʻohanohano, each recorded with with Maui-based performing and teaching artist Francis Tauʻa.
Marjorie Kahalaomapuana & Francis Tauʻa, Maui Performing Artist & Teaching Artist
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Eugene Kahoʻohanohano & Francis Tauʻa, Maui Performing Artist & Teaching Artist
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In 2025, these talk-story recordings were captured through our Hui Mo‘olelo program. Professional artists from across the globe submitted proposals to translate the stories as a work of public art. Upon selection by a community panel, artist Lee Cataluna entered a period of project development to meet the storytellers, learn more about the context of their story, workshop ideas and interpretations with cultural and community consultants, and infuse the evolving piece with their feedback.
Listen to the stories inspiring this artwork:
Listen to the stories inspiring this artwork:
About
The recorded conversations above offer deeply personal reflections on growing up in Maui; stories shaped by place, responsibility, discipline, care, and community accountability. Uncle Eugene recounts a childhood marked by survival, family obligation, and navigating local systems of respect in Wailuku and Happy Valley, including caring for his ailing father at a young age and later following him into police work. Aunty Marjorie reflects on her upbringing in ʻĪao Valley, recalling a time defined by mutual trust, shared labor, and intergenerational care, while also naming the cultural shifts brought on by rapid development and changing patterns of ownership.
Drawing from these oral histories, Lee has proposed a live, pop-in theatrical performance that brings these voices into the public realm and transforms everyday space into a moment of listening, reflection, and shared experience. Rather than adapting the recordings into a fixed narrative, the project treats them as living source material, allowing themes of kuleana, respect, discipline, and community care to guide the work’s structure and tone.
In keeping with Maui Public Art Corps’ community-centered process, the project will continue to evolve through facilitated community engagement, including opportunities for feedback, discussion, and response. Community insights will directly inform how the performance is shaped, staged, and presented. The project will culminate in a live pop-in performance slated for February 2026, inviting the public to gather, listen, and engage with stories that speak to Maui’s past, present, and shared responsibility to one another.
Drawing from these oral histories, Lee has proposed a live, pop-in theatrical performance that brings these voices into the public realm and transforms everyday space into a moment of listening, reflection, and shared experience. Rather than adapting the recordings into a fixed narrative, the project treats them as living source material, allowing themes of kuleana, respect, discipline, and community care to guide the work’s structure and tone.
In keeping with Maui Public Art Corps’ community-centered process, the project will continue to evolve through facilitated community engagement, including opportunities for feedback, discussion, and response. Community insights will directly inform how the performance is shaped, staged, and presented. The project will culminate in a live pop-in performance slated for February 2026, inviting the public to gather, listen, and engage with stories that speak to Maui’s past, present, and shared responsibility to one another.
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Artist Bio: Lee Cataluna is a Maui-born journalist, author, and award-winning playwright whose work centers on everyday life, local culture, and community storytelling in Hawaiʻi. She is a longtime columnist for Honolulu Civil Beat and has spent more than two decades telling Hawaiʻi stories across print, radio, television, and the stage.
Her plays and musicals - produced by organizations including Honolulu Theatre for Youth, La Jolla Playhouse, Arena Stage, and San Francisco Playhouse, are widely performed throughout Hawaiʻi and the continental United States. Known for blending humor, heart, and sharp social insight, her work elevates local voices and familiar places, often drawing inspiration from lived experience and shared community spaces. For Maui Public Art Corps, Cataluna has been commissioned to create a pop-up theater performance in Wailuku that brings storytelling directly into the public realm, inviting audiences to see their town, and each other, hrough a fresh and reflective lens. |
Community Consultations
Coming Soon!
Project Timeline
Jan '26 Next Steps:
Feb '26 Next Steps:
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