Poster for the UH-Mānoa production.
Fay Ann Chun (Yōko) has a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Scripps College in Claremont, CA. She has studied and performed with Dances We Dance, Bluewater Dance Company, and Tangentz Performance Group. She is very excited to a part of the Manoa Readers/Theatre Ensemble.
Dann Seki (Mr. Uehara) and Fay Ann Chun (Yōko).
Dann Seki (Mr. Uehara) is a stage and screen actor and storyteller. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He has appeared in numerous plays on the stages of most of the theatres in Honolulu. His TV and film credits include many productions filmed in Hawaii including “Hawaii Five-0”, “Lychee Thieves”, “The Informant”, “Max’s Special Delivery”, “Lost”, “Hawaii”, “North Shore”, “Baywatch Hawaii”, “Magnum, P.I.”, “Crowfoot”, “And the Sea Will Tell”, “Savage Beach”, and numerous local commercials. Developing as a storyteller since 1994, he has performed at various venues on Oahu and the Neighbor Islands.
Ben Moffat (Mr. Miller/Ben Miller) is a free-lance performer, storyteller and writer based in Hawaii and Wisconsin. A founding member of the dance-theater troupe, Monkey Waterfall, he is often seen on stilts and/or wearing a mask. He taught theater at Windward Community College for over 20 years.
Nyla Fujii-Babb (Helen Miller/Police Officer) has been a storyteller, actress, voice-over talent, and producer for over 40 years in Hawaii. She is the only storyteller from Hawaii invited twice to be both an “exchange teller” and a featured performer at the prestigious National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough Tennessee. She has also been a featured performer at a number of Storytelling Festivals across the United States. As an actress, Nyla has appeared on stage for the Kumu Kahua Theatre Company, the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the Japan-America Theatre, and the Emerson Majestic Theatre. Among her television credits, she was the voice-over narrator for the KHET/Tom Coffman production of “Nation Within: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom,” for the Biography Hawaii Series: “Koji Ariyoshi,” and narrated Tom Coffman’s “The First Battle: The Battle for Equality in War Time Hawaii.” Most recently she has been in the 2010 Manoa Readers/Theatre Ensemble’s productions of Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug translated by Alok Bhalla, and “Musings of Mystery and Alphabets of Agony: The Work of Edward Gorey”.
Nyla Fujii-Babb (Helen Miller/police officer) and James Phelps (Mr. Morgan/Ben Harris).
James Phelps (Mr. Morgan/Robert Harris) is following in the footsteps of his musician and educator father and has been a life long Percussionist and educator for over 15 years. His music has allowed him to travel extensively throughout North America and Canada. Currently a music specialist at Waiau Elementary in Pearl City, he enjoys sharing his musical talents with kids and loves spending time with his family and 2 year old son.
Doug Kaya (Mr. Yang) teaches Communication at Leeward Community College. He is also a senior mediator with the Mediation Center of the Pacific.
Dennis Nishihara (Mr. Ogawa) retired from the Department of Education after serving as a counselor on Maui, Moloka’i, the Big Island, and Oahu for over 30 years. He was named Counselor of the Year by the Hawai’i School Counselor Association in 1979. He received the Ola Pono Award for services to the community from HMSA in 2005. He also received the Hawai’i Counselor Association’s Counselor of the Year Award that year.
